Muh Freeze Peach

On Wednesday, March 13, 2019, I submitted a FOIA Request to the City of Charlottesville for a record of all applications currently installed on the mobile devices of 11 public servants. The request was denied because they claim that they cannot determine if I am eligible under law to make a request. A proxy requester resubmitted the same request and was told that they would need to pay a $200 deposit before the request would be fulfilled. That breaks down to about $18 per device. The city actually claims that they have determined that it would cost more than $200  to "search for, access, assemble, duplicate and supply" the records. Not content with taking them at their word, I checked for myself how time consuming it is to find the applications installed on iOS devices. Turns out, it takes literally like 5 seconds.  The video above only shows how much time it takes to search for and access the records. They still have to ...

Emails released through a Freedom of Information Act request show that the City of Charlottesville responded to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by an out-of-state requester in January of this year. The request was submitted by a Paralegal on behalf of an Attorney operating in the State of Pennsylvania. The specifics of the request have been redacted. Brian Wheeler, the FOIA Manager for the City of Charlottesville forwarded the request to Charlottesville Police Department FOIA Manager Tyler Hawn and advised that a response was due to the request by Monday, January 28, 2019. At no point in the chain of emails released was the requester asked to verify residency or status as a member of the media.  Although no documents were provided to the requester, the response raises serious questions about the denial of a Freedom of Information request to this author weeks ago. It is unclear at this time how the City of Charlottesville can justify de...

First returned search. Maybe I am taking the definition too literal? I'm sure that's it. 

This headline caught my eye. I'll have to read this to see what this is all about. Lets skim for the short version. Hmmm... That's pretty wild!

It turns out that Section 8.01-324 of the Code of Virginia does actually apply to someone, it just isn't me. I don't publish a newspaper. I am not required to post legal notices. It does appear though that both The Daily Progress and Cville Weekly do. All I know is that people I've talked to at both papers don't seem to recall ever having to do this before , which is really kind of odd. I don't really understand why I am being asked to fulfill requirements in this section of the Code of Virginia in order to be able to make a FOIA request. I really wish someone involved with attempting to make me fulfill these requirements would explain it to me. I am told that neither the Code of Virginia or the Virginia Freedom of Information Act define the terms "newspaper", "magazine", or "circulation". They don't define the term "journalist" either. The legislation is so woefully outdated that it barely ev...

An informal canvassing of local Charlottesville news media reveals that none recalls ever being asked to verify circulation by the government of Charlottesville before. The city of Charlottesville recently told me that I am unable to make further FOIA requests until I either secure a second class mailing permit, or undergo a circulation audit by an independent auditor. Section 8.01-324 of the Code of Virginia is clear that newspapers who are required to post legal notices have to meet these requirements before posting said legal notices. It is unclear at this time how many newspapers in the Charlottesville area are currently posting legal notices without having met these requirements, but none can recall ever being asked about this.

News articles reviewed by this author show that the city of Charlottesville, and other local Virginia government entities respond to Freedom of Information Act requests from online only media outlets and out-of-state requesters in direct contrast to a recent denial of a public records request submitted by this same author, by the city of Charlottesville. It is not known at this time the number of other online only or traditional print media outlets who have been required to submit a second class mailing permit or undergo a circulation audit by an independent auditor under Section 8.01-324 of the Virginia Code. It is also unclear at this time the reason why the city of Charlottesville is selectively denying Freedom of Information Act requests. We will update this post with any further examples we are able to uncover of the city of Charlottesville's egregious abuses of power.  September 4, 2017, "UVA Professor Warned Police Of Impending Violen...

Updates to follow I'm sure.

This is an even less formal opinion from an Executive Director of a Virginia FOIA related non-profit. It doesn't really matter who, or which one, because it is again non-binding, but interesting that essentially they've reached the exact same conclusion. Just like the Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council, this Executive Director also says that their advice is for custodians to respond to out-of-state requesters . Hilarious! Even if every expert in the world was of the same opinion, they'd likely still keep on the same path. Oh well, it is what it is. For now, I'm just going to continue to gather evidence and build my case. Already off to a good start!

The Virginia Freedom of Information Advisory Council has weighed in with an advisory opinion on the scenario I laid out regarding the city of Charlottesville, Virginia's absurd denial of my First Amendment rights. The opinion was written by Alan Gerhardt, Esq., the Executive Director of the Council. Essentially what the opinion says is that no, the city of Charlottesville can't do what they are doing to me, but in the same breath, yes, they can keep doing it until you force them not to, through legal action (assuming a judge rules in my favor.) They are more or less thumbing their nose at me saying, "Go ahead and do something, we dare you. LOL!" We may get to that, but first, I need to continue to gather facts. In the short time since the denial, I've gathered some interesting ones that likely won't look very good for the city of Charlottesville who coincidentally won't even acknowledge emails from me any longer, or at least they haven'...