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In Somerville, some requests for public records are more equal than others
By adamg on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 6:40pm
Barry Rafkind compares what the city of Somerville put him through in not turning over records he requested with how they bent over backwards to supply the same records to Joe Bergantino (yes, that Joe Bergantino) - not knowing that Bergantino was asking for the records at Rafkind's request.
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Comments
Whatever you do
Don't let Don Saklad find out about this.
Yeah, reporters are
Yeah, reporters are professionals with deadlines. You're a blogger with a long history of grousing about every last thing the city does, even when it's a charity run, because BAAAAWWWW I only have two days' notice of a road closing between 9-1pm.
They'll give you the info, but you are not their priority.
Just a blogger with a right to know
Dan, I doubt my request for parking ticket data will ever be fulfilled, now more than a year afterward. Also, my complaint about the road race came after I submitted my requests.
Well, I've got a few
Well, I've got a few questions:
What were the fees proposed to you? I only see a discussion of projected costs from Tom Champion.
Are you continuing to pursue this data?
Are the towing information and ticket information are handled by the same vendor?
Why did you, in your test, revise the request from ten years of data to three?
Look, I respect the work you do when you actually cover Somerville citizens. But your work covering the city seems excessively antagonistic, and if that spills over into your professional correspondence with the city, frankly, I'm less than surprised you had this problem.
A little more information
I'm the Communications Director for Somerville. Tom Champion was my predecessor.
Just for the sake of having an open discussion on this, I want to answer your questions (at least from the City end of things).
Mr. Rafkind asked for more than just parking ticket data in his 2009 request. He also requested 311 constituent services work orders and, as he mentioned, towing data (which was supplied to him). The cost of redacting the parking tickets all the way back to 2000 was high because the system used in the early part of the decade necessitates manual redaction. Our estimate is it would take 800 hours of work to complete that task at a cost of $40/hour. That's $32,000 just for the labor involved. It is an enormous request. It was much easier to get the information back to only 2007 because it involved more modern systems.
The 311 work orders was an astronomical request. Personal data on 311 work orders is not stored in separate files and individual work orders may contain information of a confidential or personal nature, which the City obviously cannot divulge to the public. The estimated time for doing that sort of detailed records review of 97,000 work orders was 4,850 hours. That is more than a year’s worth of work for two full-time employees in order to satisfy that records request. It should go without saying that the costs involved with providing that data are prohibitive.
The City has presented the costs associated to Mr. Rafkind and, as far as I'm aware, has not been informed whether he finds any of the costs or alternatives presented to him to be acceptable. I certainly haven't heard anything about this since I took my position in late April (Barry, I'm available for coffee if you ever want to chat).
Towing, as I mentioned above, is a separate vendor and database.
My view is a request is a request and it shouldn't matter who it comes from. If someone asks for information we can put our hands on, then we should supply it. If someone asks for information that requires significant staff time to prepare, then the costs associated with that work will be calculated and presented to the inquiring party. The City also tries to present alternatives, or explanations of which data sets are not easily obtainable, where they exist (something it has done with a recent information request from Mr. Rafkind).
As an aside, mapping where tickets are issued in the City is a good idea, something the City might be able to put into effect on a move-forward basis (obviously we'd first have to consider all the factors that would go into mapping that data). I encourage people not to be shy about approaching City elected officials and department heads with your ideas. We are public servants and we take that responsibility to heart.
Public records?
I didn't realize that public records were only made avilable for the benefit of a particular class of journalists. Here I thought they were supposed to be made avilable to, oh, I dunno, the public?
It doesn't look like he was
It doesn't look like he was denied the records at all; just that the process was slow in the first place, getting all the information cost a lot, and securing the information wasn't the highest priority for whoever had to do it, which is, I think, reasonable in a city of 75,000 residents.
I'm not saying the city couldn't be more efficient in supplying public records, although I will say that when dealing with private citizens, Somerville's remarkably transparent (ResiStat, for starters). I'm saying it's not news that somebody who might have a deadline gets priority over somebody who doesn't.
If you don't like democracy
Move to Somalia or something.
Seriously.
This isn't a "you have to be SPECIAL to local government to get what you want" situation. This is a "have a process and better goddamn follow it and comply in a reasonable time for all comers" situation.
Somebody's deadline is their problem, not the city's. You got! Or do you not think that the SPECIAL people who gave money to Turner and Wilkerson were doing anything wrong to make themselves the City's and the Commonwealth's "priority"?
Heaven help you if you ever move to a state that isn't still disfunctioning on a medieval patronage legal system.
My Money's on SwirlyGrrl
That about covers it. I would add just the following: If you believe that the existence of Resistat is proof that Government in Somerville is transparent, you might consider requesting a refund from whomever taught you critical thinking skills. You, sir, are an easy sell. Does the existence of a Board of Health mean that all restaurants within its jurisdiction are safe and clean, adequately inspected, any violations sanctioned and publicized in the interests of public health? Do you similarly believe that newly-marketed pharmaceuticals are worth their associated risks simply because Big Pharma's bought and paid for Yes Men, whether in Congress or the FDA, sell their stamp of approval? Need an elected official to simply claim to be above reproach in order that you back him or her? Did you/ would you have believed the late ex-President Nixon's declarations that "I am not a crook!" because he said so?
Before you become poster boy for Open Government in this All- America City of ours, take it for a test drive, along with a list of the criteria you personally require before you sign on the dotted line. And read the small print: Patriotism in the 21st Century means you agree to compromise your absolute rights to speak, write and assemble when doing so could appear critical. Don't feel bad; we all have roles to play in a democracy. Why not leave it to the malcontents to play the part of the informed citizenry that struggles to oversee the performance of the Government. You haven't the stomach for it. Besides, who would advocate that the current practice of having those sickly, drug-infested birds guarding their own (hen) house!
Oh- one more thing. Before you return the car after your 10 mile spin, and just for the hell of it, submit a question of your own to the City via Resistat. Be creative- don't make it too easy for them!
Pick an issue that is not the City's strong suit- you know, some problem that needs attention. Think of this as a game, perhaps like setting a model wooden sailboat on the ocean water. Then watch it, carefully. Will it stay afloat, or will it get pulled under by an oncoming wave and swept out to sea, without a trace?
As the ResiStat coordinator,
As the ResiStat coordinator, I would like to think that we do a decent job of answering questions. I generally try to send them to the person with the most expertise related to the question, whoever that is. Are there bottlenecks? Sure. Most of us have a very large workloads. It's rare to leave the office on time. But we always take citizen requests, questions and complaints very seriously.
Just as an FYI, I personally find that the fastest way to find answers to simple questions is to call 311.
Sorry, this is a bit off topic as I think that most people are interested in discussing Barry's request.
Cheers.
Resinonstats
Sorry Mr. Hadley, the rating I would give to the folks at the city's 311 system is a shakey C-.
Very simple requests, they can handle although is sometimes takes a few days.
The more complicated, yet equally important requests for development updates, where to find data on the city's website, who to call for a very specific item, almost always seem to get lost in the bottom of the "in" basket. That has been my experience for the last few years anyway.
The presentations put on during the periodic "ResiShows", are nicely done but are clearly meant as a fluff showcase for the Mayor's pride in all "he" does. More answers and less "The Magic Joe Curtatone Show" would be extremely helpfull to us, the unwashed masses yearning to breathe free.
I suppose that is one way of
I suppose that is one way of viewing the ResiStat meetings. I disagree, but you are certainly entitled to your opinion.
As for 311, my experience using the system has been quite different from yours, apparently, because I would give them a much higher grade. In fact, just this morning I used 311 from my cell to report a work item for DPW.