Tallahassee’s flagship vehicle charging station is online as the city continues to move toward a more sustainable future.
City staff, Mayor John Dailey, Commissioner Jeremy Matlow, Commissioner Curtis Richardson, City Manager Reese Goad and community members got together on April 22 at the intersection of South Adams Street and West Van Buren Street, to the side of Lucky Goat Coffee, for the ribbon cutting of the inaugural station.
The station sits right by Florida A&M University and is a short walk from both Cascades Park and Anita Favors Plaza, which is where users of the charging station can visit as they wait for their vehicles to power up.
The date was intentional as April 22 marks Earth Day, which is celebrated annually worldwide to promote environmental protection. The charging port just adds to the ongoing work the city has been doing as part of their Clean Energy Resolution that looks to transition Tallahassee to a 100% clean and renewable city by 2050.
Some of those plans could be in peril. On the same day city officials cut the ribbon on the facility, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill into law that aims to prevent local governments from adopting certain net-zero policies and clean energy plans.
But local officials were focused on what they hailed as the city’s commitment “to a stronger, more sustainable future.”
The project was completed in nine months and two other stations are set to break ground, one across the road from the Southside Transit Center at the Orange-Meridian Park and another on West Tharpe Street near North MLK Boulevard.
According to Dailey, who spoke at the event, the project is a demonstration of private and public partnership as he shared a story of a local business owner who helped with construction.
“George Petrandis where are you… I spoke to George five seconds ago and he told me this incredible story. He owns this building right behind us. During construction, I believe we were doing some of the work off of generators, they were making a little bit of noise,” Dailey said.
“George came to (the city) with a solution, you see George has solar, George allowed us to tie into his solar so we didn’t have the buzz of construction and at the same time be an incredible community partner… that’s what Tallahassee is all about.”
by: Arianna Otero