Articles by Greg Smith from The City

NYCHA Bungles Lead Paint Clean-up as it Blows Deadline, 6/3/19 

NYCHA Lead ‘Emergency’ As Clean-up Falters and Child Poisonings Rise, Greg Smith 7/22/19 

Gnawing Problem: NYCHA Far From Meeting Rat Fix Deadline, 8/1/19 

Articles on using FOI for reporting

How The Times Uses FOIA to Obtain Information the Public Has a Right to Know 

Daily News article on difficulty of getting electronic communications

FDA Database of medical device complaints which was hidden from the public.

FOIL refers to the NYS Freedom of Information Law 

FOIA refers to the Federal Freedom of Information Act

For other States’ Laws see the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press’ Open Government Guide

Discuss the readings and the purpose of FOI Laws.

Greg Smith of The City and formerly of the NY Daily News has been covering NYCHA for years and uses FOIL request to get access to audit reports, letters and other documents that help him add narrative to his stories that go beyond data. 

• FOIL Deniable Records (exemptions) NYS Dept of State Committee on Open Government.
• FOIA Exemptions Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Typical exemptions to FOI:
• Records are part of an ongoing investigations
• National security exemption
• Disclosure would result in an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy
• Internal communications of deliberations on policy issues between government agents are typically exempt from FOI, but the final policy decision documents are not exempt

Remember that you are requesting documents or records from a government agency, NOT ASKING QUESTIONS!

Search for the records on the agency’s website or an Open Data websites like NYC Open Data, using keywords that describe the record. It may help to call the public records officer to ask for the records before you do a formal request, and maybe they can help your find the name or a description of the record or document. Could the records be maintained by a private company that does government business? Find a stakeholder, like an organization, who may have already FOILed the records.

You must be able to identify or describe the records or documents you seek. Start searching by topic to see what FOI requests have been done before (maybe you can just do an updated request), or see what exists in other states or jurisdictions, then duplicate a similar request in your state. Search these sources by agency to see what requests already exist.

Search these sources for previously filed FOILs on NYCHA, the NYC Housing Authority. See if you can find any previous requests on NYCHA Evictions.

• Google
• Search Muckrock archive for similar requests by topic or by agency.
• DocumentCloud
• NYSCOG advisory opinions (for FOIL)
• Agency subject matter lists, a subject matter list is a list or types of records kept by an agency. It may give insight into what your record or document is called or describe it. Google “subject matter list” NYS “environmental conservation – NYC agencies are not as complaint with compiling these lists.
• FOI Reading Rooms for an agency provide access to the records released via previously filed FOI requests. Here is one for NYS: https://www.ny.gov/open-foil-ny/open-foil-ny-reading-room

Discussion after exercise

Students may have found this previous FOI request: https://www.nycbar.org/pdf/report/uploads/20071995-RecommendationsreTerminationofTenancyProceedings.pdf Note the name of the record is “termination of tenancy.” Discuss the value of making these particular records available to the public. 

You can follow templates or sample letters listed below, but your request must include all of these components:

• Begin with the full title of the FOI Statute, for example: “Pursuant to the New York State Freedom of Information Law (1977 N.Y. Laws ch. 933), I hereby request the following records:”
• Be specific and describe the record you are requesting.
• Always ask for a fee waiver!! “I am a journalist and ask that any fees be waived as this request is in the public interest and the requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge. This request is not being made for commercial purposes.”
• Specify the format you want to receive the records in. Ask for the records in machine-readable format, where possible.
• Include your contact information.
• Limiting the scope of the records will improve the timeliness of the fulfillment of your request.
• You can also use keywords, dates, names, titles, and locations to limit your request and improve response time. “I’m requesting all emails including attachments between Daniels and VendorX regarding technology contracts since January 2017.”
• Conclude your letter stating the statutory response time [NYS FOIL allows for five days to acknowledge, and 20 to respond to a request. Federal FOIA: 20 days to respond]: “Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.”

• FOIL Sample Letter NYSCOG
• FOIA Sample Letters National Freedom of Information Coalition
• Muckrock’s Database of FOI Requests
• Guantanamo Bay VIP Visitors – received responsive documents
• Report on Recidivism of Individuals Detained at Gitmo – request was rejected
• NYCHA FOIL Example & Advisory Opinion Example
• Resnik FOIL Example 

Take two weeks to craft a valid FOIL request letter on a topic you are working on. Do the research described in this lesson to make sure the info isn’t already publicly available and that you are describing it specifically. Make sure your request letter is properly formatted. Do not submit your FOIL request until your professor has reviewed it with you.

Have students answer these three brief concluding reflection questions on paper or through an online service like Socrative:

3. Write down three takeaways from this lesson;

2. Write down two questions you still have after this lesson;

1. Write down the one thing you enjoyed the most about this lesson.