City Hall Hearing: Petrelis v. Sup. Breed & DA Gascon
[Dated October 20th, but posted today. Bottom line outcome: Breed and Gascon directed to release desired public records as soon as possible, and a full, detailed calendar for the DA.]
There is a hearing today at the Sunshine Ordinance Task Forces's Compliance Committee at 4 pm in Room 400 at City Hall, and I have four complaints that will be adjudicated.
Three are against the staunch anti-open govt practitioner Board of Supervisors President London Breed, who was the only member to vote against Sup. John Avalos's law requiring members to keep and release work calendars.
The other complaint, again, is against District Attorney George Gascon who previously was the subject of a similar complaint to keep a detailed daily calendar. What he maintains is a calendar is an insult to the taxpayers.
These are my items on today's calendar for the SOTF:
File No. 15029: Hearing on the status of the Order of Determination Order - Complaint
filed by Michael Petrelis against President London Breed, Board of Supervisor, for
violating Administrative Code (Sunshine Ordinance), Section 67.21(e), for failure to send
a knowledge representative to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force hearing regarding
failure to respond to an Immediate Disclosure Request in a timely and/or complete
manner.
File No. 15060: Hearing on the status of the Order of Determination: Complaint filed by
Michael Petrelis against President London Breed, Board of Supervisors, for violating
Administrative Code (Sunshine Ordinance), Sections 67.21(e), for failure to send a
knowledge representative to the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force hearing regarding failure
to respond to an Immediate Disclosure Request in a timely and/or complete manner.
File No. 15067: Complaint filed by Michael Petrelis against President London Breed,
Board of Supervisors, for allegedly violating Administrative Code (Sunshine Ordinance),
Sections 67.21 and 67.25, for failure to respond an Immediate Disclosure Request in a
timely and/or complete manner. (attachment)
(a) Determination of jurisdiction on complaint filed by Michael Petrelis against
President London Breed, Board of Supervisors. (Discussion and Action)
(b) Hearing on complaint filed by Michael Petrelis against President London Breed,
Board of Supervisors. (Discussion and Action)
File No. 15063: Hearing on the status of the Order of Determination: Complaint filed by
Michael Petrelis against District Attorney George Gascon and the Office of the District
Attorney for violating Administrative Code (Sunshine Ordinance), Sections 67.25(a) and
67.29-5, for failure to respond an Immediate Disclosure Request in a timely and/or
complete manner and failure to maintain a daily calendar wherein is recorded the time
and place of each meeting or event attended.
Reports, proud muckraking, photos, videos and musings from the veteran LGBT and AIDS human rights advocate Michael Petrelis. Based in San Francisco since 1995. Contact: MPetrelis_at_AOL_dot_com. Vote Petrelis for BART Board District 9 in November!
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query London Breed Calendar. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query London Breed Calendar. Sort by date Show all posts
Friday, March 13, 2015
Sup. 'Hillary' Breed Didn't Delete Her Calendar But . . .
To their credit, Sup. John Avalos and Sup. David Campos both provided me the calendars for everyone in their offices within 24-hours after I filed an Immediate Disclosure Request for those public records. Those records were released in electronic format.
Not so with Sup. London Breed, who's the president of the Board of Supervisors and showing her true colors as no fan of government transparency in a timely and unhindered manner.
Breed received the same request made to Avalos and Campos, for her work calendar from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2025, in an electronic format. Her aide Conor Johnston wrote:
"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under the Administrative Code. You will have a response by March 8."
On March 5, Johnston said Breed would give hard copies of her calender to the Clerk of Board, Ms. Angela Calvillo. Not only was Breed failing to comply with my request for records in a PDF and via email, she didn't provide me with the records directly. Here's the reply from Calvillo's office:
"Due to required review, President Breed’s calendar will be provided to you on an incremental, or rolling, basis as soon as it is available pursuant to the Administrative Code. The Office of the Clerk of the Board will be forwarding you with the remaining responsive records immediately upon review and collection."
Required review? Well, that wasn't necessary from Avalos and Campos. I asked Calvillo's aide to simply put the pages in a copier/scanner hit one button to create a PDF and email it to me. You know, provide a public service to the taxpayer. The reply:
To their credit, Sup. John Avalos and Sup. David Campos both provided me the calendars for everyone in their offices within 24-hours after I filed an Immediate Disclosure Request for those public records. Those records were released in electronic format.
Not so with Sup. London Breed, who's the president of the Board of Supervisors and showing her true colors as no fan of government transparency in a timely and unhindered manner.
Breed received the same request made to Avalos and Campos, for her work calendar from Jan. 1, 2014, through Jan. 31, 2025, in an electronic format. Her aide Conor Johnston wrote:
"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under the Administrative Code. You will have a response by March 8."
On March 5, Johnston said Breed would give hard copies of her calender to the Clerk of Board, Ms. Angela Calvillo. Not only was Breed failing to comply with my request for records in a PDF and via email, she didn't provide me with the records directly. Here's the reply from Calvillo's office:
"Due to required review, President Breed’s calendar will be provided to you on an incremental, or rolling, basis as soon as it is available pursuant to the Administrative Code. The Office of the Clerk of the Board will be forwarding you with the remaining responsive records immediately upon review and collection."
Required review? Well, that wasn't necessary from Avalos and Campos. I asked Calvillo's aide to simply put the pages in a copier/scanner hit one button to create a PDF and email it to me. You know, provide a public service to the taxpayer. The reply:
"Per President Breed, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is not authorized to reproduce her calendar, and the documents are available for pick-up in hard copy only. The estimated page count is 58 pages, and is available at the standard rate of $.10/page. I will be glad to prepare an invoice/receipt for you upon pick-up at the front desk. If you have specific questions about the content of the records, please contact the President Breed’s office."
What politician instructs the third-party to do nothing to make it easy for requester to obtain the responsive public records? One not adequately committed to the spirit and letter of government transparency. Is Breed playing by the Hillary Rodham Clinton rule book for retention and release of her (the public's really) files created on government time, dime and infrastructure? From Calvillo's aide:
"The calendar was reviewed by President Breed's staff. Again, the Office of the Clerk of the Board is merely facilitating delivery of the documents to you as it was dropped off with us for your pick-up. If you have any questions regarding the format or contents, please kindly contact District 5 staff."
I went to Silly Hall, paid the $5.80 and tried to read Breed's calendar. She printed all 58 pages in super small font. I've made them into a PDF, available here, and thanks to modern technology, which Breed isn't interested in using to make her office transparent, just use the enlarge open to read her calenders without needing magnifying glass.
Welcome to the Breed Era, where she will be an adversary of full and easy sunshine principles. Not an admirable quality in the President of the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco. This matter is a subject for the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force to adjudicate when my complaint comes before them.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Sup. Breed Ceases Keeping a Written City Hall Calendar
The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force's complaint committee last week affirmed that the president of the Board of Supervisors, London Breed, is required to provide me and any member of the public with her work calendar. I lodged a complaint with the SOTF because of the various hurdles and delays Breed employed before turning over thirteen-months of monthly calendars.
My request last week to Breed for her February through April 15th calendar brought forth this email from her staffer Conor Johnston:
"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under Administrative Code section 67.25(b). You will have a response by April 26."
But yesterday, I received this curious reply from her new aide Christine Keener, who until recently was an aide in Bevan Dufty homeless coordinator's office:
"Good Afternoon Mr. Petrelis, Supervisor Breed has not maintained a calendar since February 1st, 2015. Per, the charter rules, Supervisor Breed is not required to keep a calendar."
So, the aides had to examine voluminous records, when they don't exist, and then they discover boss Breed stopped keeping a written calendar the day the last date on the calendar of my previous public records request?
Accepting the ludicrous statement in the email from yesterday at face value, it's shocking the POBOS, President of the Board of Supervisors, it's disturbing that Breed has apparently ceased maintaining a calendar simply because this member of the public wanted it made transparent. What does that tell you about the POBOS's commitment to City Hall transparency?
I've lodged a new complaint with the SOTF about this matter and look forward to hearing members of that body question the POBOS and her aides.
San Francisco taxpayers deserve to know how Breed spends her legislative day and who she meets with. I can't believe a very busy supervisor is not keeping a written calendar.
The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force's complaint committee last week affirmed that the president of the Board of Supervisors, London Breed, is required to provide me and any member of the public with her work calendar. I lodged a complaint with the SOTF because of the various hurdles and delays Breed employed before turning over thirteen-months of monthly calendars.
My request last week to Breed for her February through April 15th calendar brought forth this email from her staffer Conor Johnston:
"Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under Administrative Code section 67.25(b). You will have a response by April 26."
But yesterday, I received this curious reply from her new aide Christine Keener, who until recently was an aide in Bevan Dufty homeless coordinator's office:
"Good Afternoon Mr. Petrelis, Supervisor Breed has not maintained a calendar since February 1st, 2015. Per, the charter rules, Supervisor Breed is not required to keep a calendar."
So, the aides had to examine voluminous records, when they don't exist, and then they discover boss Breed stopped keeping a written calendar the day the last date on the calendar of my previous public records request?
Accepting the ludicrous statement in the email from yesterday at face value, it's shocking the POBOS, President of the Board of Supervisors, it's disturbing that Breed has apparently ceased maintaining a calendar simply because this member of the public wanted it made transparent. What does that tell you about the POBOS's commitment to City Hall transparency?
I've lodged a new complaint with the SOTF about this matter and look forward to hearing members of that body question the POBOS and her aides.
San Francisco taxpayers deserve to know how Breed spends her legislative day and who she meets with. I can't believe a very busy supervisor is not keeping a written calendar.
Monday, June 29, 2015
Unanimous SOTF Vote Against Breed Related to Her Calendar
I've been tangling with San Francisco's president of the Board of Supervisors, London Breed, for willfully disregarding sections of the City's open government laws when it comes to my requests for a copy of her work calendar.
In April, in response to my public records request for a duplicate of Breed's calendar for February, she claimed demise of such a public document as of February 1 and this was the basis for lodging a complaint with the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.
At a City Hall hearing, two floors above where Breed and her three paid staffers carry out City business which is supposed to include adhering to sunshine statutes and requests to send a knowledgeable person to SOTF meeting, the complaint committee heard my testimony. Since it was too far and too much trouble for Breed's brooding and hostile legislative aide Conor Johnston to make an appearance, no rep from her office rebutted my claims.
The committee of three voted unanimously to find Breed in violation of the section of law requiring her to have a rep at the complaint hearing. The second matter of failure to produce her calendar couldn't be considered without her rep.
While the SOTF full panel couldn't vote on that matter, it's my contention that Breed's refusal to keep and produce a calendar upon a public request and her ongoing hostility toward existing sunshine statutes is an outrageous display of contempt from the board president.
Breed is again asked by the SOTF to send a staffer to their compliance committee because this complaint of mine is still an open matter.
An Order of Determination was issued on June 29, today, and here are the pertinent sections:
I've been tangling with San Francisco's president of the Board of Supervisors, London Breed, for willfully disregarding sections of the City's open government laws when it comes to my requests for a copy of her work calendar.
In April, in response to my public records request for a duplicate of Breed's calendar for February, she claimed demise of such a public document as of February 1 and this was the basis for lodging a complaint with the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force.
At a City Hall hearing, two floors above where Breed and her three paid staffers carry out City business which is supposed to include adhering to sunshine statutes and requests to send a knowledgeable person to SOTF meeting, the complaint committee heard my testimony. Since it was too far and too much trouble for Breed's brooding and hostile legislative aide Conor Johnston to make an appearance, no rep from her office rebutted my claims.
The committee of three voted unanimously to find Breed in violation of the section of law requiring her to have a rep at the complaint hearing. The second matter of failure to produce her calendar couldn't be considered without her rep.
While the SOTF full panel couldn't vote on that matter, it's my contention that Breed's refusal to keep and produce a calendar upon a public request and her ongoing hostility toward existing sunshine statutes is an outrageous display of contempt from the board president.
Breed is again asked by the SOTF to send a staffer to their compliance committee because this complaint of mine is still an open matter.
An Order of Determination was issued on June 29, today, and here are the pertinent sections:
Wednesday, August 05, 2015
Sup. Breed & DA Gascon to SF Taxpayers: Drop Dead
I have two open complaints before the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, one each pertaining to the calendars of Supervisor London Breed and District Attorney George Gascon.
Neither has been forthcoming with genuine and detailed daily work calendars, and the SOTF was waiting for the revised law requiring the Supervisors to fall under the existing statute mandating that they, like department heads such as the DA, keep and release calendars. That law went into effect on July 1.
Breed has had more than a month to prepare for the release of her June and July calendars, but as we've seen in the past when she's offered up "my dog ate my hard drive" excuses for withholding or setting extreme hindrances, she's still doing all she can to keep her calendar out of public view.
My immediate disclosure request this week to Breed, which requires City officials to provide the responsive records within ten business days, generated this lame response:
"As you can see on the Board of Supervisor’s website, the Board is in recess from July 29 to August 31, 2015, and the next regularly scheduled meeting is September 8, 2015. As such, you will receive a response after September 8, 2015."
There is no provision in the calendar sunshine law exempting Supervisors from meeting their legal requirements merely because they're in recess. It's not as though Breed and her three paid staffers are off visiting Pluto and no one is in her office. Actually, since there are no Supervisors' meetings now, Breed has plenty of time to comply with my request.
With DA Gascon, his public info flack Alex Bastian was instructed by the SOTF in no uncertain terms to have his boss end the habit of listing absolutely no events on the majority of dates of his calendar. When there were listings, they overwhelmingly were for media interviews in his office or at a studio. An ambitious politician has to keep the press happy and Gascon enjoys seeing his mug on TV and splashed across news sites.
Isn't this something? The DA's calendar is kept on paper, not electronically.
Instead of blank days per his custom, Gascon now states on the majority of days: "All day: DA to conduct meetings in office." Meetings with political consultants, members of his staff, schmoozing with donors or interior decorators? He's not divulging such pesky details.
When he does put details on the calendar, it's usually for working the media and on those days interviews are the only listing. No meetings take up the rest of his day apparently.
A 1999 ballot measure passed by the taxpayers mandated the DA maintain a calendar with details about who he meets with and the topics discussed. For Gascon, he can't be bothered with the pesky sunshine laws that apply directly to him.
When it comes to their calendars, Breed and Gascon with hold the public records and resist every effort to have them comply with the law. The message from Breed and Gascon to San Francisco taxpayers on calendars is drop dead.
I have two open complaints before the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force, one each pertaining to the calendars of Supervisor London Breed and District Attorney George Gascon.
Neither has been forthcoming with genuine and detailed daily work calendars, and the SOTF was waiting for the revised law requiring the Supervisors to fall under the existing statute mandating that they, like department heads such as the DA, keep and release calendars. That law went into effect on July 1.
Breed has had more than a month to prepare for the release of her June and July calendars, but as we've seen in the past when she's offered up "my dog ate my hard drive" excuses for withholding or setting extreme hindrances, she's still doing all she can to keep her calendar out of public view.
My immediate disclosure request this week to Breed, which requires City officials to provide the responsive records within ten business days, generated this lame response:
"As you can see on the Board of Supervisor’s website, the Board is in recess from July 29 to August 31, 2015, and the next regularly scheduled meeting is September 8, 2015. As such, you will receive a response after September 8, 2015."
There is no provision in the calendar sunshine law exempting Supervisors from meeting their legal requirements merely because they're in recess. It's not as though Breed and her three paid staffers are off visiting Pluto and no one is in her office. Actually, since there are no Supervisors' meetings now, Breed has plenty of time to comply with my request.
With DA Gascon, his public info flack Alex Bastian was instructed by the SOTF in no uncertain terms to have his boss end the habit of listing absolutely no events on the majority of dates of his calendar. When there were listings, they overwhelmingly were for media interviews in his office or at a studio. An ambitious politician has to keep the press happy and Gascon enjoys seeing his mug on TV and splashed across news sites.
Isn't this something? The DA's calendar is kept on paper, not electronically.
Instead of blank days per his custom, Gascon now states on the majority of days: "All day: DA to conduct meetings in office." Meetings with political consultants, members of his staff, schmoozing with donors or interior decorators? He's not divulging such pesky details.
When he does put details on the calendar, it's usually for working the media and on those days interviews are the only listing. No meetings take up the rest of his day apparently.
A 1999 ballot measure passed by the taxpayers mandated the DA maintain a calendar with details about who he meets with and the topics discussed. For Gascon, he can't be bothered with the pesky sunshine laws that apply directly to him.
When it comes to their calendars, Breed and Gascon with hold the public records and resist every effort to have them comply with the law. The message from Breed and Gascon to San Francisco taxpayers on calendars is drop dead.
Friday, March 06, 2015
Board of Supes Prez Breed Violating SF Sunshine Law?
Sent: Sun, Feb 22, 2015 12:17 am
Subject: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Dear London Breed, Conor Johnston and Vallie Brown,
This is an immediate disclosure request for an electronic copy of your work calendars from January 1, 2014, through January 31, 2015, and please include the names of people you met with and the organizations they work for or represent.
What I am asking for is the same as what I requested and received in less than 24-hours from John Avalos and two of his staffers. Read my post about Avalos' compliance with my request here, with a link to his 130-page pages of calendar info. If you have any questions, shoot them over to me via email.
Please confirm receipt of this request by the close of business on Monday, Feb. 23.
Reply from Breed's aide:
Follow my email trail regarding an important public records request.
From: MPetrelis@aol.comSent: Sun, Feb 22, 2015 12:17 am
Subject: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Dear London Breed, Conor Johnston and Vallie Brown,
This is an immediate disclosure request for an electronic copy of your work calendars from January 1, 2014, through January 31, 2015, and please include the names of people you met with and the organizations they work for or represent.
What I am asking for is the same as what I requested and received in less than 24-hours from John Avalos and two of his staffers. Read my post about Avalos' compliance with my request here, with a link to his 130-page pages of calendar info. If you have any questions, shoot them over to me via email.
Please confirm receipt of this request by the close of business on Monday, Feb. 23.
Reply from Breed's aide:
Sent: Tue, Feb 24, 2015 1:53 pm
Subject: RE: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Subject: RE: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Because of the voluminous nature of the documents that we will need to search to respond to your request, and because of the need to consult with another interested department, we are in invoking an extension under Administrative Code section 67.25(b). You will have a response by March 8.
Conor Johnston
Office of Supervisor London Breed
President of the Board of Supervisors
Me back to him:
Sent: Tue, Feb 24, 2015 2:01 pm
Subject: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Subject: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Dear Conor Johnston,
I have received your reply and look forward to your office responding with the public records requested by March 8th.
FYI, I wish point out that Sup. John Avalos's office responded to a similar request from me in less than 24-hours and I was provided with voluminous records. Avalos's staff sent me a 130 page document.
As a member of the public with no affiliation to Avalos, I wish to suggest you contact his office for assistance about producing calendars in a day or so.
Me to Breed's office again:
Thursday, March 05, 2015 5:25 PM
Subject: Re: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Dear Mr. Johnston,
It is my understanding that the clock started ticking on Monday, Feb. 23rd, and that you should be responding to me with responsive records by tomorrow, Friday, March 6th.
If you have a differing opinion, please let me know. It would be most usual, but nevertheless quite welcome, if you were working on Sunday, March 8th, and sending the records on a weekend.
Finally, I wish to request that all records be provided to me in a PDF. Is that possible?
His response:
Sent: Thu, Mar 5, 2015 5:29 pm
Subject: RE: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Subject: RE: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
14 days from Monday 2/23 is Monday 3/9. We will give hard copies to the Clerk’s office.
Conor Johnston
Office of Supervisor London Breed
President of the Board of Supervisors
My turn to reply:
Sent: Thu, Mar 5, 2015 5:40 pm
Subject: Re: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Subject: Re: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Dear Mr. Johnston,
So you're pushing back the release date one more day? Please explain why.
Also, you can provide any and all records to Ms. Calvillo's office, however, my request was to Ms. Breed, which I believe means she or her aide must provide me with responsive records.
Please clarify if you will not comply with the sunshine laws regarding directly providing the requester with responsive records.
So you're pushing back the release date one more day? Please explain why.
Also, you can provide any and all records to Ms. Calvillo's office, however, my request was to Ms. Breed, which I believe means she or her aide must provide me with responsive records.
Please clarify if you will not comply with the sunshine laws regarding directly providing the requester with responsive records.
When I didn't hear back from Breed's office, I filed a Sunshine Ordinance Task Force complaint and received this response from their administrator:
From: SOTF (BOS)
Sent: Fri, Mar 6, 2015 12:42 pm
Subject: RE: SOTF complaint -Re: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Sent: Fri, Mar 6, 2015 12:42 pm
Subject: RE: SOTF complaint -Re: BOS prez reply -Re: IDR: Calendars from Jan. 2014 thru the end of Jan. 2015
Mr. Petrelis:
I am in receipt of your complaint and will process it accordingly. Thank you. Victor Young
Interesting email trail, wouldn't you say? We'll see what Breed's office does on Monday and find out to whom she sends the responsive records.
Thursday, June 18, 2015
Supe Breed Lies About Her Calendar & Sunshine
There are numerous violations from the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force levied against Supervisor London Breed for her failures to comply with my requests for her calendar.
On June 2, the SOTF went on record expressing dissatisfaction she failed to send one of her three paid legislative aides to the hearing to explain why she ceased keeping a calendar as of February 1, in response to my asking to see a copy of it.
I was amused to watch and listen to Breed at the June 16 Board of Supervisors meeting state on camera that she maintains a calendar and complies with requests to make it transparent. Try telling that to the SOTF, Madame President of the Board.
Frankly, she lies when verbally claiming a calendar is kept and that it's so complex she needs new technology for her and three staffers to keep it current and properly categorized.
Watch this video of Breed lying at the June 16 meeting:
There are numerous violations from the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force levied against Supervisor London Breed for her failures to comply with my requests for her calendar.
On June 2, the SOTF went on record expressing dissatisfaction she failed to send one of her three paid legislative aides to the hearing to explain why she ceased keeping a calendar as of February 1, in response to my asking to see a copy of it.
I was amused to watch and listen to Breed at the June 16 Board of Supervisors meeting state on camera that she maintains a calendar and complies with requests to make it transparent. Try telling that to the SOTF, Madame President of the Board.
Frankly, she lies when verbally claiming a calendar is kept and that it's so complex she needs new technology for her and three staffers to keep it current and properly categorized.
Watch this video of Breed lying at the June 16 meeting:
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Which 7 SF Supervisors Voluntarily Released Their Calendars?
The ordinance states: The SEC. 67.29-5. CALENDARS OF CERTAIN OFFICIALS.
The Mayor, The City Attorney, and every Department Head shall keep or cause to be kept a daily calendar wherein is recorded the time and place of each meeting or event attended by that official, with the exclusion of purely personal or social events at which no city business is discussed and that do not take place at City Offices or at the offices or residences of people who do substantial business with or are otherwise substantially financially affected by actions of the city.
There needs to be more voluntary sunshine from our elected officials and to increase transparency, I am sharing the December 2013 calendars of seven members of the Board of Supervisors and the Clerk of the Board. Unfortunately, San Francisco's Sunshine Ordinance, written by a previous slate of supervisors, exempts supervisors from requiring them to keep and share calendars.
A public records request was sent to ten of the supervisors, the District 8 Supervisor was exempted from my informal survey due to his legal vendetta against me. The first to reply was District 5 Supervisor London Breed: The sunshine ordinance does not require members of the board of supervisors to maintain an official calendar.
Breed copied her reply to the Clerk of the Board Angela Calvillo who seized the opportunity to engage with me about the supervisors' calendars and to her credit, she volunteered to send me her December calendar. You can read it here.
The seven supervisors who provided their December calendars to me without any qualms are as follows, with links to their calendars:
District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar;
District 3 Supervisor David Chiu;
District 4 Supervisor Katy Tang;
District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim;
District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee;
District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen;
District 11 Supervisor John Avalos.
It's my hope that the praise I now offer to these seven supervisors (and to the clerk), for their terrific voluntary acts of complying with my public records request for a one-month calendar (which is a public document regardless of what the Sunshine Ordinance says), will carry some weight for larger sunshine issues.
Big thanks to these seven supervisors and their staffs for not only releasing their December calendars in electronic format but also for doing so quickly!
Maybe Breed, along with Supervisors Mark Farrell and David Campos who never acknowledged receipt of my public records request much less shared their calendars, will join their seven colleagues in making their calendars available for public inspection.
The larger context here, which I've been pushing since last spring, is for all City department heads, whether elected or appointed, the mayor and supervisors, all of whom are our public employees, to voluntarily provide us taxpayers and voters with monthly publication of their calendars on their respective web sites. Let's start to view their calendars are time-sheets for the bosses, the taxpayers.
I am advocating doing away with placing a burden on the citizens to file requests for the calendars. Sunshining the these important public documents must be done regularly and voluntarily, so we can better keep tabs on our City employees. Let's also not overlook my efforts to sunshine the guest lists and costs of Mayor Ed Lee's City Hall parties and his various official functions.
Now, one might think San Francisco Pravda, my nickname for the Guardian, which touts itself as a fabulous government transparency advocate, would pick up on this idea and pay attention to the many calendars I've obtained and shared on the web. However, the Guardian ignores these matters and I can't get their support, I believe, because they are just too myopically focused on bicycling issues, public service unions and the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, and these bread-and-butter transparency issues I'm raising aren't on their radars.
Last week, Guardian writer Rebecca Bowe, who's got a decent sunshine reporting track record, posed and didn't answer these questions:
What if each and every public record — down to every last email, calendar appointment, or police report — were instantly uploaded to a publicly accessible database, easy to locate, and fully searchable? Would that be a check against corruption?
What if the Guardian were to report on related existing citizen's efforts? Hello, Rebecca? There is one blogger who's been advocating on these matter for years. In May 2012, I called for the fire department to make all fire incident reports available for public inspection on their City site. Last April, I obtained and shared the District Attorney's calendar, full of media appearances and pressers, and that of the Sheriff, which was very detailed with his meetings and often said who he met with.
Last week, Rebecca's colleague Steven T. Jones penned a piece titled "Local journalists starting to catch on to Airbnb's subversion of SF's rental market", in which he patted himself on the back and I don't begrudge him doing so for his trailblazing reporting:
Yet I’ve been one of the few local journalists to hound Airbnb over its illegal business model and refusal to pay nearly $2 million per year in transient occupancy taxes that it owes the city. But that may be beginning to change, as pair of mainstream local publications in the last week have cautiously waded into what outside journalists from Time magazine (which specifically mentioned my reporting on the issue)
Sure would be great if the Guardian followed the example of Time and got around to reporting on the reporting and digging I and other sunshine advocates have performed in recent years.
Again, thanks to Avalos, Calvillo, Chiu, Cohen, Kim, Mar, Tang, Yee, and their staffers!
Breed copied her reply to the Clerk of the Board Angela Calvillo who seized the opportunity to engage with me about the supervisors' calendars and to her credit, she volunteered to send me her December calendar. You can read it here.
The seven supervisors who provided their December calendars to me without any qualms are as follows, with links to their calendars:
District 1 Supervisor Eric Mar;
District 3 Supervisor David Chiu;
District 4 Supervisor Katy Tang;
District 6 Supervisor Jane Kim;
District 7 Supervisor Norman Yee;
District 10 Supervisor Malia Cohen;
District 11 Supervisor John Avalos.
It's my hope that the praise I now offer to these seven supervisors (and to the clerk), for their terrific voluntary acts of complying with my public records request for a one-month calendar (which is a public document regardless of what the Sunshine Ordinance says), will carry some weight for larger sunshine issues.
Big thanks to these seven supervisors and their staffs for not only releasing their December calendars in electronic format but also for doing so quickly!
Maybe Breed, along with Supervisors Mark Farrell and David Campos who never acknowledged receipt of my public records request much less shared their calendars, will join their seven colleagues in making their calendars available for public inspection.
The larger context here, which I've been pushing since last spring, is for all City department heads, whether elected or appointed, the mayor and supervisors, all of whom are our public employees, to voluntarily provide us taxpayers and voters with monthly publication of their calendars on their respective web sites. Let's start to view their calendars are time-sheets for the bosses, the taxpayers.
I am advocating doing away with placing a burden on the citizens to file requests for the calendars. Sunshining the these important public documents must be done regularly and voluntarily, so we can better keep tabs on our City employees. Let's also not overlook my efforts to sunshine the guest lists and costs of Mayor Ed Lee's City Hall parties and his various official functions.
Now, one might think San Francisco Pravda, my nickname for the Guardian, which touts itself as a fabulous government transparency advocate, would pick up on this idea and pay attention to the many calendars I've obtained and shared on the web. However, the Guardian ignores these matters and I can't get their support, I believe, because they are just too myopically focused on bicycling issues, public service unions and the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, and these bread-and-butter transparency issues I'm raising aren't on their radars.
Last week, Guardian writer Rebecca Bowe, who's got a decent sunshine reporting track record, posed and didn't answer these questions:
What if each and every public record — down to every last email, calendar appointment, or police report — were instantly uploaded to a publicly accessible database, easy to locate, and fully searchable? Would that be a check against corruption?
What if the Guardian were to report on related existing citizen's efforts? Hello, Rebecca? There is one blogger who's been advocating on these matter for years. In May 2012, I called for the fire department to make all fire incident reports available for public inspection on their City site. Last April, I obtained and shared the District Attorney's calendar, full of media appearances and pressers, and that of the Sheriff, which was very detailed with his meetings and often said who he met with.
Last week, Rebecca's colleague Steven T. Jones penned a piece titled "Local journalists starting to catch on to Airbnb's subversion of SF's rental market", in which he patted himself on the back and I don't begrudge him doing so for his trailblazing reporting:
Yet I’ve been one of the few local journalists to hound Airbnb over its illegal business model and refusal to pay nearly $2 million per year in transient occupancy taxes that it owes the city. But that may be beginning to change, as pair of mainstream local publications in the last week have cautiously waded into what outside journalists from Time magazine (which specifically mentioned my reporting on the issue)
Sure would be great if the Guardian followed the example of Time and got around to reporting on the reporting and digging I and other sunshine advocates have performed in recent years.
Again, thanks to Avalos, Calvillo, Chiu, Cohen, Kim, Mar, Tang, Yee, and their staffers!
Saturday, January 16, 2016
Govt Access Project - Disrupting City Hall Darkness
After collecting lots of calendar data from public servants of all stripes, I've started a new site widening government transparency in San Francisco and beyond - the Govt Access Project.
Please make a donation today via our IndieGogo page or PayPal and support this valuable sunshine effort.
Check out the growing amount of calendars at the Govt Access Project and tell your social media friends about it. Thanks much!
Here's our fundraising appeal explaining our goals:
After collecting lots of calendar data from public servants of all stripes, I've started a new site widening government transparency in San Francisco and beyond - the Govt Access Project.
Please make a donation today via our IndieGogo page or PayPal and support this valuable sunshine effort.
Check out the growing amount of calendars at the Govt Access Project and tell your social media friends about it. Thanks much!
Here's our fundraising appeal explaining our goals:
All elected San Francisco officials,from the Board of Supervisors to City department chiefs, thanks to open government laws, must make their work calendars public but no statute mandates posting the calendars online.
Not a single Supervisor or department chief posts his or her calendar on the web. That must change.
The Govt Access Project will enhance transparency expanding the public's access to govt information, making our leaders fully accountable to voters and taxpayers by showing how they spend their time, issues on their agenda and who they meet with.
GAP needs funding to create a calendar database just a few clicks away for the public and press to access. We're prepared to upload dozens of calendars in our possession.
Here's how GAP will disrupt City Hall's data darkness:
Phase 1 - Gather and store calendar data from Supervisors and other public servants, solicit donations and support: Now till January 15.
Phase 2 - Standardize monthly requests to City Hall officials, follow-up when records are withheld, late or incomplete, develop layout and navigation of database site: Now and ongoing.
Phase 3 – Launch the site with Supervisors' calendar data on January 18; other officials' calendars published January 25.
Phase 4 – Keep calendars flowing from City Hall and quickly posted to our database, raise funds to sustain the project: February onward.
This valuable sunshine effort is a time-intensive project. Funds raised go toward a much-needed computer hardware upgrade and technical assistance, already costing us $1,000, high speed web access, time spent requesting and archiving calendar data.
With your contribution, GAP will deliver enhanced open government and democracy in San Francisco. Tell your friends to also donate, please!
Here is the list of thirty-four public servants whose calendar data will be collected and shared:
Board of Supervisors:
Avalos, John
Breed, London
Calvillo, Angela (Clerk of the Board)
Campos, David
Cohen, Malia
Christensen, Julie (Term ended in November)
Farrell, Mark
Kim, Jane
Mar, Eric
Peskin, Aaron (Term started in December)
Tang, Katy
Yee, Norman
Other Elected Officials and Department Chiefs:
Arts Commission, Tom DeCaigney
Assessor-Recorder, Carmen Chu
Budget and Legislative Analyst, Harvey Rose
City Administrator, Naomi Kelly
City Attorney, Dennis Herrera
City Controller, Ben Rosenfield
Department of Public Health, Barbara Garcia
Department of Public Works, Mohammed Nuru
District Attorney George Gascon
Ethics Commission, LeeAnn Pelham
Fire Department, Joanne Hayes-White
Mayor Ed Lee
Planning Department, John Rahaim
Police Department, Greg Suhr
Office of Citizen Complaints, Joyce Hicks
Recreation and Parks, Phil Ginsburg
San Francisco Airport, John L. Martin
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, Ed Reiskin
San Francisco Unified School District, Richard Carranza
Sheriff, Ross Mirkarimi (Term ends in December)
Sheriff, Vicky Hennessy(Term begins in January)
Treasurer, Jose Cisneros
Vice Mayor, Steve Kawa
Tuesday, June 21, 2016
Sup Cohen Drops 'A-hole' Bomb on #OpenGov over Calendars
She drops the a-hole bomb targeting me and #OpenGov, as you hear in the video.
The biggest foe of sunshine at San Francisco's City Hall is Board of Supervisor President London Breed, who has muddied the waters when I requested her work calendar. She's claimed many dumb excuses for withholding it and was the only Supervisor to vote against Sup. John Avalos's 2015 legislation mandating the Supes keep and release calendars.
Unfortunately, Avalos didn't call for posting the calendars online so the burden in on the public to request them. I filed many requests with the Supes and shared their calendars on my GovtAccessProject.Blogspot.com site.
At the June 9 meeting of the Rules Committee, Breed's BFF, Sup. Malia Cohen, questioned Sunshine Ordinance Task Force member Eric Eldon about personalities of the public seeping into the process. Cohen completely ignores her personality and that of some of her colleagues when requests are made for their public records.
She drops the a-hole bomb targeting me and #OpenGov, as you hear in the video.
Eldon cites my advocacy as an example of how at least one member of the general public uses the SOTF to push forward greater transparency for all citizens, whether the politicians or reporters like me or my tactics.
My only dealings with Eldon have been at SOTF hearings and, of course, I am thankful he understands where I'm coming from and is also backing my idea that City Hall needs to post elected officials' calendars on one site every month.
Interesting how Cohen starts off talking about the lack of "decorum" and "professionalism" on the SOTF then blurts out an epithet. Entitlement does strange things to these politicos.
Let the sunshine reign supreme!
Interesting how Cohen starts off talking about the lack of "decorum" and "professionalism" on the SOTF then blurts out an epithet. Entitlement does strange things to these politicos.
Let the sunshine reign supreme!
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