Re: [PLUG] Help with Lawsuit

[Jeff Abrahamson <jeff@purple.com>]

Gee, I found out that I only paid $1 for my house the year after I
bought it.

    http://brtweb.phila.gov/accountDetails.aspx?an=6482004411

;-)

So they'd rather you submit several million http requests to their
server to get the GMA and EQID fields than give it to you on CD? Geez.

I'll send you a letter. You have laudable patience, Ed, putting up
with these morons in the city. Keep up the good work.

-Jeff


On Thu, May 01, 2003 at 09:23:41AM -0400, Edmund Goppelt wrote:
>   [65 lines, 392 words, 2602 characters]  Top characters: etoiasnr
> 
> I'd like to ask for this list's help explaining to a Philly judge that
> the data for City's property tax web site is ultimately stored on a
> hard disk somewhere.
> 
> The City is refusing to provide two data fields on the grounds that
> these fields are not stored on computer disk and therefore cannot be
> provided as an ascii text file. The lawyer representing the City wants
> me to download the fields for the City's 480,000 residences
> individually from their web site:
> 
> http://brtweb.phila.gov
> 
> To me it seems obvious that the data from the City's web site must
> reside on a hard disk somewhere, but I'm afraid that the Judge, who
> knows little about computers, just might buy into this claim.  I'd
> like to present the Judge with a packet of letters from computer
> professionals on this question.
> 
> If you believe in open records, I'd like to ask you to write a "to
> whom it may concern" letter expressing your professional opinion about
> whether the City's web site, and the data backing it, are stored on
> hard disk.  My snail mail and contact info are here:
> 
> http://www.hallwatch.org/contact
> 
> Emails are fine, if that's easier, but I suspect a real letter on
> letterhead will carry more weight with the Judge.
> 
> The City's web site is an ASP front end to a SQL database.  I know
> this for because I have a copy of the contract to build the web site:
> 
> http://www.goppelt.net/pdf/mbn_contract.pdf
> 
> Here's what the City Lawyer wrote in her brief:
> 
> "The GMA and EQID files are not 'maintained on disk somewhere' as
> Appellant asserts.  The most up-to-date GMA and EQID figures are on
> the BRT's network servers."  p. 3 of City's legal brief.
> 
> and:
> 
> "There is a file that is known EQID that rests on the mainframe and
> contains only the BRT account number and the EQID number for
> residential properties.  This data file does not exist on a disk."
> 
> Read the city lawyer's brief:
> 
> http://www.goppelt.net/pdf/choksi_supp_brief.pdf
> 
> Thanks for considering my request for help.  I'd also like to thank
> the many people on this list who responded to my previous question
> about Orcale and apologize for not acknowledging your helpful comments
> sooner!  If you're interested in how that particular story turned out,
> you can read more here:
> 
> http://www.hallwatch.org/rtkasuits/news/1050929197213

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