by @BarryRafkind in Public Records / FOIA Requests, Special, Traffic & Parking
Posted on August 26, 2009 at 9:43 am
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In preparation for the parking tickets story, I have submitted the following request for public records to the city:
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to Jaclyn Rossetti <JRossetti(at)somervillema.gov>
cc Thomas Champion <TChampion(at)somervillema.gov>
date Tue, Aug 25, 2009 at 9:21 AM
subject Public Records Request : Parking Ticket Data
Dear Public Information Officer Jackie Rossetti, (cc Thomas Champion, Exec Dir of Communications)
In the public interest and per MA public records law M.G.L. Chapter 66: Section 10, which states that
“A custodian of a public record shall, within ten days following receipt of a request for inspection or copy of a public record, comply with such request.”
( Today being Aug 25, the tenth calendar day afterwards appears to be Sep 4 )
Please provide, in electronic tabular format, records of parking tickets from the City of Somerville dating back as far as Jan 1, 2000 or as early as your records were kept if they do not go back that far, including the following details for each ticket:
* Date and Time of Day
* Type of Ticket (which regulation was violated)
* Officer’s Notes, if available
* Street Address of Violation
* Amount
* All other recorded details in the same system that do not reveal personal identity are requested.
This request specifically excludes any personally identifying information (such as name, home address, phone, license plate #), so that no redaction reviews are anticipated. If redaction reviews are deemed necessary, please notify me of that necessity promptly with an indication about which fields would need to be reviewed.
Acceptable electronic formats would be either Excel spreadsheet or a delimited text file such as CSV. I wish to receive this data through email or a linked file on a server that can be downloaded. The file(s) may be in a compressed format for faster transmission.
This request is made in the public interest because parking tickets affect residents across the city. For this reason, I ask that any fees be waived. If fees must still be charged, please seek permission from me before retrieving the data.
If any requested records are not available or not able to be retrieved within 10 days, please promptly provide the relevant explanations about such problems and proposed remedies before day ten.
Your earliest acknowledgment of your receipt of this message and any estimate on progress will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you very much for your help!
Sincerely,
Barry Rafkind
<street address>
Somerville, MA 02144
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I’d like to know how the town can get away with giving me a parking ticket on my truck that has never left the state of Vermont where I live??? I have not even been there in 30 plus years!
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Diane, that sounds incredible! You’re saying that the City of Somerville, MA ticketed your truck when it wasn’t even here? Perhaps it’s an old ticket that was never paid? Are you sure no one else might have borrowed the truck and driven it here? When did this happen? Have you complained to the City?
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“Are you sure no one else might have borrowed the truck and driven it here?”
I hope to God you’re being snarky here, Mr. Rafkind; if not, you’re fully qualified to reject parking ticket appeals for the city.
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I don’t think it’s so far-fetched that a family member might have borrowed the truck.
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Diane, this city has a randon ticket generator… your license plate just came up. They have to generate revenue somehow! The mayor needs to pay all his hacks and he wants another excursion to fiji or some other nonsenical place where he can proclaim we have a sister city.
Just do what we all do down here in the People’s Republic…yell…
Thank You, sir, may I have another!
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Hi all,
Quite a few responses here I see. No one else took my truck. I own it only as a yard truck and it took a trip once to Harvey’s Lake. It’s a very old truck, but as long as I have owned it with the plate # posted on the parking ticket, it has not left the state. I received a notice of delinquent parking ticket and hearing notice on 9/25/09. It stated the original ticket issue was on 7/17/08. That’s a long time waiting to notify me, over a year. This was the first correspondance I received from them. When I contacted them about this, they did not want to hear anything I had to say about it, insisting on payment. I could not travel for a hearing due to my physical condition. This was very frustrating to me.
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Diane, that’s quite a troubling story. I wouldn’t want to have had your experience. I wonder what type of parking ticket it was (the reason for writing it)? Also, who did you speak with who was so dismissive?
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p.s. If you saw this truck, you would laugh, thinking there is no way it could even make a trip like this. It’s since died.
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