San Francisco City Attorney's Office and Public Records

San Francisco Office of the City Attorney's HOME PAGE has a SECTION dedicated to informing the public (you, me, anybody who can access the internet) about San Francisco's Sunshine Ordinance and How to Obtain Public Records. From the face, it appears "transparency" is important to Dennis J. Herrera. ***You will also find a lot of documents pertaining to the Christmas Day Tiger Mauling Incident***San Francisco is a city marred with allegations of Police Corruption, misconduct, cover-up, etc. While I don't know the facts of the present situation being reported by SFGate regarding a rookie officer and domestic violence I do know that the City Attorney's Office has done a relatively good job with their Web 2.0 interface and easily accessible documents. The City Attorney's Good Government Guide for 2007-08 and the accompanying Good Government Guide Supplement are available to download. Officials are required to submit a Sunshine Declaration to the Ethics Commission in order to comply with the Sunshine Ordinance.

The City Attorney's Office even provides a lengthy explanation of how to obtain public records from the City. They also include a sample request here. While I don't know if this is all fluff or serious openness, but at least its public. Has anybody had any experience trying to get records from the City? Please comment and let me know.

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