Photo by Steve Neavling/Motor City Muckraker
Mayor Mike Duggan talks about operating more transparently. Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker sees at least one way that's not happening.
He is suing the city of Detroit for refusing to disclose public records about broken hydrants.
The suit charges that the city violated the Michigan Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by failing to provide public records that list the number and locations of broken hydrants in 2014. The city also failed to even respond to a portion of the Feb. 9 request that sought copies of audits, complaints and investigations involving broken hydrants.
Mayor Mike Duggan’s administration claimed that revealing the number and locations of bad hydrants would be used by an arsonist “to plan and start a mass fire in those specific areas.”
Muckraker’s attorney, Ralph C. Simpson, disagrees.
“The city failed to meet its burden of showing a real threat to security that would justify withholding the records,” Simpson said, pointing out in the lawsuit that even the city’s FOIA attorney acknowledged that the locations of broken hydrants in 2014 would “only capture the status of the fire hydrants for the date reflected on the report” and therefore “do not necessarily provide an accurate count of non-functioning fire hydrants” or those hydrants that “were repaired by DWSD.”
The independent journalids is posting a series of stories pointing out problems with the fire department and equipment, including fire hydrants. His focus on broken fire hydrants prompted the city to call for inspections of the city's 30,000 fire hydrants.
The city maintained last month that it knew about just 70 broken hydrants, "a mere fraction of the real number," he says.
Neavling this week earns two fresh salutes for his crusading:
- Jim Schaefer, a star reporter at the Free Press (where Neavling worked from 2006-12), links to Muckraker's lawsuit report Tuesday on his Facebook page: "I like it when people fight for public records," the Pulitzer-winner posts. :"You should, too."
- Metro Times gives Neavling a Best of Detroit award Wednesday for being "a rabble rouser" and "a guy [who] works his ass off."
