December 17, 2015, The New Haven Independent, by Allan Appel - "Starting today you can not only charge those holiday presents at the boutiques in Westville Village—you can charge your car, too. On Wednesday afternoon, state Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection chief Rob Klee, city traffic czar Doug Hausladen, and others in the city’s green brain trust gathered at the Park New Haven Whalley-Blake Parking Lot to inaugurate the city’s newest EV or electric vehicle charging station. Instead of the customary ribbon cutting, officials had fun marking the occasion with a ceremonial charging of Klee’s state vehicle, a Chevy Volt. It’s the sixth location citywide, and the 15th public plug. (Each of the stations has more than one plug.) The Whalley-Blake station, which has two plugs, cost $10,000. It was paid for with a $2,000 grant from the state’s EVConnect fund, and the balance from Park New Haven’s operational budget, said Hausladen, who, in addition to his traffic duties, is acting director of Park New Haven (aka the city’s pakring authority). The opportunity to apply for the grant was spotted first by Jessica Feinleib, an active member of the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance (WVRA) and the owner of an electric vehicle. WVRA Executive Director Chris Heitman appeared at Wednesday’s event, where he showed off not only the parking lot’s new two-plugged charging station but also a new paint job and the rotating decoration of the lots boundary wall by local Westville artists. Installation of the charging station is an opportunity to help attract even more shoppers to Westvile by letting them know if they drive electric vehicles, they can charge up while shopping, Heitman said. “We are the closest public charging station to Exit 59 on the Merritt [Parkway]. So for travelers coming down, they can feed their car and their belly in Westville [ restaurants and stores] at the same time,” he added..."

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