Pittsburgh Tried to Hide Its Amazon Proposal by Claiming It Was a "Trade Secret"
Here is the Final Determination from the PA Office of Open Records
http://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Documents/FinalDet/31530.pdf
Kyle Applegate, Esq. was the appeals officer for my appeal too. He ruled in my favor, as well. WTAE, you didn't win the battle. If the City of Pittsburgh is anything like Mt. Lebanon, they will appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. Then it can go to Commonwealth Court and then heard in PA Supreme Court, if they will take the case. By then, Amazon will have chosen their site for HQ2.
Here is the Final Determination from the PA Office of Open Records
http://www.openrecords.pa.gov/Documents/FinalDet/31530.pdf
Fortunately, Pittsburgh's claim was laughed out of the state's Office of Open Records yesterday. The city now has 30 days to turn over a copy of the proposal to Paul Van Osdol, a journalist at the Pittsburgh-based WTAE-TV.Mt. Lebanon's claim that property was donated for the use of killing deer was laughed out of the state's Office of Open Records too. They said that no land ownership was donated and that the private property owners only granted access.
Kyle Applegate, Esq. was the appeals officer for my appeal too. He ruled in my favor, as well. WTAE, you didn't win the battle. If the City of Pittsburgh is anything like Mt. Lebanon, they will appeal to the Court of Common Pleas. Then it can go to Commonwealth Court and then heard in PA Supreme Court, if they will take the case. By then, Amazon will have chosen their site for HQ2.
Osdol submitted the initial requests for the proposal way back on October 19, shortly after Amazon published a list of locales that submitted bids for the headquarters. Under state law, public entities have five business days to respond to a request, but they can give themselves a 30-day extension for a variety of reasons. In this case, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County waited until November 27 to respond. By the time an appeal to the denial was filed, it was already December 1. The city and county dragged out that appeal for another month.
By the time the 30-day deadline to turn over the proposal to Osdol is over, it's possible Amazon will have made its decision. In the meantime, the public will have been kept in the dark about what Pittsburgh was willing to offer Amazon during a crucial four-month period when public opposition might have sunk the deal.
It may not be a trade secret under Pennsylvania state law, but crony capitalism is certainly a trade full of secrets.
