Dedicated to opening up government transparency in Massachusetts
Dedicated to opening up government transparency in Massachusetts
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The original request can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wcmv1hoehom0mas/2021-0172%20Request%204-7-2021.pdf?dl=0
This request was initiated on April 7, 2021, with the direct purpose of determining what documents the Malden Police Department may have regarding a drug and weapons investigation and searches and arrests of major significance within the City of Malden.
The request was acknowledged as of April 8, 2021 and can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/eortlz9iq4ayiqw/2021-0172%20Request%20Ack%204-8-2021.pdf?dl=0
On April 9, 2021 between 9AM and 10AM a City Councillor posted on their official City Councillor Facebook page regarding this specific Public Records Request, this post can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/qs1nydqjoa61dqh/Screen%20Shot%202021-04-09%20at%209.56.23%20PM.png?dl=0+
On April 9, 2021 at approximately 12:46 PM the Malden Police provided a response, the response can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7uo91kvvnjwg6ig/2021-0172%20Response%204-9-2021.pdf?dl=0
The City Councillor knew about this Public Records Request and posted publicly about it on Facebook about 3 hours BEFORE the response was sent to the requestor.
This Public Records Request was not made public by the requestor, nor the City of Malden, nor the Malden Police Department. This request was not public until the City Councillor posted about it on Facebook on April 9. The City does not make these requests public, despite being asked to and an outstanding Public Records Request seeking same.
The request, subsequent appeal and determination can be found here: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/uq1fe6bzm36uhgf/AACI5O7WhB3Az0tzZoV-bAAba?dl=0
Knowing that this Public Records Request was NOT publicly available on April 7, April 8 or April 9, before the City Councillor posted on Facebook, it appears the City Councillor has access to public records requests and records which no other citizen of Malden as access to. It is unknown who told the City Councillor about the request and why. Open Malden supports all public records requests and responses being made public—not just select responses and not just to select people.
Open Malden is a website and a social media reporting organization. Open Malden is not a political organization.
Bruce Friedman, who is married to Amy Friedman, does use Open Malden to make public records requests. Amy is a candidate for Ward 8 City Council in Malden, Bruce is not.
Bruce Friedman did not discuss the Open Malden public records request filed on April 7, 2019, with Amy Friedman before filing it. No one directed Mr. Friedman to make the request. Mr. Friedman has been seeking public records from the City of Malden and other Malden institutions subject to the public records law since 2019 and will continue these efforts during and after the candidacy, election, and term of Mrs. Friedman. After finding that the requests made and the results received were not being routinely and consistently posted by the City he choose to begin posting them at Open Malden.
The request in question was filed while by Mr. Friedman while he was out of town on a business trip. Upon his return to Malden the afternoon of April 9, 2021, several people pointed Ms. Sica-Bernbaum’s post out to both Bruce and Amy Friedman. That was the first time that he discussed the public records request he made on April 7, 2021, with Amy.
The request was not publicly posted anywhere prior to Ms. SIca-Bernbaum’s post. The request was for any documentation in the possession of the Malden Police Department regarding the two individuals identified in the Boston Globe article posted on April 7, 2021. In the April 7, 2021 request
Open Malden did not request any information or documentation regarding Ms. SIca-Bernbaum, nor about any minor child related to her, only about the two Malden residents identified in the Globe’s story.
The original documents from this request along with other documents sought and released to the extent that the City of Malden releases them can be found and reviewed by the public at the following URL’s:
https://www.facebook.com/OpenMalden
Freedom of Information day and Sunshine Week are the culmination of Patrick Henry's Birthday and Open and Transparent Government.
On March 2, 2021, the City of Malden was served with the following FOIA request:
"Please provide any and all notices filed with the Clerk of self disclosure of conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest made by any elected official of the City from January 1, 2017 through the date you answer this request."
Freedom of Information day and Sunshine Week are the culmination of Patrick Henry's Birthday and Open and Transparent Government.
On February 25, 2021, the City of Malden was served with the following FOIA requests:
"Please provide all emails sent to or sent from anyone in the FQDN cityofmalden.org which refer to 89 Summer Street A/K/A Malden District Court. These emails are to be provided in the electronic form which they are regularly maintained and must include all email metadata."
"Please provide any emails between any members of the City Council where the recipients (to, carbon copy, and/or blind carbon copy) of the email would create a quorum from January 2020 through the date you answer this request. These emails are to be provided in the electronic form which they are regularly maintained and must include all email metadata."
On July 1, 2021 the Malden Public Schools sued me, a citizen, a parent of current students, and a parent of a special needs student over access to public records.
This lawsuit was signed by John Oteri on his very last day as Superintendent (June 30, 2021). This was also the day before the School Committee agreed to give him a retroactive salary increase. The lawsuit filed by the Malden Public Schools speaks about the volume of public records requests I have made. However, as of the time of filing the requests at issue in this case, I had only, in fact, made 17 requests for records from Malden Public Schools.
All of the data listed below comes directly from Malden’s official public records system, FOIA Direct. All of these requests are publicly available (today) on the FOIA Direct website and on OpenMalden.com. All of the responses, appeals, and determinations are publicly available on OpenMalden.com. Some of the responses are available on the City’s FOIA Direct site (they are currently blocking many politically sensitive responses) and all appeal determinations are available on the Secretary of Massachusetts, Public Records appeals website.
There have been 208 public records requests served upon the City of Malden and its various departments between May 17, 2019 and June 16, 2021, by myself and Open Malden. The requests, by department, are listed below.
Of these 208 requests, currently, 74 requests are in the status of “In Progress” or unanswered.
There has been a total of 196 appeals for the 208 total requests (93%). Of the 196 appeals, there are 194 determinations and 82% of the determinations are in favor of the requestor (Myself or Open Malden).
SPR20/2143 and SPR20/2270 were determinations made AFTER the 9/24/2020 filing of the three requests which are the subject of this lawsuit. Both determinations specifically find I am neither harassing, nor intimidating the City, nor that the records sought are not for the broad dissemination of information.
These records and all requests, appeals and determinations are published online and available through the web and social media. They have also been referred to by other media outlets.
To view all of these documents, please go to https://openmalden.com.
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