Council panel votes to tow 5 BlueIndy cars

A City-County Council panel voted Thursday to authorize the towing of five BlueIndy electric demonstration cars parked Downtown.

"The fact is that these cars are illegally parked and have been for over a year," said Zach Adamson, chairman of the Public Works Committee, after the 5-1 vote.

The move was the latest swipe in a bitter battle between council members and the administration of Mayor Greg Ballard over the implementation of the sprawling car-share program.

The committee wants to slow down the rental service rollout, which is well underway with the construction of about 20 electric charging stations across Indianapolis. Several council members object to the deal because it was not sent out for competitive bids. They say the project needs public debate and council approval of the charging station locations.

"We are concerned about many ordinances that are not being upheld," said Republican Christine Scales, a co-sponsor of the towing ordinance. "The process is being bypassed."

For months, BlueIndy has parked five cars on Washington Street between Meridian and Pennsylvania streets for the public to take free demonstration rides.

Republican Jack Sandlin, a former Indianapolis police officer, voted against removing the cars because the city claims BlueIndy has obtained the proper permits to park them there.

"I'm concerned that we are making the determination that this is illegal and I don't think that is in our purview," Sandlin said. "It is inappropriate to ask the police to make that type of determination."

The proposal now moves to the full council for a vote before it becomes law. The cars then would need to be towed in 90 days. But even if the council approves the measure, it is undetermined if the police would enforce it.

Though the council's chief financial officer, Bart Brown, told The Indianapolis Star last week that the Marion County Sheriff's Office had agreed to tow the cars if the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department would not, sheriff's Col. Louis Dezelan said no agreement has been made.

A representative of the Public Safety Department could not be reached for comment on whether IMPD would move the cars.

BlueIndy, which is investing $41 million in the $50 million project, is building 1,000 electric car chargers at 200 locations on public streets across the city. City officials said the company has been issued permits for all the locations.

But council members are considering whether they should try to require BlueIndy to enter a franchise agreement, which would bring the city an annual fee and give the council oversight on expansion.

David Rosenberg, Ballard's deputy chief of staff, said forcing the agreement on the company would be unfair; thousands of encroachment permits have been issued for other businesses and only one — the IU Health People Mover — has a franchise agreement.

He suggested that the committee's action was politically motivated.

"This body, four months before an election wants to twist the law to overturn 20 years of precedence," he said.

Council attorney Fred Biesecker said BlueIndy's encroachment licenses cannot be compared to others because of the size an scope of the car-share program.

"Those other licenses are for sidewalk cafes and signs Downtown," he said. "They are not good analogies."

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