Tell City Council and the Mayor Public Records Should Be Public!

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Tell City Council and the Mayor Public Records Should Be Public!

Tell the Mayor and City Council that Public Records Should be Public!

Dear Hallwatch User:

Open Records keep officials honest and governments efficient. If the public can't examine public records, officials have no incentive to do a good job. In my opinion, it's no accident that Philadelphia ranks near the bottom of the Country when it comes to jobs and schools.

In order to know where need to go as a City, we need an accurate picture of where we are now. We need to know the score. Can we trust local officials to tell us the unvarnished truth about important questions like:

What challenges does our City face?
What parts of City government most need improvement?
How good a job are City officials doing?

Many of the services provided on Hallwatch depend on the availibility of public records. The Hallwatch real estate pages and City Council Bills database, are all based on public records. There are other services I'd love to offer:

Agency Records Requested Potential Service Date Requested Status of Request

Revenue Dept. Addresses of absentee landlords Ability to find owner of a vacant or nuisance property. 1/03 Not granted.
Revenue Dept. says providing addresses would invade the privacy of absentee landlords.

Board of Elections of the City Commissioners Voter Rolls A service that allows you to find which elected officials represent you. 4/9/01 Not granted.
Received first reply to request on 1/21/03, almost two years after initial request. Commissioners continue to consider my request.

Agency	Records Requested	Potential Service	Date Requested	Status of Request
Revenue Dept.	Addresses of absentee landlords	Ability to find owner of a vacant or nuisance property.	1/03	Not granted. Revenue Dept. says providing addresses would invade the privacy of absentee landlords.
Board of Elections of the City Commissioners	Voter Rolls	A service that allows you to find which elected officials represent you.	4/9/01	Not granted. Received first reply to request on 1/21/03, almost two years after initial request. Commissioners continue to consider my request.

Legal Action Not Enough

I am currently suing for the release of many of these records in the City officials who refuse to share public records. Please take five minutes of your time to tell Mayor Street and City Council that you want the same unrestricted access to our Community's public records that City Hall insiders and bureaucrats currently enjoy.

Public information should be just that: public.

Thanks for your help! Without the support of committed citizens like you, I would not be able to offer the Hallwatch service.

Sincerely Yours,

Ed Goppelt
Webmaster@Hallwatch.org

Yes, I will take five minutes to write the Mayor that public records should be just that public!

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