ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – The Cuomo administration has announced the launching of a new website that provides access to the public records of dozens of New York state agencies and public authorities. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that Open FOIL NY is a centralized online location to file Freedom of Information Law requests with 59 […]
Read More… from New York: State launches new Freedom of Information Law website
The New York Post and 13 other news organizations are asking a Manhattan judge to keep open the public’s access to NYPD body-cam footage after the police union sued the city to keep the recordings private. “Because body-worn camera footage and other recordings provide an objective, first-hand account of police interactions with citizens, they can […]
Read More… from New York Post, media outlets sue to keep body-cam footage public
During the first seven months of 2017, only 102 phone numbers dialed by Cuomo — an average of one call every two days — came up in a public records search. Those calls were listed in a state response to a Times Union open records request, which sought the phone numbers Cuomo dialed on any […]
Read More… from Few public records of frequent Cuomo phone calls
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill Wednesday that strengthens the state’s Freedom of Information Law and may make state and local governments think twice before denying access to public records. Under the new law, judges will be required to award legal fees to any citizen who successfully sues to gain access to state […]
Read More… from NY: Gov. Andrew Cuomo signs bill aimed at easing access to public records
The education department is among the least responsive agencies in New York City when it comes to public records requests.
Worse than the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Administration for Children’s Services — and far worse than the NYPD. That’s according to an analysis of a year’s worth of open records requests initially gathered by the Village Voice and subsequently provided to Chalkbeat.
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City Hall wants people to have easier access to things like code violations, pothole locations and other information they're seeking.
Syracuse's innovation office is crafting an open data policy for sharing all sorts of stats on the operation of city government.
Under the new policy, the city would release information on things like outstanding code violations, location of potholes and other data routinely sought by residents. It will also provide analysis of that data and show trends where available.
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Read More… from Syracuse, NY City Hall wants to make it easier for people to look at its data
The family of Ramarley Graham, an unarmed teen killed by police in the Bronx, said on Wednesday they filed a lawsuit against the NYPD after the department didn’t comply with a Freedom of Information Act request.
The filing came on what would have been Graham’s 24th birthday.
Graham was 18 when he was killed in February 2012 after former police officer Richard Haste chased him into his Bronx apartment and shot him as he tried to flush marijuana down the toilet. Haste said he believed Graham was armed, but no gun was found.
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Read More… from Ramarley Graham’s family sues NYPD over Freedom of Information Act request
Getting access to a city of Rochester police report, property record or purchasing data is now a matter of point and click, thanks to a new online process that Mayor Lovely Warren announced Thursday.
An estimated 3,850 open records or Freedom of Information Law requests will come into the city this fiscal year — that's at least one for every hour of business, of every working day. Much of that is pushed through via email messages, file folders and marker pens.
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Read More… from Rochester, NY: City looks to ease access to public records
After months of wrangling with reporters and in court over the disclosure of emails, the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday released a third batch of its correspondence with outside advisers that it has designated as “agents of the city.”
The emails, released in response to a Freedom of Information Law request, totaled more than 1,550 pages and date to the first days of Mr. de Blasio’s tenure, in early 2014, through April 2015.
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Read More… from Emails Released by Mayor de Blasio’s Office Detail Reliance on Outside ‘Agents’
In the wake of bid-rigging allegations on State University of New York projects and alleged misbehavior by police and prison guards, members of the state Committee on Open Government are poised to push for a pair of broad expansions of the state Freedom of Information Law.
One proposal would make so-called quasi-governmental not-for-profit entities subject to FOIL requests. It would apply, for example, to the Fuller Road and Fort Schuyler management corporations, which have handled real estate matters for SUNY Polytechnic Institute.
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Read More… from NY State: Open government experts seek more sunlight
