Reopening guidance communications
| Tracking # |
FOIL-2023-002-01011 |
| Submitted | Dec. 15, 2023 |
| Due | Dec. 22, 2023 |
| Est. Completion | May 16, 2024 |
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Communications
From: ALEXANDER RICCIO
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
For the following records holders/custodians:
He yong Zheng
Ricky Fontenelle
Ziemowid Dobrowolski
Taiwo Adebo
Ricky Chung
Kenneth Wong
Taiwo Adebo
Gemmell Portelli
Marco Botticelli
Richard Brown
Mohammad Yusuf
Crystal Thomas
For the following terms:
proactive, 311, mask, distancing, soap, sanitizer, cleaning, screening, reopening, HVAC, thermometer, barrier, central air, ventilation, filtration, COVID, airborne, aerosol, respirator, n95, infection, safety, droplets
Between January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2022.
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,
ALEXANDER RICCIO
From: Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement
Your request FOIL-2023-002-01011 has been successfully submitted to the Mayor's Office (OOM).
The details of your request are shown below.
Request Title: Reopening guidance communications
Request Description: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the New York Freedom of Information Law, I hereby request the following records:
For the following records holders/custodians:
He yong Zheng
Ricky Fontenelle
Ziemowid Dobrowolski
Taiwo Adebo
Ricky Chung
Kenneth Wong
Taiwo Adebo
Gemmell Portelli
Marco Botticelli
Richard Brown
Mohammad Yusuf
Crystal Thomas
For the following terms:
proactive, 311, mask, distancing, soap, sanitizer, cleaning, screening, reopening, HVAC, thermometer, barrier, central air, ventilation, filtration, COVID, airborne, aerosol, respirator, n95, infection, safety, droplets
Between January 1, 2020, and January 1, 2022.
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,
ALEXANDER RICCIO
Upload documents directly: https://www.muckrock.com/
Requester's Contact Information
Name:
Alexander Riccio
Title:
Not provided
Organization:
Not provided
Email:
requests@muckrock.com (mailto:requests@muckrock.com)
Phone Number:
Not provided
Fax Number:
Not provided
Street Address (line 1):
Not provided
Street Address (line 2):
Not provided
City:
Not provided
State:
Not provided
Zip Code:
Not provided
You can view the request and take any necessary action at the following webpage: https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011. (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011)
From: Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement
The Mayor's Office (OOM) has acknowledged your FOIL request FOIL-2023-002-01011. (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011) You can expect a response on or about Thursday, February 22, 2024.
Please visit FOIL-2023-002-01011 to view additional information and take any necessary action. (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011)
From: ALEXANDER RICCIO
Is OOM/OSE likely to meet the estimated completion date of Thursday, February 22, 2024?
This is sixty days to completion. In my experience with OOM, this would be record time. I struggle to find it reasonable to assume that is correct.
From: ALEXANDER RICCIO
I have yet to receive acknowledgement of my 12/21/2023 communication.
In my prior experience with OOM, estimated completion dates appear to be fanciful, if not outright lies by way of applying the "bulk extend" function in the open records portal instead of individually giving an honest estimate.
From: ALEXANDER RICCIO
Hello hello, please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?
Is there anything you can forsee which is highly likely to cause the agency to miss the estimated completion date?
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following New York Freedom of Information Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Dec. 17, 2023. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Feb. 22, 2024. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date. You had assigned it reference number #FOIL-2023-002-01011.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement
The Mayor's Office (OOM) has extended the time to respond to your FOIL request FOIL-2023-002-01011 for the following reasons: (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011) You can expect a response on or about Thursday, May 16, 2024.
Additional Information:
Due to the volume of requests that we have received, we are extending the due date on this request.
Please visit FOIL-2023-002-01011 to view additional information and take any necessary action. (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011)
From: ALEXANDER RICCIO
I am appealing on grounds of constructive denial.
On 12/21/2023, I sent the following communication:
Is OOM/OSE likely to meet the estimated completion date of Thursday, February 22, 2024?
This is sixty days to completion. In my experience with OOM, this would be record time. I struggle to find it reasonable to assume that is correct.
Receiving no response, on 01/15/2024, I sent the following communication:
I have yet to receive acknowledgement of my 12/21/2023 communication.
In my prior experience with OOM, estimated completion dates appear to be fanciful, if not outright lies by way of applying the "bulk extend" function in the open records portal instead of individually giving an honest estimate.
On 01/25/2024, still receiving no response, I sent the following communication:
Hello hello, please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?
Is there anything you can forsee which is highly likely to cause the agency to miss the estimated completion date?
Several days AFTER the day of the deadline, the agency sent a communication indicating that my request would not be completed until Thursday, May 16, 2024.
At no point before the deadline did the agency inform me that there was some new and unforeseen factor which might delay the production of records in a way that is (again) unforeseeable before the date of the deadline. This is after multiple inquiries about the status of the request.
I appeal on grounds of constructive denial.
State agencies have every right to take reasonable amounts of time to process and respond to FOIL requests.
They even, as the courts have ruled in Gannett Satellite Info. Network, LLC v. N.Y. State Thruway Auth, have a right to delay repeatedly in the event that the volume of FOIL requests is large, given that the delay is reasonable.
Later in the case of Empire Center for Public Policy v. New York State Department of Health, the courts denied the right of this agency to repeatedly delay the response to a more straightforward request. In that case, it was many months before the request was fulfilled, each time with the request delayed by the same cookie cutter period.
On MuckRock, the current average response time for a request to OSE is 383 days (more than a year!)
It boggles my mind to think that anybody in the agency might honestly be so unfamiliar with the process that they would be off in their estimate by 6 months or more.
My guess is that this request will take at least 6 months to fulfill.
I am convinced that records access officers are competent at their jobs and intelligent individuals, thus it strains my sense of credulity to accept that delays are so consistently unforseen and unforeseeable to the point where completion dates must routinely and normally be extended. It has further drained my sense of patience in dealing with agencies when the obvious happens.
I have no qualm with the individual records access officer about this issue. I believe they are merely stuck working with a system that undervalues FOIL, and places overworked employees in a difficult position.
That does nothing to detract from the absurdity of an agency that first understaffs the FOIL positions, initially promises completion dates that are short enough to beguile requesters (but are rarely met), and then claims a lack of foresight about the failure to meet self imposed completion dates. Surely Kafka might've mistaken it for an excerpt from his work should he be alive today!
I am not challenging the right of an agency to take a long time to respond. However, by failing to give the date by which in reality the agency is *actually* likely to produce responsive records, I am deprived of my right to appeal that deadline until after it has been broken.
I am seeking a deadline by which the agency is highly likely, in its honest and intelligent judgment, to complete the request.
From: Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement
Attention Mayor's Office (OOM) Users,
The following note was added to FOIL-2023-002-01011 by the requester: (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011)
<section class="textbox__section communication-body"><p>I am appealing on grounds of constructive denial.</p>
<p
>On 12/21/2023, I sent the following communication:<br>Is OOM/OSE likely to meet the estimated completion date of Thursday, February 22, 2024?</p>
<p>This is sixty days to completion. In my experience with OOM, this would be record time. I struggle to find it reasonable to assume that is correct.</p>
<p>Receiving no response, on 01/15/2024, I sent the following communication:</p>
<p>I have yet to receive acknowledgement of my 12/21/2023 communication.</p>
<p>In my prior experience with OOM, estimated completion dates appear to be fanciful, if not outright lies by way of applying the "bulk extend" function in the open records portal instead of individually giving an honest estimate.</p>
<p
>On 01/25/2024, still receiving no response, I sent the following communication:</p>
<p>Hello hello, please update me on the status of this request. How much/many of the documents have been reviewed?</p>
<p>Is there anything you can forsee which is highly likely to cause the agency to miss the estimated completion date?</p>
<p>Several days AFTER the day of the deadline, the agency sent a communication indicating that my request would not be completed until Thursday, May 16, 2024.</p>
<p>At no point before the deadline did the agency inform me that there was some new and unforeseen factor which might delay the production of records in a way that is (again) unforeseeable before the date of the deadline. This is after multiple inquiries about the status of the request.</p>
<p>I appeal on grounds of constructive denial.</p>
<p>State agencies have every right to take reasonable amounts of time to process and respond to FOIL requests.</p>
<p>They even, as the courts have ruled in Gannett Satellite Info. Network, LLC v. N.Y. State Thruway Auth, have a right to delay repeatedly in the event that the volume of FOIL requests is large, given that the delay is reasonable.</p>
<p>Later in the case of Empire Center for Public Policy v. New York State Department of Health, the courts denied the right of this agency to repeatedly delay the response to a more straightforward request. In that case, it was many months before the request was fulfilled, each time with the request delayed by the same cookie cutter period.</p>
<p>On MuckRock, the current average response time for a request to OSE is 383 days (more than a year!)</p>
<p>It boggles my mind to think that anybody in the agency might honestly be so unfamiliar with the process that they would be off in their estimate by 6 months or more.</p>
<p>My guess is that this request will take at least 6 months to fulfill.</p>
<p>I am convinced that records access officers are competent at their jobs and intelligent individuals, thus it strains my sense of credulity to accept that delays are so consistently unforseen and unforeseeable to the point where completion dates must routinely and normally be extended. It has further drained my sense of patience in dealing with agencies when the obvious happens.</p>
<p>I have no qualm with the individual records access officer about this issue. I believe they are merely stuck working with a system that undervalues FOIL, and places overworked employees in a difficult position.</p>
<p>That does nothing to detract from the absurdity of an agency that first understaffs the FOIL positions, initially promises completion dates that are short enough to beguile requesters (but are rarely met), and then claims a lack of foresight about the failure to meet self imposed completion dates. Surely Kafka might've mistaken it for an excerpt from his work should he be alive today!</p>
<p>I am not challenging the right of an agency to take a long time to respond. However, by failing to give the date by which in reality the agency is *actually* likely to produce responsive records, I am deprived of my right to appeal that deadline until after it has been broken.</p>
<p>I am seeking a deadline by which the agency is highly likely, in its honest and intelligent judgment, to complete the request.</p>
</section>
From: Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement
Dear Alexander Riccio:
Please see attached correspondence.
Thank you,
Allison Stoddart
From: Mayor's Office of Special Enforcement
The Mayor's Office (OOM) has responded to your FOIL request FOIL-2023-002-01011 with the following file(s). (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011) NOTE: You must be logged in to your OpenRecords account to access the file(s). If you are not logged in, you will be prompted to do so when the link is selected. The file(s) listed below will not be publicly available on the OpenRecords portal.
* 2024-04-24 FOIL 2023-002-01011 Appeal Response: 2024-04-24_FOIL_2023-002-01011.pdf (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/response/3517930)
Please visit FOIL-2023-002-01011 to view additional information and take any necessary action. (https://a860-openrecords.nyc.gov/request/view/FOIL-2023-002-01011)
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