Briggs: Irvington businesses gave Aaron Freeman an ax to kill the Blue Line

Sen. Aaron Freeman and his Republican colleagues for years have tried and failed, tried and failed and tried and failed to stop IndyGo from building the Blue Line as planned. This year is different.

If I had to bet, I'd say Freeman will push through Senate Bill 52 in some form and kill the Blue Line for good. He took the first step Thursday, advancing it out of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

That's bad enough. Even worse: Irvington businesses are handing Freeman the ax, the mass transit murder weapon, while residents who support those businesses and also support the Blue Line, some of whom moved to Irvington because of the Blue Line, are looking on in horror.

It's business vs. neighbor on the east side, a conflict no one saw coming, but which seems poised to prematurely halt a bus rapid transit project that had survived a gauntlet including state legislative approval, a citywide referendum, a City-County Council vote and several more rounds of Indiana General Assembly votes.

Now, nearly a decade into this cursed debate, Freeman has the upper hand. House Speaker Todd Huston cited Irvington's businesses while shining favor upon the latest version of anti-Blue Line legislation that has repeatedly failed in his chamber.

The sudden outspoken opposition from businesses along East Washington Street — some of which, bizarrely, opened on the Blue Line route after the plan was approved and well known — has revived a legislative charge that previously appeared out of gas. If you read between the lines, their fight seems more motivated by fear of the construction process than by the Blue Line itself.

"Our concern obviously is for the viability of our business as construction for the Blue Line would occur," Nancy Duncan, a co-owner of Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza, said Thursday during committee testimony on the bill.

"We just feel like the construction … it's going to really hurt all the businesses along the corridor," Scott Drum, the owner of women's clothing store Josephine’s in Irvington, said.

Those short-term fears align with Freeman's long-term efforts.

Freeman's language and arguments have evolved over the years. S.B. 52 would prevent IndyGo from taking two traffic lanes from Washington Street and dedicating them to bus rapid transit for the Blue Line.

"The citizens of Indianapolis do not deserve dedicated lanes that are going to so screw up their travel that it's going to almost force people to ride a bus," Freeman said Thursday.

That's the crux of Freeman's latest argument — and it's preposterous.

Traffic on Washington Street has collapsed from 30,000 vehicles a day during the 1970s to 17,000 today, according to data collected by Indianapolis. That's largely due to the addition of Interstate 70, a parallel east-west corridor that siphoned traffic from the old National Road.

To put it simply: Washington Street has twice as many lanes as necessary to accommodate traffic. That's why traffic has become so dangerous there. Cars have too much room to speed and swerve, often with deadly consequences.

Despite the data, Freeman argues that eliminating traffic lanes on Washington Street is so plainly stupid that the state must intervene and stop it. This, along with Freeman's other bill overturning the city's right-on-red ban, calls into question how much authority the state wants over Indianapolis' public works.

Should the city ask lawmakers for permission to convert one-way streets into two-way streets? Does the city need to worry about future laws banning certain types of bike lanes?

Cities usually have broad discretion over public works projects — and for good reason. Voters hold mayors and other local officials most accountable for those decisions. The November elections suggest voters are satisfied with how Indianapolis is handling things, including the Blue Line plan.

Businesses are more sensitive, though. Logistical issues that annoy residents are magnified for business owners relying on customers to make ends meet. Construction makes it hard for customers and delivery trucks to get in and out. Business suffers. That seems to be the basis for most — but not all — concerns among businesses opposing the Blue Line.

That's understandable. The Indy Chamber is working on a business disruption loan program to help businesses during Blue Line construction. As someone who lives in Irvington, I'd be willing to eat a lot more pizza and buy some weird roach clips to help businesses thrive during construction.

I'm sure my neighbors would, too. Many of them spoke Thursday and shared powerful stories, ranging from the mom of a girl who died walking to school in Irvington because of reckless driving to people who (like me) chose to live in the neighborhood with the expectation of eventually being able to take the Blue Line to work.

The Blue Line would add a valuable transit option extending all the way to the airport, make Washington Street safer, attract more residents along the route and generate economic development. It's stunning to see Irvington's businesses come out swinging against it — and, by extension, fighting against the interests of most residents while also underestimating their own future benefits (small businesses tend to be too pessimistic about how new amenities will affect them, as Mass. Ave. retailers found when their street closed during the pandemic).

"We have a community in Irvington. This is very tight knit," Black Sheep Gifts owner Lisa Bennett said during testimony. "We can disagree, but we have each other's backs. And on this issue, this designated bus lane seems to have changed that. We no longer even feel like the community that we had."

The truth is communities are constantly changing. Retailers are especially transient. Most small businesses close within five years of opening. Some of the businesses complaining about the Blue Line almost certainly will shutter within a few years — and, yet, their efforts to defeat it could leave the city worse off long after they are gone.

Business owners have valid concerns that should be addressed. But their short-term construction fears shouldn't determine whether Indianapolis' residents get to have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to improve their quality of life.

Contact James Briggs at 317-444-4732 or james.briggs@indystar.com. Follow him on X and Threads at @JamesEBriggs.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Irvington businesses gave Aaron Freeman an ax to kill the Blue Line