New York city – National Freedom of Information Coalition

NYC: Open Data Compliance the Focus at Oversight Hearing

Posted on

The New York City Council’s Committee on Technology held an oversight hearing Tuesday to evaluate the progress being made by the city in tracking compliance by government agencies with the city’s open data law.

The Mayor’s Office of Data Analytics (MODA) has been conducting what is essentially an audit, the “Examination and Verification Plan,” to gauge each agency’s status regarding its publication of required data sets on the Open Data Portal, an online access point meant to open government to the public.

[…]

NYC: Mayor Says He Is Prepared to Go to Court to Keep Emails Between Himself, ‘Agents of the City’ Out of Public Eye

Posted on

Mayor Bill de Blasio says he is prepared to go to court to fight a Freedom of Information lawsuit filed by NY1 and the New York Post.

The battle centers on the mayor’s refusal to release emails with five outside advisers known as "agents of the city."

Continue…

[…]

Foiled by FOIL: How NYC agency has dragged out a request for public records for nearly a year.

Posted on

Ten months ago, three teenaged boys who had escaped from a group home in Brooklyn were arrested for the violent assault and rape of a woman in Manhattan. The boys had been placed in the home as part of a program run by New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services, which had been seeking alternatives to formal detention facilities for troubled youngsters caught up in the juvenile justice system.

[…]

A New Website for the New York Senate?

Posted on

Its reputation may have been battered by scandal, convictions and periodic crisis, but the New York State Senate has one thing going for it over Albany’s often similarly beleaguered State Assembly: a new website.

The “fresh and interactive” design of the site (nysenate.gov) is an attempt to make the website more accessible not only for constituents but also for the senators. Continue…

[…]

New York: City to focus on making open data more accessible

Posted on

The administration is planning an emphasis on making open data more accessible to the broader public in its annual update to the city's open data plan.

The annual update on July 15 is a key component of the city's open data law passed in 2012, and this year marks the first update under chief analytics officer Amen Ra Mashariki, who assumed his position last fall. Continue>>>

======

[…]

EXCLUSIVE: Top de Blasio aides use personal accounts for city-related emails despite mayor’s transparency promise

Posted on

So much for transparency. Two top deputies of Mayor de Blasio, who campaigned on creating a new era of government openness, commonly use their personal Gmail accounts to discuss city-related issues, the Daily News has learned.

[…]

Minimal Transparency in Mayor’s FOIL Tracker Compared to Federal Website

Posted on

The web page set up by Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office to track freedom of information document requests pales in comparison to the government transparency standards currently in place at the federal level.

The mayor’s office introduced its Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request tracker website on June 9. That website merely displays the dates on which requests were received and decided upon and the status for each request.

[…]

A 30-month legal fight to conceal e-mails about a 95-day schools chancellor

Posted on

From the New York Times: If you have lost three consecutive times in court on the same legal fight, with not a single judge giving you the time of day, and one of them saying that your main argument is “particularly specious,” what would you do?

If you’re the City of New York, it’s simple: file another brief with another court. And lose yet again.

[…]

NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for April 26, 2013

Posted on

A few state FOIA and local open government news items selected from many of interest that we might or might not have drawn attention to earlier in the week. While you're at it, be sure to check out State FOIA Friday Archives.

New Mexico court nixes damages against NM attorney general

[…]

NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for February 8, 2013

Posted on

Access Freedom of Information Read More… from NFOIC’s State FOIA Friday for February 8, 2013