New York’s Freedom of Information Law rests on a basic principle: government records belong to the public unless an agency can identify a lawful reason to withhold them.
Let me track this back a decade for you. I think the thread will become clear. In 2016, I foiled for records involving the issue of Manhattan Park charging residents for submetering although it never met the criteria in their ground lease with RIOC. Susan Rosenthal, then CEO, was a strong supporter of the cast against Manhattan Park until there was a high level visit from Starrett, Manhattan Park's owners. Then, Susan and RIOC caved. So did city council member Ben Kallos and state assembly member Rebecca Seawright. They left a group of tenants, who were denied their rights by Manhattan Park for decades, hanging. The details showed up in RIOC's Foil release and led to a series of embarrassing articles. Then came catching RIOC lying about mold in the community center and violating clean water regulations, sending contaminated water into drinking fountains. Thereafter, RIOC joined New York State in the runaround game you're experiencing now. They've made a law written with the specific purpose of making government more transparent for those governed a tool for concealment. Under the succeeding Haynes administration, the release of payroll figures led to a new scheme that amounted to deliberately delaying FOIL responses, knowingly releasing false or outdated information and evading as much as possible. That new scheme was exposed in Arthur Eliav's successful lawsuit against his dismissal by RIOC. The new administration has changed nothing because this works for the Hochul administration by keeping embarrassing information hidden. Good luck pounding your way through that wall.
The deeper design flaw is the one you named: New York’s FOIL treats inter-agency communications as private, turning a transparency statute into a statewide concealment tool that RIOC simply follows. It shields the records that would show who decided what and when. Under Haynes the agency refined the model further by moving the real work and deliberation out to contractors and third parties, leaving RIOC itself to collect six-figure checks while the substantive decisions stay off the public ledger. No one walks that arrangement back without sustained pressure, and that pressure has been successfully muted.
Yep, they turned transparency inside out, using tools meant to do the opposite. Such is the them vs us separation between government and those governed.
Let me track this back a decade for you. I think the thread will become clear. In 2016, I foiled for records involving the issue of Manhattan Park charging residents for submetering although it never met the criteria in their ground lease with RIOC. Susan Rosenthal, then CEO, was a strong supporter of the cast against Manhattan Park until there was a high level visit from Starrett, Manhattan Park's owners. Then, Susan and RIOC caved. So did city council member Ben Kallos and state assembly member Rebecca Seawright. They left a group of tenants, who were denied their rights by Manhattan Park for decades, hanging. The details showed up in RIOC's Foil release and led to a series of embarrassing articles. Then came catching RIOC lying about mold in the community center and violating clean water regulations, sending contaminated water into drinking fountains. Thereafter, RIOC joined New York State in the runaround game you're experiencing now. They've made a law written with the specific purpose of making government more transparent for those governed a tool for concealment. Under the succeeding Haynes administration, the release of payroll figures led to a new scheme that amounted to deliberately delaying FOIL responses, knowingly releasing false or outdated information and evading as much as possible. That new scheme was exposed in Arthur Eliav's successful lawsuit against his dismissal by RIOC. The new administration has changed nothing because this works for the Hochul administration by keeping embarrassing information hidden. Good luck pounding your way through that wall.
The deeper design flaw is the one you named: New York’s FOIL treats inter-agency communications as private, turning a transparency statute into a statewide concealment tool that RIOC simply follows. It shields the records that would show who decided what and when. Under Haynes the agency refined the model further by moving the real work and deliberation out to contractors and third parties, leaving RIOC itself to collect six-figure checks while the substantive decisions stay off the public ledger. No one walks that arrangement back without sustained pressure, and that pressure has been successfully muted.
Yep, they turned transparency inside out, using tools meant to do the opposite. Such is the them vs us separation between government and those governed.