Wheaton missed the boat on car chargers

Wheaton missed the boat on car chargers

Three cheers to Wheaton's Environmental Improvement Commission for proposing electric car charging stations be installed in the city's parking garage. Two thumbs-down to the shortsighted Wheaton City Council for rejecting the proposal.

For a small economic investment of $11,000 now, Wheaton can reap untold benefits in the future. Electric cars will replace gasoline burning cars eventually, because drivers will have to pay a premium to continue to pollute the air with carbon emissions. Electric cars are good for both the health of the environment and for human health.

Shopping, dining or partaking in entertainment events in downtown Wheaton will be even more attractive to owners of electric cars, if they knew they could charge their vehicle while they enjoyed Wheaton's attractions. The city of Naperville has chargers. Even the new Caputo's has chargers. Downtown Wheaton should have chargers.

Why does the Wheaton City Council have to wait until there is a demand from the residents to do something so proactive and forward thinking? They had online voting about which style LED streetlights to install. Why not ask residents if they'd like to join the 21st Century and have electric car chargers in the parking garage downtown?

Councilman Todd Scalzo said, "Certainly we have not gotten outcry from residents to do this. We've gotten some emails, but not a large demand for it."

Residents and visitors alike, a challenge has been made. Flood the email boxes of the Wheaton City Council with requests to do this now, not "maybe in a few years," as Councilman Scalzo suggested.

Diane Niesman

Wheaton