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    Moline LTR 112309

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    russ willis
    The City of Portland has denied Russell Willis's request for a fee waiver for public records relating to bicycle lanes. The City explained that retrieving the requested records would require 40 hours of staff time at a cost of $1,000. While the records may not be exactly what Willis expected, the City believes they are responsive to the request and satisfy legal requirements. The fee waiver was denied as the request does not meet the public interest standard. The City remains willing to provide the records if Willis pays the associated fees.

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    Moline LTR 112309

    Uploaded by

    russ willis
    75 views4 pages
    The City of Portland has denied Russell Willis's request for a fee waiver for public records relating to bicycle lanes. The City explained that retrieving the requested records would require 40 hours of staff time at a cost of $1,000. While the records may not be exactly what Willis expected, the City believes they are responsive to the request and satisfy legal requirements. The fee waiver was denied as the request does not meet the public interest standard. The City remains willing to provide the records if Willis pays the associated fees.

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    Moline Ltr 112309

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    The City of Portland has denied Russell Willis's request for a fee waiver for public records relating to bicycle lanes. The City explained that retrieving the requested records would require 40 hours of staff time at a cost of $1,000. While the records may not be exactly what Willis expected, the City believes they are responsive to the request and satisfy legal requirements. The fee waiver was denied as the request does not meet the public interest standard. The City remains willing to provide the records if Willis pays the associated fees.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    75 views4 pages

    Moline LTR 112309

    Uploaded by

    russ willis
    The City of Portland has denied Russell Willis's request for a fee waiver for public records relating to bicycle lanes. The City explained that retrieving the requested records would require 40 hours of staff time at a cost of $1,000. While the records may not be exactly what Willis expected, the City believes they are responsive to the request and satisfy legal requirements. The fee waiver was denied as the request does not meet the public interest standard. The City remains willing to provide the records if Willis pays the associated fees.

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    •

    CllYOF Linda Meng. City Attorney


    1221 S.w. 4th Avenue, Suite 430
    PORTLAND, OREGON Portland, Oregon 97204
    Telephone: (503) 823-4047
    OFFICE OF CllY ATIORNEY Fax No.: (503) 823-3089

    November 23,2009

    Mr. Russell Willis II, J.D., LL.M.


    3003 NE Knott Street, Unit B
    Portland, OR 97212

    Re: Public Records Request

    Dear Mr. Willis:

    Maureen Yandle, at the City's Bureau of Transportation ("PBOT") asked me to respond to


    your public records request.

    As I understand, you initially requested PBOT to provide you the following:

    any and all documents reflecting the conducting of any public


    hearing, within the meaning of ORS 814.420(2), to determine that a
    particular bicycle lane or bicycle path on or adjacent to any public
    roadway within the corporate limits of the City of Portland is
    "suitable for safe bicycle use at reasonable rates of speed," including
    but not limited to

    (a) any published notices of any such hearing,

    (b) any minutes or transcripts of any such hearing, including any


    information as to the names of tho~e in attendance and their official
    capacities (if any), any testimony given, any exhibits offered or
    received, and any votes taken, including the ayes and nays, and

    (c) any determinations made at the conclusion of any such hearing,


    including any published notices of any such determinations.

    Subsequently, you "narrowed" your request from all bike lanes in the City to the following
    three:

    (1) south on Broadway from the (Broadway) bridge to Hoyt,

    (2) west on Lovejoy from the bridge to 9th , and

    (3) north on Williams from Broadway to Killingsworth.

    An Equal Opportunity Employer

    TDD (For Hearing & Speech Impaired) (503) 823-6868

    Mr. Russell Willis II


    November 23,2009
    Page 2

    In addition to records of public hearings, you have requested a waiver or reduction of the
    fees associated with the labor and copying costs of these records.

    For the reasons stated below, the City is willing to provide you with the records previously
    offered to you.

    Your request for a waiver or reduction of fees is denied because the request does not meet
    the public interest standard under ORS 192.440.

    City Records

    As you know, the City previously offered to retrieve and copy those records responsive to
    your request. As Ms. Yandle explained to you:

    In order to obtain information on any published notices of any such


    hearing; any minutes or transcripts of any such hearing, including any
    informatin to the names of those in attendance and their official
    capacities; any testimony given, any exhibits offered or received, and
    any votes taken including the ayes and nays; and any determinations
    made at the conclusion of any such hearing including any published
    notices of any such determinations will required 40 hours of research
    work. We would assign this project to an Office Support Specialist
    III who would need to research the following documents and council
    document archives:

    1. Central City Transportaton Management Plan.; December 1995


    2. The Bicycle Master Plan - May 1996
    3. The Bicycle Master Plan update - July 1, 1998
    4. Transportation System Plan (TSP) - October 20, 2002
    5. TSP rechnical update - October 13, 2004
    6. The TSP technical update - April 5,2007
    Each of these had numerous public hearings as well as City Council
    hearings with votes taken. There were upwards of 60 community
    meetings to get citizen input during the 2002 TSP.

    ~tis our understanding that you do not want these recor~s because you believe they are non­
    responSive.

    I understand these records may not be what you expected. I also understand that you view
    these records as insufficient to satisfy the hearing requirement referenced in ORS 814.420 (2).

    -----------~
    Mr. Russell Willis II
    November 23,2009
    Page 3

    Unfortunately the City disagrees with your view.. The records previously identified and
    described are responsive to your request. These records are also sufficient for the purposes of the
    hearing requirement in ORS 814.420 (2).

    Briefly and by the way of background, under the 1996 Bicycle Master Plan all designated
    city bikeways were shown in the plan (Adopted May 1,1996, updated July 1, 1998; Resolution No.
    35515). All three facilities (Broadway Bridge to Hoyt, Lovejoy to 9th and N Williams Broadway to
    Killingsworth) were included in that plan.

    All of the three facilities have also appeared in the city's Transportation System Plan since it
    was first adopted (October 30, 2002, Ordinance No. 77028; Amended October 13, 2004,
    Ordinances Nos. 178815 and 178826).

    Broadway from the bridge to Hoyt and Lovejoy from the bridge to 9th were also identified as
    Central City Bikeways in the Central City Transportation Management Plan (adopted December,
    1995, Ordinance No. 169535, Resolution No. 35472). Most of Williams is outside the boundaries of
    the Central City, though those portions of Williams within the Central City were also identified as
    Central City Bikeways. The N Williams bikeway was also shown in the City's Transportation
    Element of the City of Portland Comprehensive Plan, dating back to June 21, 1996 (Ordinance No.
    170136), which predated the TSP.

    Based on City guidelines, the recommended treatment for each of those streets was bicycle
    lanes, as identified in the Design Guide included as part of the 1996 Bicycle Master Plan (Appendix
    A).

    In addition, the Lovejoy viaduct was rebuilt at some point within the past decade and was
    striped with bicycle lanes as called for both under the City's 1996 Bicycle Master Plan as well as by
    state law ("The Bicycle Bill" ORS 366.514), which requires the provision of "footpaths and bicycle
    trails ...wherever a highway.. .is being constructed."

    The bicycle lanes all followed guidelines established both by ODOT (in the Oregon Bicycle
    and Pedestrian Plan), PDOT (in the aforementioned design guide) and AASHTO ("Guide for the
    Development of Bicycle Facilities" 1999).

    In summary, the records Ms. Yandle offered you in her August 7, 2009 email are responsive
    to both your original April 22, 2009 request, and your subsequent "narrowed" request.

    Fee Waiver

    In a series of emails with Ms. Yandle, you requested a waiver or reduction of fees believing
    that the information you requested would benefit the general pUblic. Because your request does not
    meet the public interest standard, the City denied your request for a fee waiver or reduction. Please
    note that even if a request met the public interest standard, the statute provides discretion to the
    Mr. Russell Willis II
    November 23,2009
    Page 4

    public body to deny the request so long as the denial is reasonable. Given the large expense
    associated with your request, the fee cannot be waived or reduced.

    As Ms. Yandle explained to you, the research, retrieval and review for records to satisfy
    your request will require taking an employee away from current duties, and assigning them to your
    public records request. Ms. Yandle advised you this would require an Office Support Specialist
    ("OSS III") familiar with the records 40 hours of work at an hourly rate of $25.00 per hour for an
    estimated cost of $1,000.

    Also, as explained to you, once the records were retrieved, the City would provide you with
    an additional fee estimate on the number of documents for photocopying at $ .25/copy, and the time
    to make the copies.

    Please note that initially, Ms. Yandle believed that with your "narrowed" request, your cost
    in having the City compile the documents would be less. Unfortunately, it appears the estimate
    remains $1,000 since the same documents will still need to be researched, retrieved and reviewed.
    However, the time and cost to photocopy (which we are not yet in a position to estimate) should be
    less.

    Please let Ms. Yandle know if you want to proceed with your Public Records request.

    Thank you.

    Mark R. Moline
    Senior Deputy City Attorney

    MRM:cw
    c. Maureen Yandle
    John Hoover

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