The Boston Herald has come under fire from rival media outlet Bostinno for what appears to be selective reporting regarding the planned 2016 Boston IndyCar race.

The Herald, a long-standing critic of the event, ran a story on Monday under the headline ‘Mayor gives ultimatum to IndyCar’, which claimed that Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh is “demanding IndyCar promoters get their act together, issuing an ultimatum to ‘finalize’ deals with state agencies soon, in a major toughening of his stance on the planned Labor Day road race.”

Supporting the story’s hardline premise, the Herald cites an e-mail written by Patrick Brophy, Walsh’s operations chief, to Boston IndyCar executive Jim Freudenberg, where Brophy states: “It is expected that your team will finalize agreements with all interested parties within the next two (2) weeks. Please be advised that the Mayor grows increasingly concerned with the progress (or lack thereof) of those discussions.”

However Bostinno has followed up with a story claiming that the Mayor’s stance was misrepresented through the use of selective quotes, and reprinted a leaked copy of the email in full. Viewed in context, Brophy’s communication seems less threatening than implied by the Herald, and more focused upon planning, goal-setting, and expectations.

Boston GP organizers have declined to comment.

The email in full:

Jim,
Thanks for your time on Wednesday, it was a pleasure meeting you and the new members of your team. We greatly appreciate your willingness to appropriately increase your staff and pay for municipal services.

As evidenced in our meeting, we are interested in helping to coordinate technical city expertise in an effort to further detail the actions and assurances necessary to acquire the City permits for use of Boston’s city services, roads and infrastructure for your proposed event. As described in our meeting on Wednesday, we expect logistical coordination to occur via Boston’s Special Events meeting(s). My staff will be in touch to schedule a time for you and your team to attend and further detail your critical path and present required deliverables.

Thank you for the invite to your proposed meeting next Thursday @ 2PM, however, I have a conflict and will be unable to attend. Please feel free to schedule your meetings with any/all stakeholders as you deem necessary.

On another note, there are a couple of items that warrant clarification:
During our discussion on Wednesday, one of your team members referenced a schedule of advance event ticket sales within the next 15-30 days. Please refrain from that course of action until you have written agreements from all governing bodies representing proposed course property.

As you are aware, a predicate to agreements and permit acquisition is the outcome of your discussions with local neighborhood, civic and business associations. Mayor Walsh feels strongly that overall community “buy-in” and timely resolution of all financial terms for this proposed event are paramount to his final approval.

Outside of the City’s purview, yet equally important to the success of your proposed event, is the progress of negotiations with our partners in the federal, state and quasi-public agencies. It is expected that your team will finalize agreements with all interested parties within the next two (2) weeks. Please be advised that the Mayor grows increasingly concerned with the progress (or lack thereof) of those discussions.

Please let me know how your negotiations with USPS, MassPort, MCCA & MassDOT progress.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation and I look forward to your timely updates.

PB
Patrick Brophy
Chief of Operations
Office of Mayor Martin J. Walsh