Electric car charging stations light fire between mayor, councilman

The curbside charging stations for electric cars being installed across the city are seen by Mayor Greg Ballard as key to an environmentally friendly future — electronic charging stations where, for a couple of bucks, drivers can juice up their Teslas and Volts overnight.

But some small business owners, living in the here and now, say the stations — dedicated mostly to the BlueIndy electric car-share vehicles — are gobbling precious parking spots in premium locations and could cost them customers.

“It hurts us because we’re the type of place where people run in and out and like parking for just a few minutes,” said Joe Vuskovich, owner of Yats, a Cajun restaurant at 54th Street and College Avenue, a few steps from five just-installed chargers. “If people have to park three or four blocks away, they might not come at all.”

The dispute is one of several signs of growing tensions over the BlueIndy electric car-sharing program, one of Republican Ballard’s major initiatives to make the city more “green” and position it as a leader in alternative transportation. When the program is at full strength, BlueIndy will have 500 electric rental cars perched at 200 locations, each with five chargers.

The city signed its contract with BlueIndy in April 2014, with little objection voiced by the Democrat-controlled City-County Council. But since then, opposition has been building, as council members question the process by which the deal was reached, the size of the city’s financial commitment, the safety of the cars and, now, the construction of the charging stations.

In a dramatic but largely symbolic gesture to register his displeasure, Democratic Councilman Zach Adamson will introduce a proposal at Monday’s City-County Council meeting to tow away five BlueIndy demonstration cars parked on Washington Street at Meridian Street. The cars have been parked there all year and are available to the public for test drives.

“That section of Washington Street is a no-parking, no-stopping and no-standing zone at all times,” Adamson said. “It is not legal to park anything there.”

Adamson conceded the council is powerless to stop the charging stations from being built, but said he wanted to send a message to Ballard that he and other council members were angered that neither they nor the public were consulted on the sites.

BlueIndy’s success depends on having several stations spread across the city so a car is never too far away from a user. Customers can rent and return the cars to any station — so the more stations there are, the more places drivers can go.

The city says the chargers will be available to all electric car owners, so years from now, when electric cars are more widely used, the chargers will have a broad public benefit.

Adamson, chairman of the public works committee, said such a potentially long-lasting infrastructure needed time for additional public debate.

“Had they gauged some businesses before they started building these things maybe they would have found some better locations nearby,” Adamson said.

The councilman also objects to setting aside so many parking spots for a private car-sharing business. BlueIndy is a subsidiary of the French conglomerate, Bollore Group, which is investing $41 million into the project, while the city is spending $6 million.

Ballard press secretary Brad Jacklin said pushback is expected with any new program as sprawling as BlueIndy. But, he said, that doesn’t negate the benefits of car-sharing.

“It is incumbent upon us to inform businesses of the benefits, and we are open to feedback,” Jacklin said.

He said car shares, bike shares, trails and app-based car services such as Uber are essential to attract and keep young workers who demand those options.

Tight fit in Broad Ripple

Outside Yats, on North College, five chargers are wrapped in plastic, waiting for the BlueIndy grand opening. Until then, parking is off-limits to other cars.

“This neighborhood has really picked up the last few years and keeps growing,” Vuskovich said, “and the last thing we need is fewer parking spaces.”

Two blocks south, on 52nd Street and College, Luna Music owner Todd Robinson wondered why two charging stations were so close together.

“We’ve got one right down the street. I don’t see the wisdom in that,” he said. “I’m sure there are some big sections of the city that won’t get any so why have two right here?”

Robinson said he has used Bollore’s car share program in France and supports the concept, but he said he doesn’t think the stations “should jam up busy intersections.”

“As you can see parking here is at a premium,” Robinson said.

But across the street at the SoBro Cafe, head chef Luke Weber said the station, which is directly in front of his restaurant, would help business.

“Most of our customers walk here or ride their bikes anyway,” he said. “And I see it as good advertising for us because people parking here will discover us.”

Could increase parking space

BlueIndy President Hervé Muller said the company gathered input from the public through surveys on its website, www.blue-indy.com and hundreds of people gave suggestions. In addition, he said 2,000 people subscribe to a newsletter which gives frequent updates on construction.

Muller said it was most practical to put the stations in population centers where the most people can see and use them, rather than hard-to-find side streets.

“Just as bus stops are located in places where they are visible to make them convenient to access rather than in back alleys, for BlueIndy serving the needs of the many is helped by making sure folks see these cars and use them often,” Muller said in an email. He added that studies have shown that in the long run, car-share programs increase street parking spaces because they decrease private vehicle driving.

Downtown on Walnut Street, near East Street, the pavement has been marked for a charging station. At Henry’s Coffee Bistro, 627 East St., owner Mike Penley said the chargers are going to squeeze parking for his customers.

He shares a tight, eight-spot parking lot with two neighboring businesses and said, “A lot of customers prefer street parking because the lot is so small and often full.”

He predicted the loss of parking spaces would also increase the number of drivers who illegally park in his lot.

Penly said he wasn’t told the chargers were coming and “what the city did was rotten.”

“They should have had community hearings on this,” he said.

At the Nestle Inn, a bed-and-breakfast next door to Henry’s, proprietor Leesa Smith said she thinks the e-car spaces will help her business.

“I look at it as an amenity,” she said.

But she said the spots were often used by guests to unload and load their cars, and she has asked Adamson about getting a dedicated loading spot in front of her B&B.

Adamson said the request is an example of how the charging stations can lead to more requests like Smith’s.

“How many other businesses are now going to run to their councilors and ask for dedicated spaces because we gave so many to this private company?” he said.

Department of Public Works spokesman Scott Manning said many businesses already have street parking reserved for them, including hotels, restaurants, carriage rides, Lucas Oil Stadium and Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

“This is the way businesses have been operating for many years,” he said. “It would be bad precedent to change the ordinance because you don’t like what one company is doing.”

Call Star reporter John Tuohy at (317) 444-6418. Follow him on Twitter: @john_tuohy.