Boston Condo Association Challenges IndyCar Effort, While Questions Persist On Funding

Residents of a condo complex on the south Boston waterfront are "challenging efforts to turn their street into part of Boston’s first IndyCar race," according to Chesto & Ellement of the BOSTON GLOBE. In a 14-page letter sent to Mayor Martin Walsh yesterday, a lawyer representing the Seaport Lofts Condominium Association "raised a number of legal issues with the race." Among them is the allegation that the city "improperly negotiated a contract with event organizer Grand Prix of Boston without going through the proper public review." The residents’ goals "include blocking the race, scheduled to take place during Labor Day weekend next year, or forcing it to be moved" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/30). In Boston, Stout & Battenfeld note IndyCar racing "has forced other host cities to inject taxpayer money to keep the motors running" -- in one case up to $4M -- "spotlighting the challenges the Hub faces in avoiding a big public tab for the event." While Walsh is "promising not to use taxpayer money for the Labor Day event, the race organizers are now negotiating with state agencies that have jurisdiction over parts of the track and refuse to say whether they’ll tap public funds." The questions are "prompting comparisons to the Boston 2024 Olympic bid, which collapsed amid plummeting support from voters." Critics also are "concerned that a politically connected consulting firm run by former top Walsh aides is representing the Grand Prix of Boston" (BOSTON HERALD 9/30).

TAPPING THE BRAKES: A BOSTON HERALD editorial states the publication is "not exactly reassured by vague pledges that the Grand Prix of Boston ... won’t dip too deeply into the public treasury." The public had "heard those kinds of reassurances before, and from some of the same people." Walsh made assurances that the city "expects reimbursement for any public resources used to support the race. That needs to be made crystal clear in any agreement with race organizers, and applies to every agency involved in these discussions" (BOSTON HERALD, 9/30).