NY Bureaucracy at its Finest (semi deer related)

[phade]

So I am looking at a particular county's property maps to look at land, boundaries, and owner names for deer hunting purposes. This particular website shows the maps, boundaries, addresses, but not the owner name. Other counties will show all of the info and the names as well. This county simply doesn't. I inquired and they told me I need to FOIL the information to get the owner name because they do not offer it publicly.

 

So I'm sitting there thinking #1, that is silly, because other counties offer it. And #2, they provide all other details, including mailing address of the owner, so what does not revealing the name otherwise protect? 

 

Then it hit me - ON THE SAME WEBSITE PAGE is the link to the tax rolls, which shows the owner names. All you have to do is use the property number from the map and search the roll using the find feature. Duh - how freaking stupid is that? Its manual, but I don't need to FOIL it at all because it is available publicly.

 

So they don't provide the name on the map, but provide everything else info-wise, and on the same page that loads the map is the link to the roll that provides the name. 

[Black Bellamy]

What's really sad is that changing the website to show that data is a couple of hours of work, maybe $500-$1000, and the problem is solved forever.

 

But complying with FOIL requests for that same information means a real live person has to open the mail, go walk somewhere, print stuff out, then mail it.   Takes time and it happens over and over and over again and definitely costs more money over time.

 

I guess those other counties are more progressive that way.

Edited February 19, 2015 by Black Bellamy

[Caveman]

This is where the phrase "good enough for government work" comes from.