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Here are highlights of the chronology of 1410 Avondale as disclosed by the file at the Codes Enforcement office.

  • 4/29/97    FOIA request from Robt. Gunst for certificate of occupancy.  Charged $0.75 for the 3 pages copied.

  • 4/20/98    Butcher 2-page fax to City complaining about the condition of the property

  • 4/22/98    City Fax to Shawn Majette, Esq. (Administrator of the Osborne estate), 2 pages plus cover sheet.  No record of a request or a charge.

  • 5/4/98    Inspection worksheet mentions "A lot of complaints from neighbors."

  • 5/19/98    Property Maintenance Checklist (appears to be an inspection worksheet): Handwritten note of margin: "John Butcher, 1508 Avondale Av., 784-4073"  [sic]

  • 5/21/98    Notice of Violation, 4 pages

  • 5/21/98    City Fax to Shawn Majette, Esq., 4 pages plus cover sheet.  No record of a request or a charge.

  • 6/1/98    Butcher requests fax of the NOV.  Butcher is told that Codes Enforcement can only respond to a FOIA request.

  • 6/1/98    Butcher faxed FOIA request for entire file on 1410 Avondale, 2 pages.

  • 6/9/98    City Faxed demand to Butcher for upfront payment of copy and mailing costs of FOIA response.

  • 6/11/98    Handwritten note on 5/19/98 inspection checklist: "6/11/98  NOV faxed to RE agent for buyer"

  • 6/11/98    Fax confirmation, 7 pages to 359-8721, Realtor in the sale.  No record of a request or a charge.

We have the complete chronology on a separate page.

This information compels two interesting conclusions:

FIRST:  The only mentions of citizen complaints are the note on the 5/4/98 worksheet about "A lot of complaints from neighbors" and two handwritten notes of Butcher's name and  address and (incorrect) 'phone number.  Butcher's FOIA request included a request for:

All official records that set forth or discuss the condition of the property at 1410 Avondale Avenue, including, without limitation, all records of inspections and all logs or letters of complaints from any person

We know of at least three telephone complaints to the City about this property, before Butcher's call.  Thus, unless the City withheld records of complaints without saying so (in violation of the law), we must conclude that they do not keep records of telephone complaints.

SECOND:  They faxed Butcher's complaint letter to the lawyer for the Osborne estate.  They faxed the 5/21/98 Notice of Violation to the same lawyer.  They faxed seven pages (surely including the 5/21 NOV and probably Butcher's second complaint) to the real estate agent involved in the sale.  There is no record that they demanded a FOIA request for any of this information, or that they charged for it.  Yet when Bobby Gunst wanted the Occupancy certificate, they made him fill out the form and pay $0.25 per page up front.  When Butcher requested that they fax him the NOV, they said that they only could respond to a formal FOIA request.  When Butcher supplied the FOIA request, they demanded the copying cost cost up front.

Thus, we must conclude that they provided free faxes to the representatives of  the people violating their laws, but they refuse to give the same information to an ordinary taxpayer without a written FOIA request and upfront payment of the copying costs.

You get to draw your own conclusions about whether this kind of behavior by city officials is acceptable.

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Last updated 02/24/02
Please send questions or comments to John Butcher