Today's San Mateo Journal article:
http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2013-11-20/flightcar-sues-over-shutdown-personal-car-rental-company-targets-city-of-millbrae-over-pulling-of-use-permit/1776425113653.html
We've seen this behavior before resulting in unnecessary litigation and lawsuits for the city of Millbrae.
What role is the city attorney playing in allowing the city council to expose themselves to a lawsuit? Why was there no formal abatement process and progressive discipline/corrective action pursued with FlightCar? You can't simply kick out a business because folks on the planning commission think it's a "failed experiment". There are rules, laws, and procedures.
Think about all the wasted time, money, and resources the city is going through now. The city attorney isn't going to defend the City of Millbrae from this lawsuit for free. What if they settle out of court?
I have literally seen a quarter of a million dollars of extraneous discretionary spending happen in the last 3-4 months. This lawsuit even settled out of court could easily cost another quarter million at the very least for the wages of the employees lost, relocation fees, and other unnecessary costs the city will be burdened with because they arbitrarily decided to kick FlightCar out of town.
That money could have easily rectified whatever minor problems were raised by FlightCar.
I have to state I'm extremely disappointed in the end result here and in the end *again* you the taxpayer will shoulder the burden of these expenses I'm sad to say. This is not a course of action I would have approved or consented to doing - I would have sat FlightCar down and drafted legally binding abatement procedures and a corrective action plan to minimize legal liability.
Things just stay the same in our little town. Wasn't the last election about encouraging businesses and "startups?
