Hart Island
| Tracking # |
23-083 FOIL-2023-069-00038 |
| Submitted | March 10, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Wesley Lowery
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
-A spreadsheet/list including all people who buried at Hart Island between January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2023, including columns for name, age, gender, race, date of death, and place of death
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, 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,
Wesley Lowery
From: New York City Human Resources Administration
Your request FOIL-2023-069-00038 has been successfully submitted to the Human Resources Administration (HRA).
The details of your request are shown below.
Request Title: Hart Island
Request Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
-A spreadsheet/list including all people who buried at Hart Island between January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2023, including columns for name, age, gender, race, date of death, and place of death
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, 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,
Wesley Lowery
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Requester's Contact Information
Name:
Wesley Lowery
Title:
Not provided
Organization:
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Email:
requests@muckrock.com (mailto:requests@muckrock.com)
Phone Number:
Not provided
Fax Number:
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Street Address (line 1):
Not provided
Street Address (line 2):
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City:
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State:
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Zip Code:
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You can view the request and take any necessary action at the following webpage: https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-069-00038. (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-069-00038)
From: New York City Human Resources Administration
Dear Ms. Lowery,
I write in response to your Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request below, emailed March 12, 2023, seeking:
A spreadsheet/list including all people who buried at Hart Island between January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2023, including columns for name, age, gender, race, date of death, and place of death
Before a determination can be rendered, further review is necessary to assess the availability of records, and the potential applicability of exemptions set forth in FOIL. Please be advised that this office receives numerous FOIL requests per month, which causes delays in our ability to respond to each request. Nonetheless, we estimate that we will be able to respond further to your request within 90 days of this email, and hopefully considerably sooner than that.
Thank you for your request, and please feel free to email with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Avraham Schmeidler | FOIL Assistant
OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS | Legal Process & Records Access Unit
150 Greenwich Street, 38th Floor, New York, NY 10007
T: 929-221-5431
schmeidlera@dss.nyc.gov<mailto:schmeidlera@dss.nyc.gov> | NYC.gov/dss<http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dss/index.page>
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Serving New Yorkers with Care and Compassion
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
If you have received this electronic transmission in error, delete it without copying or forwarding it and notify the sender of the error.
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From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on March 12, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response. You had assigned it reference number #FOIL-2023-069-00038.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: New York City Human Resources Administration
Dear Mr. Lowery,
I write in response to your June 19, 2023 follow up email (not on this thread) and in further response to your Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request below, emailed March 12, 2023, seeking:
A spreadsheet/list including all people who buried at Hart Island between January 1, 2018 and January 1, 2023, including columns for name, age, gender, race, date of death, and place of death
Attached to this email and three more to follow, please find records partially responsive to your request. The records consist of:
Scanned pages from Log Book #19, pages 28-50, dates of burial February 24, 2021 - June 2, 2021;
Scanned pages from Log Book #20, from the beginning to page 50, dates of burial June 2, 2021 - January 21, 2022;
Scanned pages from Log Book #21, pages 4-45, dates of burial January 21, 2022 - September 15, 2022;
A spreadsheet version of Log Book #21, page 45 and on, dates of burial September 22, 2022 - October 27, 2022;
A spreadsheet version of Log Book #22, pages 1-9, dates of burial October 27, 2022 - January 5, 2023 (with the remaining pages omitted as non-responsive, but available if of interest);
A copy of Babies Book 13, dates of burial June 15, 2018 - March 19, 2020, with redactions made in accordance with NY Public Officers Law ("POL") §87(2)(b) so as to avoid an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;
A copy of Babies Book 14, through page 23, dates of burial June 5, 2020 - February 18, 2022 with redactions as above; and
A spreadsheet version of Infants Burials Book 14, pages 29-33, burial dates October 28, 2022 - January 20, 2023, with redactions as above, and with additional pages omitted as non-responsive, but available if of interest.
Note that the agency is in the process of converting the tracking process from log books to spreadsheets; this is what accounts for the difference in format between the earlier burial records and the more recent ones (September 22, 2022 on for adult burials and October 28, 2022 on for the infant burials).
Please be advised that to the extent the requested information is available for the timeframes covered in the attached records, it is contained in those records.
However, if you would like records similar to those being provided but covering adult burials January 1, 2018 - February 24, 2021, and infant burials January 1, 2018 - June 15, 2018 and February 18, 2022 - October 22, 2022, please let us know.
I hope you find these records and this information helpful, and please feel free to call or email with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Avraham Schmeidler | FOIL Assistant
OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS | Legal Process & Records Access Unit
150 Greenwich Street, 38th Floor, New York, NY 10007
T: 929-221-5431
schmeidlera@dss.nyc.gov<mailto:schmeidlera@dss.nyc.gov> | NYC.gov/dss<http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dss/index.page>
[cid:image001.png@01D9A8EE.127BDB10]
Serving New Yorkers with Care and Compassion
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
If you have received this electronic transmission in error, delete it without copying or forwarding it and notify the sender of the error.
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From: New York City Human Resources Administration
(Attached to this email:
"Book 21 Pages 4-45.pdf";
"ADULT BURIALS_BOOK21_PAGE45_PLOT434_GRAVE11_ONWARD2.xlsx";
"20221123_ADULT BURIALS_BOOK22 - pages 1-9.xlsx"; and
"INFANTS BURIALS_BOOK14_PAGES_29-33 - redacted.xlsx".
Attached to previous email: "Log Book #19-Adults Plot 416-419.pdf" and "Log Book #20- Adults Plot 419-427.pdf".
To follow: copies of Babies Books 13 and 14, on separate emails due to their sizes.)
From: New York City Human Resources Administration
Attached: "Babies Book 13 Redacted.pdf".
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From: New York City Human Resources Administration
(Attached: "Babies Book 14 Redacted.pdf".)
Again, I hope you find these records and this information helpful, and please feel free to call or email with any questions or concerns, or if additional records would be of interest.
Sincerely,
Avraham Schmeidler | FOIL Assistant
OFFICE OF LEGAL AFFAIRS | Legal Process & Records Access Unit
150 Greenwich Street, 38th Floor, New York, NY 10007
T: 929-221-5431
schmeidlera@dss.nyc.gov<mailto:schmeidlera@dss.nyc.gov> | NYC.gov/dss<http://www1.nyc.gov/site/dss/index.page>
[cid:image001.png@01D9A910.9FB8A770]
Serving New Yorkers with Care and Compassion
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
If you have received this electronic transmission in error, delete it without copying or forwarding it and notify the sender of the error.
-
image001
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