Thursday, October 27, 2011
Ed Lee Refuses to Disclose Correspondence Regarding Central Subway
CCDC charged taxpayers to strategize on media response to public records requests
SAN FRANCISCO – Yesterday, after Senator Leland Yee gave the office of interim mayor Ed Lee and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) a second chance to release public documents related to the Central Subway Project and the Chinatown Community Development Center, SFMTA released over 1,000 pages of new documents, however they did not include even a single correspondence – email, letter, or fax – for the past two years.
“I thought CSU was bad with the Sarah Palin contract, but that pales in comparison to how Ed Lee is handling sunshine requests,” said Yee. “It is completely mindboggling to not produce even one correspondence between CCDC, Rose Pak and the City, as requested. How does his office even hold a meeting without some correspondence to set that meeting up?”
The public records Yee did receive showed even more waste and abuse.
There was no work product, such as a report or analysis, produced for CCDC’s contract with the SFMTA for 2010 or 2011. Monthly status reports showed that CCDC completed memorandums - yet, the actual memorandums were not provided.
No deliverables were produced for CCDC work, despite invoices for 6,887 hours of work for which CCDC charged the City $626,777. One invoice for 299 hours of work only showed attendance by CCDC at six meetings, including one with the Mayor’s Office of Housing costing the City a total of $25,207. (link to Exhibit A)
One of the more shocking discoveries from the public records request showed that CCDC charged the City for an internal CCDC meeting in March 2011 to discuss “media strategy as it relates to freedom of information requests.” (link to Exhibit B)
“It is quite shocking that CCDC would charge taxpayers for such a meeting, and even more shocking that the City would pay a nonprofit to strategize about public records requests,” said Yee. “I am not sure if Ed Lee is asleep at the wheel or just wants to enrich his friends at CCDC.”
In addition, there was absolutely no evidence provided showing any of the work done by CCDC was ever put out for competitive bidding by the City.
Yesterday, Yee gave Lee another opportunity to properly respond to his public records request before he pursues litigation and compels disclosure through the courts. Yee also called on the interim mayor to halt all contracts with CCDC until a full and independent audit is conducted. (link to Exhibit C)
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