Mayor Peterson's emails on Sgt. Bangs shooting

January 10, 2014

Dear Mr. Stein,

With regard to your email, we have confirmed with the Mayor’s office
and the Clerk’s office that the request you mention of Jan. 1st was not
received by either of their offices. At this time, the request has been
forwarded to the City Clerk’s office to be processed as a FOIL request.

We are in receipt of your request wherein you request “… police or
incident reports… pertaining to the occurrence of the following at
Ithaca High School… sex crimes, assaults…” which you apparently emailed
to the Ithaca Police Department on January 2, 2014. (The Police
Department forwarded it to the Clerk's office for processing.)

Please be advised that, in order to process your requests for records
in a timely fashion, you must submit FOIL requests directly to the City
of Ithaca Clerk’s Office, whose address is listed on the FOIL
Application Form (attached) and online at FOIL@cityofithaca.org. Please
do not send requests to the City Departments.

Please do not “reply” to this email account. See contact info below.

Sincerely,
Jody Andrew
Executive Assistant
City Attorney’s Office
(607) 274-6504
jandrew@cityofithaca.org


January 10, 2014
Mayor's Office
Public Records Custodian
Mayor's Office
Fourth Floor
City Hall
108 East Green Street
Ithaca, NY 14850
This is a follow up to a previous request:

To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Freedom of Information request,
copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 1, 2014. Please let me
know when I can expect to receive a response, or if further
clarification is needed.
Thank you for your help.

---
On Jan. 1, 2014:
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York State Freedom of Information Law (1977 N.Y.
Laws ch. 933), I hereby request the following records:
All emails or messages exchanged between then-Ithaca Mayor Carolyn
Peterson and members of the Ithaca Police Department related to the
shooting of Shawn Greenwood by Ithaca Police Sgt. Bryan Bangs. Records
requested date from 2009 to 2011. An article about the incident can be
found here:
http://cornellsun.com/blog/2010/08/26/ithaca-race-relations-remain-fragile-after-police-ofcers-house-burned/

I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this
request is in the public interest. 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.
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 5
business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jeff Stein
Filed via MuckRock.com
E-mail (Preferred): requests@muckrock.com
For mailed responses, please address (see note):
MuckRock News
DEPT MR 9817
PO Box 55819
Boston, MA 02205-5819
PLEASE NOTE the new address as well as the fact that improperly
addressed (i.e., with the requester's name rather than MuckRock News)
requests might be returned by the USPS as undeliverable.

January 16, 2014

Re: FOIL Request Received in the City Clerk’s Office
on January 10, 2014
Our FOIL Record No. 1208

Dear Mr. Stein:

Please be advised that your FOIL request wherein you requested “…all
emails or messages exchanged between then-Mayor Carolyn Peterson and
members of the Ithaca Police Department related to the shooting of Shawn
Greenwood...” has been denied for the reasons outlined below.
Your request for “… all emails or messages exchanged between
then-Mayor Carolyn Peterson and members of the Ithaca Police Department…”
is hereby denied because it did not reasonably describe records for the
purposes of locating and identifying the documents you seek.
In accordance with Section 89(3)(a) an agency is only obligated to
comply with a “reasonably described” written request for records. In
interpreting this provision, the Court of Appeals, the State’s highest
court, held in Konigsberg v. Coughlin, 68 NY 2d 245 (1986), that a
request reasonably describes the record sought when agency staff has the
ability, with reasonable effort, to locate and identify the records
sought.
There is a multitude of documents potentially responsive to your
request. City staff would need to review all responsive records to
determine which ones are accessible to the public and which ones (if
any) warrant withholding by law. Therefore, your request is overly
broad and does not meet the requirements of the law.
Sincerely,
Krin Flaherty
Assistant City Attorney

March 19, 2014

Re: FOIL Request Received in the City Clerk's Office
on February 2, 2014
Our FOIL Record No. 1246

Dear Mr. Stein:

Please be advised that with regard to your FOIL request
wherein you requested “…Any and all police or incident reports,
depositions, statements… pertaining to the investigation of the shooting
of Ithaca police officer Anthony Augustine in October 2012…”, we were
recently informed by the Ithaca Police Department that components of
this incident continue to be investigated at a Federal level.

Pursuant to New York Public Officers Law § 87(2)(e)(i), an agency may
deny access to records that are compiled for law enforcement purposes
and which, if disclosed would “…interfere with law enforcement
investigations or judicial proceedings.” As the police report you have
requested relates to an active/pending federal investigation, it cannot
be made public at this time.

We are in receipt of your payment check no. 216 in the amount of $89.
We are unable to refund $20.75, the amount you paid for these records
when the request was granted on February 12, 2014. However, we will hold
a credit of $20.75 on your behalf, which may be used for future FOIL
requests you may file. I apologize for the inconvenience of this error.

If you wish to appeal this denial, you may do so in writing
to the Mayor within thirty (30) days at 108 East Green Street, Ithaca,
New York 14850.

Sincerely,
Krin Flaherty
Assistant City Attorney


2/27/2014 10:45:01 AM

Thanks Jeff. Wasn't trying to rush you but you can understand, with
the amount of time/work involved, I wanted to confirm.

Enjoy your day,
Jody

>>> Jeff Stein <jstein1129@gmail.com> 2/27/2014 10:07 AM >>>
Hi Jody,

I'm really sorry about the delay. I have the check ready but got
squeamish about sending it via snail mail. I live and work in Syracuse
so it's been difficult to find time to get to Ithaca before the office
closes. I should be able to drop it off Friday morning, however, but
again apologize for the confusion. It's great to get such a prompt and
thorough response from a city attorney's office, and I want to
reciprocate that assistance. You'll have the check ASAP.
Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Yes, definitely. And I'm concerned that you haven't received them considering I mailed the CD out on March 17th... See our last email exchange attached.

Let me know,
Jody

>>> Jeff Stein <jstein1129@gmail.com> 4/7/2014 8:17 PM >>>
Hi Jody,
Any chance the docs are ready? Thanks!
Jeff