One of the city’s biggest open-government advocates isn’t heeding his own advice — and he’s the mayor.
Nearly a month into his administration, Mayor de Blasio has yet to appoint a records officer to handle requests for public information from citizens and the media.
The lack of urgency in setting up shop contrasts sharply with de Blasio’s position as public advocate, where he released a 29-page paper berating city agencies for ignoring public-access laws.
He even doled out harsh letter grades like a disappointed teacher in that paper, issued last April — assigning F’s to the NYPD and NYCHA for their slow disclosures.
“We have to start holding government accountable when it refuses to turn over public records to citizens and taxpayers,” de Blasio said at the time.
It wasn’t until repeated requests by The Post that the administration supplied the name of a temporary Freedom of Information Law officer, pending the hire of a permanent one.
But officials insisted FOIL requests have been handled according to the legal timelines thus far.
They said they’ve sent receipt letters to four of the five requests submitted, with the fifth one just having been received.