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Failed race promoter sues city environmental official
By adamg on Fri, 04/28/2017 - 9:52am
WCVB reports the guy behind the plan to have race cars speed around the South Boston Waterfront has filed a $15-million law suit against Boston environment chief Austin Blackmon, alleging Blackmon failed to tell him about revised federal flood maps that were yet another straw that made the race plan collapse.
One minor, teensy-tiny possible problem: FEMA presented the revised maps to the Fort Point Neighborhood Association on Jan 26, 2016, at a meeting attended by several of the race guy's underlings.
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Comments
One question
How are flood plain maps even relevant to holding a one-day race on existing streets? Seems to be another example of overreach by environmental authorities.
To start, it wasn't one day
It was going to be every Labor Day weekend for at least five years.
I suspect the answer to your question more specifically wasn't that FEMA issued orders to stop the race, but that inclusion of part of its route in a flood plain would make the required insurance prohibitively expensive.
Evacuation Routes, Insurance, etc.
I know you have issues with holistic thinking, but the emergency response nightmares alone could get iffy should we get hit by a hurricane during Indy Car setup.
Particularly since the infrastructure would absolutely interfere with evacuations, and possibly exacerbate tidal flooding issues.
At the very least, those flood maps would be used by anyone writing insurance for the event - insuring the organizers against cancellation losses. However, there is more than an event at stake here.
Thanks for the clarification
Hadn't fully thought about it from that perspective. However, I suspect the Seaport District, and most of the rest of Boston for that matter, would be largely SOL if a major hurricane hit us - regardless of what the "new and improved " FEMA flood maps say. In other words, that contingency should have been accounted for from Day 1.
To lay the blame for lack of planning or the desire of insurance companies to extort even more money from the race promoters entirely on FEMA, let alone a sole City official, is just nonsense. And to argue the promoters are somehow entitled to a special payout because of their lack of planning is equally idiotic.
One Question
Why is the guy who whines about frivolous lawsuits now whining about "environmental officials overreaching" when talking about a frivolous lawsuit over something that he seems to fundamentally not understand?
Where did I say anything about the lawsuit
having merit? And, as I said in a different response, a hurricane hitting Boston as the race is being prepped would be bad news regardless of what the flood plain maps say. So, except for the 'maximize our profits' insurance companies, the flood plain maps - regardless of when they were issued or updated - in the context of an once a year event on EXISTING STREETS are largely irrelevant and only bolsters the argument that this lawsuit is frivolous.
Because they would've had to
Because they would've had to store huge tanks of gasoline in a flood zone - potential for environmental disaster.
Good point
If that was the plan, that would be bad.
However, that would also fall under state jurisdiction: http://www.mass.gov/eea/grants-and-tech-assistance/guidance-technical-as...
Who's going to pay for the defendant's lawyer?
Ya know what?
As a Boston taxpayer, I hope the city pays for his representation. He obviously was involved in the issue in his role as a city official and somebody with a rudimentary understanding of the legal process, who has yet to read the actual filings, might come to the conclusion that this is just an attempted end run around laws designed to protect public employees in the performance of their jobs.
From what I've heard so far, I agree
If it looks like he was just performing his official duties in good faith, I think the city should back him up.
If it looks like something fishy were going on internally, regardless of whether this person is implicated, then there should be an investigation.
Clearly a case of harassment and threatening officials
I hope that the city fronts the legal costs AND collects them when this gets thrown out.
This is essentially a SLAPP lawsuit - filed for the sole purpose of intimidating anyone who would do their job and not suck up to the Monorail purveyors.
The job of the Environmental Officer is to ensure compliance with city regulations anyway - it is not to do all the homework and inform a developer or event promoter of any and all state and federal issues that might derail the project (particularly those which haven't really changed in decades - the new LIDAR based national flood hazard maps don't include a whole lot that is different from the Q3 maps from the late 90s/early 00s).
Yet Again
We see more whining by bigpocket whiners about "you didn't do my homework for me".
Whahhh. Maps have been out for some time.
Obviously not a Uhub reader
Or he wouldn't need FEMA or the city to tell him these things.
:-)
Bunk
This is bunk. They're suing Blackmon for his alleged actions or omissions as a city official but trying to get him in a personal capacity. That won't fly. Just a scare tactic by this guy who is pretty disgraced by now. A judge will throw this out.
Yep
Blackmon as a city employee has immunity from suits for negligence.
The promoter of this race is
The promoter of this race is a top-rate con-man. He's pissed now that he didn't do his job, or grease the right palms, and that we're all mad that he spent a bunch of people's money for a race that never happened, and then couldn't pay people back. He shouldn't be suing anyone for anything.
This guy is the local version of
Carter Page.