The Mercury Information sued the Metropolis of San Jose on Wednesday, searching for to make public the main points behind an October scandal the place firefighters have been seen dropping off a bikini-clad lady on the Pink Poodle strip membership.
In its lawsuit filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court docket, the information group is pursuing data pertaining to town’s investigation into the Oct. 5 incident and subsequent disciplinary measures hearth division officers say have been taken in opposition to the staff concerned.
To this point, these paperwork have been saved hidden from the general public regardless of repeated makes an attempt by reporters and a media legal professional to unearth them by data requests and communications with metropolis attorneys. Though then-mayor Sam Liccardo known as for “heads to roll” when the scandal broke, town will supply no particulars concerning the nature of any self-discipline.
In its communications, town argues that releasing the paperwork would violate the privateness of the firefighters and that there isn't any robust public curiosity in viewing them — a stance that seems to defy authorized rulings the place the main points surrounding public worker misconduct have been decided to be public data.
“Metropolis leaders owe taxpayers a extra thorough accounting of what occurred right here and what town has accomplished to make sure it doesn’t occur once more,” Frank Pine, govt editor of the Bay Space Information Group, stated in a press release. “A fireplace engine is a important public asset that’s presupposed to be on name always in case of an emergency. It’s not a celebration bus. On this case, an engine was faraway from service for an undisclosed period of time by unidentified personnel and town’s place seems to be that the privateness of town workers concerned trumps the general public’s curiosity.”
“The folks of San Jose deserve higher,” he added.
David Loy, Authorized Director on the authorities transparency nonprofit First Modification Coalition, stated it’s obvious that public data legal guidelines aren’t working in addition to they need to, on condition that The Mercury Information has to sue to acquire town paperwork.
“You shouldn’t must go to court docket to get these data,” stated Loy bluntly. “It is a very substantial subject of misuse of metropolis assets.”
The town declined to touch upon the lawsuit.
The go well with comes two weeks after Fireplace Chief Robert Sapien launched an April 25 memo to councilmembers in response to “vital public inquiries” concerning the incident. His two-page doc provided only a sprinkling of particulars.
Sapien stated hearth crews for Engine 4 have been dropping off an unauthorized male at his office, the Pink Poodle. Whereas the engine sat exterior the strip membership on South Bascom Avenue, a girl approached the firefighters, who initially refused to permit her within the truck for a ride-along however relented when “she persevered,” the memo states.
The firetruck then drove across the membership, dropping off the lady at roughly 9:10 p.m. the place she then walked by the doorways of the Pink Poodle, a second captured on video and shared extensively on social media by an account known as San Jose Foos. The caption of the video learn, “Solely in San Jose do you see a stripper come out of a firetruck.”
The firetruck then traveled to AJ’s Bar, a bikini bar on Lincoln Avenue about two miles away, and parked within the space earlier than returning to the station at 9:20 p.m. The memo provided no rationalization for that go to. It acknowledged that the staff concerned within the incident didn’t problem their punishment after an investigation concluded in February.
The memo was the second communication to councilmembers relating to the incident this 12 months. On March 10, Sapien apologized concerning the scandal for the primary time, stating that the incident “critically misaligned” with the hearth division’s mission and values. Data uncovered within the fall revealed that there have been no requires service on Oct. 5 at or close to the Pink Poodle or AJ’s Bar. Inside communications obtained by NBC Bay Space present that Liccardo’s public assertion induced misery inside the metropolis’s hearth division.
However since then, two public data requests by this information group have been flatly denied by town.
Through the metropolis’s most up-to-date refusal, Mayor Matt Mahan stated in a press release on April 26 that he was “disillusioned” and “pissed off” that metropolis coverage didn’t enable for extra particulars concerning the October incident to be disclosed.
When requested to quote the referenced coverage, the Mayor referred the matter to the Metropolis Legal professional’s workplace. That workplace didn't present an outlined coverage, as an alternative pointing to the Metropolis’s Sunshine Ordinance. Nonetheless, that ordinance units the bottom guidelines for the disclosure of data involving high metropolis officers — not workers like firefighters — and doesn't prohibit the disclosure of knowledge.
“The (California Public Data Act) and state structure present a mechanism for public oversight of presidency companies and personnel exactly so the general public isn't pressured to just accept the federal government’s model of occasions,” The Mercury Information’ lawsuit states. “By way of this lawsuit, The Mercury Information seeks to carry the Metropolis of San Jose accountable to the general public.”