Appeal: Deemed Denial of Open Records Request--2nd Attempt

Tuesday, December 29, 2009 6:40 PM

From: "Glenn A. Walsh" <gawalsh@andrewcarnegie.cc>

To: openrecords@state.pa.us

Cc: "Glenn A. Walsh" <gawalsh@andrewcarnegie.cc>

Message contains attachment

To:   Mary Ann Brawley
From: Glenn A. Walsh
Copy: David Tessitor

Attached is a Right-to-Know Law/Open Records Law request that was sent to the President of the Board of Trustees of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh on December 15. A certified mail card I received indicates that this request was received by the Library on December 16. As of today (December 29, the seventh business day since the Library received the request), I have received no response.

The requested record has not been received and is deemed a denial of the request.

Title 22 of the Pennsylvania Code, Section 141.21, Subsection (2), Part (i), Subpart (C) states:

“(C) The library shall be an integral part of general local government.”

The Pennsylvania Code provides that public libraries may receive public funding from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania so long as the home municipality has declared the library in question to be their legal “agency” for providing library service to the general public.

In the case of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, this requirement was satisfied on 1890 February 25 with the enactment into law, by the City of Pittsburgh, of Ordinance Number 240. Ordinance Number 240 of 1889-1890 accepted Andrew Carnegie’s generous offer to build libraries for Pittsburgh and officially designated these libraries as the “Carnegie Free Libraries of the City of Pittsburgh.” Ordinance Number 240 was passed by the Select and Common Councils of the City of Pittsburgh on 1890 February 24, signed into law by Pittsburgh Mayor William McCallin on 1890 February 25, and then entered into Ordinance Book 7 page 265.

Such designated “agencies” of municipal government are required to abide by all aspects of the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law [Act of June 21, 1957, P.L. 390, No. 212, 60 P.S. 66.1 et seq., as amended] and the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act [Act of July 3, 1986, P.L. 388, No. 84, 65 P.S. 271 et seq., as amended], as are all other parts of municipal government.

I, hereby, enter this appeal of the deemed denial of the requested information, by The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://friendsofthezeiss.org >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
SPACE & SCIENCE NEWS, ASTRONOMICAL CALENDAR:
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/#news >
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://andrewcarnegie.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://incline.pghfree.net >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >