Niagara Falls City Council Chair James Perry banned two women from speaking. The women have complained that the city entered into a contract for animal shelter services without soliciting public bids. They have also complained about illegal activities.
drive.google.com/file/d/1BIcUT-…

15 minute notice of a meeting is a violation of the Open Meetings Law. The only way to address this is to spend thousands of dollars to hire an attorney for a lawsuit. A bill by Assemblymember Rosenthal A7933, would fix this. nyassembly.gov/leg/
lockportjournal.com/news/local_new…

We get many questions regarding NY's Open Meetings Law and Freedom of Information Law. You can submit any questions you have through the link below. You can also view and search our questions and answers database.
nyopengov.org/questions-and-…

The Mayor of Fredonia has banned the public from bringing up a water issue during village board meetings. You just can't make this stuff up. Regardless of a pending lawsuit the public should be able to speak about whatever village concerns they have.
post-journal.com/news/community…

Lockport, NY Mayor John Lombardi III has issued a written directive to all city employees to refrain from contact with the press. David Cuilier of the Brechner Center stated: “This is unconstitutional and against everything America stands for.'
lockportjournal.com/news/lombardi-…

Democracy is slowly dying across NY State. The ability to speak to your elected representatives is being eliminated totally or greatly reduced. Our elected representatives are acting like Kings who bestow the privilege of speaking to them as they see fit.
facebook.com/nyopengov.org/…

This short government transparency testimony by Terry Anderson is awesome.

There is an open government crisis in NY State.
We have documented the lack of compliance with the Open Meetings Law and the Freedom of Information Law in report after report.
You can view the many reports we have done on our website.
nyopengov.org/reports/

The Iowa legislature passed a bill that hikes the maximum fine for unknowingly violating the open meetings law from $500 to $2,500. If a person knowingly violates the law, they could be fined up to $12,500.
In NY there are no penalties and we need them.
thegazette.com/state-governme…

New York's governor and legislature passed a late, $237 billion FY 2025 budget sprawling across 1,000s pages that will take days to unpack. Albany leaders again rejected basic budget #transparency , including simple tables of revenues and expenses. #Healthydemocracy …

'In New York, government agencies are not required to publicly report basic information about how they respond to (FOIL) requests.' We support (A9621/S8671) by Senator Hoylman-Sigal and Assemblymember McDonald . Great editorial by Daily Gazette.
drive.google.com/file/d/1MQSE2Y…

Kudos to Colton NY town board member Kevin Beary. It is rare for an elected official to speak up regarding an executive session motion.
Below is a one minute audio recording of what occurred. This is an example of how not to do an executive session motion.
soundcloud.com/kbeary/executi…

Charged With Regulating Conflict of Interests, Ethics Commission Hid Its Own.

Great reporting by Chris Bragg from NYS Focus.

nysfocus.com/2024/04/17/eth…

Our Freedom of Information law system is broken and in need of reform. In this short video, Coalition President Paul Wolf discusses how a bill sponsored by Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal would be a big improvement.
youtube.com/watch?v=qTHjYA…

It is taking the Nevada Attorney General's Office 18 months to investigate Open Meetings Law complaints.
The NY Coalition For Open Government supports creating an independent hearing officer system to address open government complaints. Rosenthal A07933 nyassembly.gov/leg/?default_f…