New Database: Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) Puts 1000s of FOIA Requests Online

via TechPresident:

The 20,000 documents posted online include, according to a press release, all answered FOI requests from 2011, more than 500 pages of 2011 board and committee presentations, numerous contracts between the Port Authority and private firms, as well as more than 300 pages of toll and fare hearing transcripts, as well as updated Port Authority/PATH payroll information, with from 2008 forward, in Excel format.
Transparency activist John Kaehny, executive director of Reinvent Albany, says this is “great and stupid at the same time.”
“Putting the FOIed responses in online is great, is really good,” he said. “That said, their responses are all in scanned image form, which makes them non-machine readable.”
That means they aren’t easy to search without rifling through them one by one, which sort of defeats the purpose of putting something online. He added that it’s unhelpful that the folders listed on the site are undated with unclear numbering.

Read the Complete Article
Access the PANYNJ Transparency Web Site
Direct to FOIA Request Database ||| Salary Data
Note: Some FOIA Requests Relating to World Trade Center Matters are Included
See Also: Port Authority Makes Major Enhancements To How Agency Will Release Public Records To Provide Greater Transparency And Accountability

Filed under: Data Files, Resources