Combined Sewer Overflow - Cambridge
| Submitted | Oct. 8, 2015 |
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Communications
From: Brian Sparks
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, M.G.L. c.66, §10, I hereby request the following records:
1. All notices from the Cambridge Department of Public Works (DPW) to the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) events from 1 January 2005 to the present.
2. Any database created by Cambridge DPW indicating numbers of CSO events over any period of time.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Brian Sparks
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: MuckRock.com
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request, copied below, and originally submitted on Oct. 8, 2015. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further clarification is needed.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: McKendry, Sean
Mr. Sparks:
My name is Sean McKendry, and I am an Assistant City Solicitor with the City of Cambridge Law Department. Your below public records request to the Cambridge Department of Public Works has been assigned to me.
It appears that your request was sent to a "junk" email folder, and it was not discovered until recently. As this request was made several months ago, I wanted to check as to whether you still want a response from the City. If you do, we will prepare a fee estimate for you in short order.
Please let me know.
Thanks,
-Sean McKendry
Sean M. McKendry, Esq.
Assistant City Solicitor
City of Cambridge Law Department
Cambridge City Hall
Address: 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Telephone: (617) 349-4121<tel:%28617%29%C2%A0367-0808> Fax: (617) 349-4134<mailto:(617)%20349-4134>
Email: smckendry@cambridgema.gov<mailto:smckendry@cambridgema.gov>
This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by return e-mail and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail message and any printout thereof.
From: Brian Sparks
Hi Sean,
Thank you for your response. I am still interested in a response from the city, however I would modify my request slightly.
I would like access to any log created by Cambridge DPW or other city agency indicating frequency of Combined Sewer Overflow events as well as CSO volumes released.
If you have a spreadsheet, for example, on which the city records CSO events, that would be perfect. In order to keep the search narrow, I am specifically looking for CSO events during the years 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016.
In the event that your office does consider fees, I request a waiver as the information gathered will be used for the public interest.
I have previously written about CSO events in Massachusetts - https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2015/dec/15/massachusetts-sewage-map/
Thank you again for your response,
Brian Sparks
From: McKendry, Sean
Mr. Sparks:
Would your modification be in addition to your original request, or would supersede your original request?
Thanks,
-Sean McKendry
Sean M. McKendry, Esq.
Assistant City Solicitor
City of Cambridge Law Department
Cambridge City Hall
Address: 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Telephone: (617) 349-4121<tel:%28617%29%C2%A0367-0808> Fax: (617) 349-4134<mailto:(617)%20349-4134>
Email: smckendry@cambridgema.gov<mailto:smckendry@cambridgema.gov>
This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by return e-mail and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail message and any printout thereof.
-
~WRD000
From: Brian Sparks
Hi Sean,
The modifications supersede the original request.
Thank you,
Brian
From: McKendry, Sean
Mr. Sparks:
It is my understanding that the data you are looking for with respect to 2013 and 2014 is available online at the DPW’s website here: http://www.cambridgema.gov/theworks/ourservices/stormwatermanagement/combinedseweroverflows1/combinedseweroverflowcsodata
In light of this information being online, would you be willing to narrow your request to data for 2015 and 2016?
Thanks,
-Sean McKendry
Sean M. McKendry, Esq.
Assistant City Solicitor
City of Cambridge Law Department
Cambridge City Hall
Address: 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Telephone: (617) 349-4121<tel:%28617%29%C2%A0367-0808> Fax: (617) 349-4134<mailto:(617)%20349-4134>
Email: smckendry@cambridgema.gov<mailto:smckendry@cambridgema.gov>
This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by return e-mail and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail message and any printout thereof.
From: McKendry, Sean
Mr. Sparks:
Following up from my previous email, I also understand that data related to 2015 combined sewer overflows will be available online to the public at the below website by May 1, 2016.
In addition to my question below, would you be willing to narrow your request further in light of the 2015 data being available online to the public in a few weeks?
Please advise. Thanks,
-Sean McKendry
Sean M. McKendry, Esq.
Assistant City Solicitor
City of Cambridge Law Department
Cambridge City Hall
Address: 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Telephone: (617) 349-4121<tel:%28617%29%C2%A0367-0808> Fax: (617) 349-4134<mailto:(617)%20349-4134>
Email: smckendry@cambridgema.gov<mailto:smckendry@cambridgema.gov>
This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by return e-mail and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail message and any printout thereof.
From: Brian Sparks
Sean,
Thank you for your responses, and for the link to the relevant data. Given that the 2013 - 2014 data is online and that the 2015 data will come online in a few weeks, I withdraw this request entirely. Thank you.
Brian Sparks
From: McKendry, Sean
Mr. Sparks:
Thank you for the email.
-Sean McKendry
Sean M. McKendry, Esq.
Assistant City Solicitor
City of Cambridge Law Department
Cambridge City Hall
Address: 795 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139
Telephone: (617) 349-4121<tel:%28617%29%C2%A0367-0808> Fax: (617) 349-4134<mailto:(617)%20349-4134>
Email: smckendry@cambridgema.gov<mailto:smckendry@cambridgema.gov>
This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by return e-mail and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail message and any printout thereof.
-
~WRD000