City Council should have brought in a cake.

Views: 290

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Ironically, I actually still haven't crested 300 actual requests, but I'll take the credit for 326 if they want to give it to me.  My FOIA history began in 2009, so in a period of over eight years, I've averaged under 40 per year, around 3 per month, which is one every ten days.  I run an investigative news site and I don't believe our officials unless I can verify their claims.  These people have been caught violating the public trust and lying on several occasions.  I'm actually feeling bad now that I haven't bigger numbers; I guess I am an underachiever (*sigh*).  Thanks for the cake, John, and your words of affirmation, IHAN; I shall endeavor to get those numbers up.

I sent number 327 yesterday asking for the correspondence and other records involving the city and Spence Riggs in 2016.  This should be good. 

CONGRATS BROTHER! You are such a great advocate! I think maybe you should teach a FOIA course for most of us that are not sure on what to do! Bet it is a packed class! Ludington residents don't know how bad it would be w/o you! X keep up the Awesome work! We all need to unite.

Only a corrupt city would keep count and make intimidating statements in public against a citizens voice. Keep up the good work! If you hit 500 I will find a dancing girl to jump out of the cake!

Thank you!

Why is it so hard for the city to be transparent...?

Why not just give you access, don't they understand they'll just have to in the end?  

Or is there more there then even you (or they) know....??

Thank you for understanding the importance of the public having public records at their convenience.  The City of Ludington and many other cities have the capacity to make their community website a fount of information on what they are doing.  But they don't utilize the resource, instead we find out about things that will greatly affect our lives the weekend before the meeting it is often decided on.  Quite often they have been working on this either at the committee level (of which few citizens attend or even know about) or in their secret little meetings in their closed to the public sections of city hall (as recently with the Kiosk Guy deciding the fate of beach parking). 

FOIA request number 328 was sent out last night for the city credit card records over the last two years.  This should be a wealth of data showing the city using public funds for things they shouldn't.  You may recall the $70+ Pizza Hut purchase they claimed was for a workshop in the Shoplift with a Cop article; I can almost guarantee before getting the records that I'll find two dozen or more equally suspect purchases considering what I've seen in their 'paying of the bills' section over that time.  Provided they actually give me these records.  Number 326, whose response I am appealing at the next meeting, was a doozy, I can't wait to explain that one to you before that meeting, but I have a synopsis of this last meeting to do before then. 

What reasons can they really give to deny?   ..Confidential?  Like they're having arms deals with Libya...? 

Basically, over the last 7 years of this or so, all I've witnessed is the Egotistical person of CM Shay to be the final say-so of whom gets info. and whom doesn't. He's been caught in so many illegalities by X, that it isn't funny, he should have been fired long time ago. His only tool to get even is to keep every single request for info. by X denied except via a FOIA request, then has a collusive attorney handling the scant info. available, and the rest is denied. Nothing is going to change until such time Shay resigns, dies, or gets fired, simple as that, and very annoying and sad for him and his cohorts.

They may go back to making charges that go beyond the pale.  The response to #326 had a bill well over $2000 for one recent police report.  Guess who doesn't want it made public.

FOIAs 'R' Us...?  ...Good name for one...?

I should also mention that some public bodies approach FOIA requests in a very silly manner.  When I made a request to the Wexford County Sheriff earlier today, they had a .pdf of 16 pages in length showing the forms they use for FOIA. 

It should be noted first that you are never under an obligation to use a FOIA request form supplied by a public body, in fact it's usually created in order to insure that you won't be able to adequately achieve your purpose, as their design (with few exceptions) is meant to limit your scope and/or maximize their ability to deny your request.

But the county, it appears, would be content to mail you about six-ten form pages in the mail with appropriate checks in appropriate boxes informing you why your request for a page of non-exempt records may cost you dearly. 

Government, as usual, can't figure out how to do anything efficiently.  Did you ever hear the story of my first request sent out to Ludington?  I haven't referred to it recently, but it is the occasion of my 326th FOIA request and it should be recalled as it once again was a giant fee for something that should have been easy to retrieve. 

John Shay was the FOIA Co-conspirator Coordinator then back in the fall of 2009, and I had noticed that the Building Inspector delivered a summary of new building projects each year as he was required to do by the city charter since 1987.  I asked to inspect those summaries at the city hall in a mailed request.  I was sent a bill for nearly $1000 with no explanation.  When I contacted him again, I found out that the bill covered over $100 in copies I never asked for, and what amounted to nearly two weeks of the Building Inspector's time. 

On further inquiry it was learned that they had lost three of the years' summaries during that time, and Shay had thought it would take me two weeks to look through each individual address folder to get information from those three years-- and to keep the records secured and properly kept he would need the BI to babysit me. 

FOIA Coordinator Shay had a lot more moments like this, before the city council finally relieved him from this aspect of his job and replaced him with non-city attorneys who charge attorney rates and at times know little about where documents in the city records may be kept.  The councilors added an extra level of complexity to their process of fulfilling a FOIA request, multiplied the costs dramatically, and told the public it was a great thing.  It's crazy is what it is, and it illustrates how out of touch they are with reality.

Why did I ask for those summaries, you may ask?

To show that the city was failing to enforce their own sidewalk policy time and time again by requiring newly constructed buildings to install sidewalks, then having no sidewalk ever go in.  A practice they still continue to this day while they speak of the importance of walkability and sidewalks.

Ridiculous.. Obviously to hide info.  

RSS

© 2024   Created by XLFD.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service