On this coming Wednesday, 9/9/15 the Planning Commission will hear proposals to place electric vehicle charging stations at two Wal-Mart locations. One set at the facility near SMP and Maurer and the other set at the Neighborhood Market at Nieman and 74th Street.
Now these locations make sense, unlike the plan that was tabled back in May to place charging stations at city hall and the justice center.
Use of the charging stations at commercial locations means that people who have those types of vehicles can shop while their vehicles are being charged up. A lot different than just sitting in the city hall parking lot, doing nothing, for possibly hours.
Whether the owners of the vehicles have to pay for the service or if Wal-Mart picks up the charges (as an advertising/customer relations activity) is immaterial. This still makes more sense than the city (all taxpayers) paying for it at city hall/justice center as advocated by Jeff "The Arrogant One" Vaught. The taxpayers of the city do not need to subsidize the "refueling" of these vehicles that in reality not everyone can even buy because of the costs.
If a retailer and/or shopping center owner wants to absorb the costs, well, that is a business decision. Just like when they put items in their stores on sale. If Vaught and Neighbor (another advocate for the city to pick up costs) get smart they'll let the commercial/retail segment of the city take care of the placement of these items.
Anyway, I hope the two items on the Planning Commission agenda regarding Wal-Mart and the charging stations moves forward.
See my previous posts on this subject:
6/1/15
5/27/15
5/19/15
DTJVSD
