Why Do Cities Have Liability Protection? (Hint: It’s Not To Protect Them.)
Springfield City Hall. (Source: AlexiusHoratius via Wikimedia Commons.)
A recent return trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, gave me an opportunity to reflect on State Street’s Central Library crossing and the grossly negligent engineering design that has — so far — cost the lives of Destiny Gonzalez (2013), Gayle Ball (2019) and Michael Cooley (2023), along with causing numerous traumatic injuries. This was the backdrop of "Confessions of a Recovering Engineer" and a core theme of our Safe and Productive Streets campaign.
The reason for my return was an invitation to address the Southern New England American Planning Association Conference, which was held just a few blocks from the library crossing. Although I didn’t know this until moments before I took the stage, Springfield’s director of public works spoke in a session before me. (Podcast listeners may remember him from this episode where I interpret engineer-speak for elected officials.) No word as to whether he attended my plenary. The mayor was scheduled to speak right before me but apparently canceled at the last minute. That’s also true to form.
(Source: American Planning Association Massachusetts Chapter via LinkedIn.)
My talk was about safe streets and all the related themes from "Confessions." This came at the very end of the fall leg of the "Escaping the Housing Trap" book tour. I found it exciting to veer off the complexity of housing and back to what is a straightforward, passionate stump speech on street safety and the failures of transportation professionals. The crowd was into it. So was I.
I wanted to close with a focus on State Street, so I threw in three new slides toward the end of the piece. I didn’t know how this would go. When you’re on stage saying things without a script (which is how I do all my talks), you might know generally what you’re going to say, but you don’t know exactly what is going to come out of your mouth. Sometimes it’s clunky. Sometimes it misses the mark. Sometimes it’s absolutely beautiful.
This one turned out beautifully. From memory, here is roughly what I said:
In 2017, I wrote a letter to the city of Springfield offering to come here and assist them, pro bono, in fixing State Street. In the same letter, I said that, if they didn’t take me up on this offer, I would work pro bono for the family of the next person who was killed and help them bring a lawsuit against the city.
When Gayle Ball was killed, I was contacted by the family's attorney. It was then that I learned that, in Massachusetts, there is a limit of liability that caps the damages a city can be forced to pay at $100,000. If the city contested the case, which Springfield was doing, it would hardly pay for the family to bring a lawsuit seeking damages.
It seems unjust — especially in a case like this, where the city’s negligence is so glaring — until you recognize why cities are given this kind of immunity from loss. It is not to protect the city. It isn’t to shield the pocketbook of taxpayers. And it's not to protect you engineers or any other city staff member.
It is so we fix things!
Liability caps like this exist so that we can freely confront and acknowledge our mistakes and then fix them. We don’t need to hide them. We don’t need to cover them up. We don’t need to pretend that we are limited in how we respond.
These limits to liability exist so that we can act boldly in the interest of residents. We can identify problems, find solutions and figure things out. When we fail to do that, when we fail to take action, we do a massive injustice to the public that we are supposed to be serving.
In Massachusetts, fear of liability should never be an excuse for inaction.
Here’s a quote from the local official in charge of the State Street design, taken from MassLive, the local paper:
My friends, don’t be like this public official in Springfield. Don’t hide behind the idea that your city could be found liable for $100,000 in damages when you are approving studies worth multiple times that amount to avoid taking action. Don’t tolerate that kind of behavior. And, if you’re in charge, make sure this person loses their job or gets reassigned to a position where they can’t continue to hurt people.
If you’re a city staff member, if you’re a director of public works, if you're a city engineer, these liability protections aren’t for you. They aren’t for your employer. They are for the people you serve. They are for the public.
Use them to make your streets safe. Use them to build a Strong Town.
Do you want expert guidance in making your streets safer? Registration for the Accelerator winter session is open now. Attendees will get personalized coaching from Strong Towns experts with insights from the book “Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town.”
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Charles Marohn (known as “Chuck” to friends and colleagues) is the founder and president of Strong Towns and the bestselling author of “Escaping the Housing Trap: The Strong Towns Response to the Housing Crisis.” With decades of experience as a land use planner and civil engineer, Marohn is on a mission to help cities and towns become stronger and more prosperous. He spreads the Strong Towns message through in-person presentations, the Strong Towns Podcast, and his books and articles. In recognition of his efforts and impact, Planetizen named him one of the 15 Most Influential Urbanists of all time in 2017 and 2023.