Public records request surge and data mining
Summary
Public records requests more than quadrupled this fall, mostly from commercial data-mining companies that then sell the data. It's costing the city over $442,000 a year in staff time it can't recover, and it's crowding out other work in the clerk's office.
At a glance
- Total mentions
- 1
- Last 30 days
- 1
Discussed at 1 meeting in the last 60 days; most recently Oct 19, 2026.
Impact analysis
Over $442,000 a year in staff time that state law bars the city from recovering from requesters.
Residents and businesses who file records requests, including legitimate transparency seekers.
Taxpayers, who effectively subsidize commercial data scraping through staff time, and residents whose other city services wait while staff processes requests.
Mentions & discussions (1)
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