Chicago hit with lawsuit over its Hyperloop tunnel deal with Elon Musk

Tesla
CEO and founder of the Boring Company Elon Musk, right, and
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel speak at a news conference, Thursday,
June 14, 2018, in Chicago.

AP
Photo/Kiichiro Sato

• The Better Government Association has filed a lawsuit
  against the city of Chicago for
  allegedly failing to release documents pertaining to the city’s
  agreement with Elon
  Musk’s The
  Boring Company over a planned hyper-loop tunnel
  project.
• “We feel the city needs to comply with the Freedom of
  Information Act that says the public records should be made
  available, given the mayor has made a final selection,” BGA
  President David Greising told Business
  Insider. 
• Chicago Mayor Rahm
  Emanuel
  officially announced the choice of the Boring Company
  to build and operate the high-speed underground tunnel from
  downtown to O’Hare International Airport in
  June. 
• “We will vigorously defend against this suit, which is
  without merit because the final contract does not yet exist,” a
  spokesman for Chicago’s Law Department told
  NBC 5 Chicago.

  ---

The Better Government Association has filed a lawsuit against the
city of Chicago for allegedly failing to release documents
pertaining to the city’s agreement with Elon Musk’s Boring
Company over a planned underground tunnel project. 

The lawsuit by the Better Government Association (BGA),
which can be read here, was brought against the City of
Chicago Mayor’s Office and the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, and
cites a need to “obtain transparency into Defendants’ selection
of The Boring Company for the O’Hare Express System
Project.” 

“The main impetus (for the lawsuit) is we’re very interested in
the plan for an express train to O’Hare now that a contractor has
been selected,” BGA President David Greising told Business
Insider on Monday. “We feel the city needs to comply with the
Freedom of Information Act that says the public records should be
made available, given the mayor has made a final selection.”

The Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) is a federal law established in
1967 that allows for the full or partial disclosure of
previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the
United States government.

BGA is a non-partisan, non-profit watchdog based out of downtown
Chicago whose website advocates “working for transparency,
efficiency and accountability in government across
Illinois.”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
officially announced the choice of The Boring Company to
build and operate the high-speed underground tunnel from downtown
to O’Hare International Airport in June, which included
a press conference and interview with CBS. 

Greising said he is aware the city has not yet finalized
its contract with The Boring Company, but believes FOIA records
request for qualifications and bids are “fairly basic” and should
be accessible. 

“They’re saying that this is a pre-decisional information
and what we say is that when you hold a press conference to
announce that you’ve selected a contractor to build this, a final
selection has been made,” said Greising to Business
Insider. 

“We will vigorously defend against this suit, which is
without merit because the final contract does not yet exist,” a
spokesman for Chicago’s Law Department told
NBC 5 Chicago.

Greising said he is not sure if either the Boring Company or the
Mayor’s office is behind the refusal to release the requested
records pertaining to the deal. 

“We have no information on who may be resisting the information,
all we know is the city is declining to turn over the records
that we’re seeking,” Greising said.