Unfortunately, my calls to EHS have not
been returned, and there are no updates about the change on their
website. It would be interesting to see if a request for this
information would be rejected as well.
John,
I don't know if citizens know that many city departments or their leaders have
completely separate confidential phone numbers. One of the 311 operators gave
me one of those numbers for the Bureau of Administrative adjudication. (I
courteously and professionally explained to her the problem with what I call
the phone lines to nowhere.)
I could tell that this 311 operator must have fielded many calls from irate
citizens with bogus tickets and was tired of covering for her fellow employees,
who ignore the published phone numbers. These secret confidential numbers are
also the numbers that city council staff can use if they actually want to look
into an issue for good citizens.
I have no doubt that your calls, which were ignored, were both courteous and
professional!
John, 99.9% of ordinary Philadelphians do not have the time, resources, or
frankly the desire to file lawsuit against the city government. That is how
the secretive status quo has been maintained at departments like the PHC. I
too have decided not to sue the city on several occasions in which I would have
prevailed, had I been willing to sacrifice myself.
My understanding of the office of public records is that it was designed by
some of the legislators who crafted the new PA Right to Know Law. A right to
know law existed in PA prior to the updated legislation. But municipal
governments knew that lawsuit was the only legal remedy and protected secrecy
by routinely denying requests just as you describe. (Note: I was actually
successful acquiring the true public records at PHC because I calmly and
professionally explained to the director, not only the PA Right to know law,
but also that I would initiate a lawsuit if I was denied access. The PHC
director had witnessed my public testimony about their records and understood
my determination and understanding of this tactic.)
Now, the new state office, which could have intervened with denials such as you
describe, is going to be crippled by denying it funding. When elected
officials cannot openly vote against popular legislation like the open records
law, killing it through under funding is a standard tactic.
Many people understand that government is generally going in the wrong
direction, and they believe the anecdotes which we share, like your recent
discovery. I am firmly convinced that our city solicitors are well aware that
99.9% of citizens will not be able to follow through in court and they
flagrantly ignore the PA Right to Know Law and simply use false reasons to deny
requests.
Look at the numbers given by the executive director of the brand new office!
Obviously, huge numbers of citizens around the state have been denied requests
for public information! The corporations who control our elected officials do
not want an empowered citizenry looking into their backroom dealings!!
Thanks for sharing your discovery,
Glenn
-Original Message-
From: John Ellingsworth j...@ellingsworth.org
Sent: Jul 28, 2009 11:04 AM
To: Glenn moyer glen...@earthlink.net
Cc: univcity@list.purple.com
Subject: Re: [UC] PA open records in trouble
As I pointed out recently, the Historic Commission decided to go in
the opposite direction of open records with regards to the Register of
Historic Places database. I could have challenged my rejection
because the foundation for the rejection is absolutely false. I am
glad I did not, as city workers seem to have their hands tied with
full time legal attention to unsupportable cases.
It seems now that the Department of Public Health has decided to
follow the lead of the HC by removing the restaurant inspections
information from the Environmental Health Services website. The city
had been providing this information for several years but only very
recently decided to stop. Unfortunately, my calls to EHS have not
been returned, and there are no updates about the change on their
website. It would be interesting to see if a request for this
information would be rejected as well.
The data provided by these services was indicative of the direction
the city should be taking with Information Services; instead, it
continues to reinforce the stereotype of being unhelpful and
secretive. Bad, bad city.
Regards,
John Ellingsworth
On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 8:45 AM, Glenn moyerglen...@earthlink.net wrote:
The new PA open records law brings the best hope for accountability and
transparency in PA state and local government. Here is a plea from the
executive director of the new office of open records. Please consider it
and help.
We've recently seen how front line government employees are placed between
disenfranchised and betrayed citizens and an unresponsive, secretive and
often
