As I pointed out recently, the Historic Commission decided to go in the opposite direction of open records with regards to the Register of Historic Places database. I could have challenged my rejection because the foundation for the rejection is absolutely false. I am glad I did not, as city workers seem to have their hands tied with full time legal attention to unsupportable cases.
It seems now that the Department of Public Health has decided to follow the lead of the HC by removing the restaurant inspections information from the Environmental Health Services website. The city had been providing this information for several years but only very recently decided to stop. Unfortunately, my calls to EHS have not been returned, and there are no updates about the change on their website. It would be interesting to see if a request for this information would be rejected as well. The data provided by these services was indicative of the direction the city should be taking with Information Services; instead, it continues to reinforce the stereotype of being unhelpful and secretive. Bad, bad city. Regards, John Ellingsworth On Tue, Jul 28, 2009 at 8:45 AM, Glenn moyer<glen...@earthlink.net> wrote: > The new PA open records law brings the best hope for accountability and > transparency in PA state and local government. Here is a plea from the > executive director of the new office of open records. Please consider it and > help. > > We've recently seen how front line government employees are placed between > disenfranchised and betrayed citizens and an unresponsive, secretive and > often corrupt group of powerbrokers. This often leads to open animosity > between front line government workers and citizens while the system itself > remains unchanged. > > Here we see government workers giving their best efforts to restore a > positive direction towards an empowered citizenry and an accountable > democratic government more in line with recognized international standards. > > http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20090728_Open-records_threat.html > > > "The law is 7 months old. With nine people on board as of May, we've met all > our deadlines while processing about 600 appeals, 2,400 e-mails, 1,200 phone > calls and conducting more than 200 training sessions. > > Forty-eight of our decisions have been challenged in the Court of Common > Pleas or Commonwealth Court, requiring nearly full-time legal attention. Our > staff works 12-15 hours a day because they are committed to open government > and ensuring that citizens have access to their government. Sustaining such a > significant budget cut will gut the progress that this Commonwealth has made > regarding open government. " > ---- > You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the > list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see > <http://www.purple.com/list.html>. > ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
