Providing adequate notice

From the Daily News:

A city councilman wants to shed some light on obscure government notices.

Under legislation to be introduced by Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), the city would be required to post all government notices on its website — from announcements of a community board meeting to an application for a new sidewalk cafe.

“There’s literally hundreds and hundreds of places where the government has to make a public notice — but nobody knows what the government is doing, because the public notice requirements are so arcane,” said Kallos, chairman of the government operations committee.

“We can save a lot of paper and money and increase transparency,” he said.

The notices are physically posted in public buildings or published in the back pages of newspapers.

Another bill would require all records that the law says must be kept for public inspection to be posted online.

That would cover such documents as city contracts with private vendors and applications by developers for zoning changes.

This sounds like good government, commonsense legislation. Which is why it will probably die in committee.

Why did CB3 try to meet in secret about the USTA project?

From the Queens Chronicle:

Community Board 3’s March 13 public hearing featured the expected theatrics of a Uniform Land Use Review Procedure applicant presenting a contentious plan for Flushing Meadows Corona Park: angry statements, slideshow presentations and the odd round of applause.

But there was a second show going on. In the idealistic world of open meetings, laws and light being shone on public documents, CB 3 has been the oddball.

The all-volunteer board has a history of thwarting press attempts for access to documents, and even for taking photos at meetings.

During its vote on the United States Tennis Association’s expansion within the park, Chairwoman Marta Lebreton took to hiding behind a sheet of paper when a camera lens faced her direction.

Fair game. But Lebreton also rebuffed a Chronicle editor who asked to obtain a copy of the motion voted on that evening by the board.

The state Open Meetings Law says all documents discussed at open meetings must be available, though a board can charge a “reasonable” fee for copies.

The board’s attempts to limit public access allegedly go beyond holding back records. Two parks advocates have filed a complaint against the board for allegedly acting unlawfully.

A letter from Robert LoScalzo and Alfredo Centola, addressed to Queens Community Board Director Barry Grodenchik, claims the board did not properly alert the public or press about a committee meeting on the USTA proposal held March 5.



A review of the board’s website shows no record of the meeting.

Geoffrey Croft, the president of NYC Park Advocates, plans to file a complaint later this week.

“If they have a website and it’s easy to post, and they do not, then that would be failure to comply with the law,” said Robert Freeman, executive director of the New York State Committee on Open Government.

The letter goes on to say that a CB 3 staff member told LoScalzo and Centola, “There is not a meeting.” When they followed up, a staff member said “[I’m] not allowed to say anything.”

CB3 Telephone Transcript EXCERPTS

The Open Meetings Law’s provisions on meeting notification are threefold — community boards must give notice of meetings to media outlets, designated public locations and, if possible, put them online.

Additionally, the complaint alleges the board did not give documents to the public and attempted to prevent photography.

LoScalzo and Centola ask in their letter that Lebreton be removed from the board and District Manager Giovanna Reid be formally disciplined.

The letter has been referred to the borough president’s board and a response has been requested from CB 3, Queens borough president spokesman Dan Andrews said.

“We got a seven-page letter alleging certain things. We are doing what we should be doing. We reached out to our legal person. These are allegations,” Andrews said.

The borough president’s board has authority over Lebreton, but not Reid, who is an employee of CB 3.



This is a photo of Barry Grodenchik talking over the situation with Giovanna Reid and Marta Lebreton, who couldn't hide from the camera this time. Barry, you better do something about this. You're currently in charge of community boards and running for borough president, after all, and you don't want potential voters to think you support dishonest practices. We're certainly going to be staying on top of this one.

Remember, folks, the government has the responsibility to let the sunshine in, but since they can't be trusted, it falls on us to make sure they do. Did the CB's marching orders come from Julissa or Barry? We'll get to the bottom of it. Everybody sing!