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City Bureaucrats Playing Footsie with Law Dept.
Not Providing Access to Public Records
By Ed Goppelt
Thursday, 01/30/03
(1043930629566)
The guy behind bullet proof glass was firm: he wasn't going to talk to me, much less release my car, until I gave him my driver's license. All this because in a moment of weakness I parked where I shouldn't have. Having my car towed cost me $150, a few moments of extreme anxiety and several hours of running around. It was a nasty way to end a pleasant Sunday morning brunch with friends.
In my experience, the consequences of not following the rules for normal people tend to be swift and severe. So what happens when our City bureaucrats break the rules?
Not much.
Back in October I asked Commissioner Joan Decker of the Records Dept. to let me inspect certain public records. I asked to look at two things:
There is no question that both these items are public records. The first is defined as a public record in the Law. And the Records Department regularly provides for-profit companies with the second.
What happened when I tried to exercise my right as a Pennsylvania citizen to inspect public records?
The short version: The Records Department spent two months talking to the Law Dept., then attempted to charge me exorbitant fees.
For the long version, read my suit (short version or long version) against the Records Department which I filed yesterday. Among other things the Department wanted to charge me $400 a month for records that I estimate would cost them $1.74 to provide.
Unfortunately, these kinds of games appear to be a hallmark of City government in general and the Administration of Mayor John F. Street in particular. Last week I sued Mayor Street's Revenue Commissioner, Nancy Kammerdeiner after making three attempts to get the list of real estate tax delinquencies (Call it Hallwatch's Zero Tolerance Policy: Three Strikes and You're Out). If you think City government should follow the law and provide public records to the public tell the Mayor.