Reading through these queries is instructive. Request #400 is typical of a well-written, succinct, and effective request for relevant commercial information held by the university.

Subject: FOIA Farm Lease Rates 2008-2009-2010

Mr Hardy under FOIA I would request the lease rates that were successful bidders for UI farmland for these years. This is needed to help me establish lease rates on my farm with absentee landlords. Thank You, Joe Hampton.

As a contrast, consider this response to the request for "all purchase orders issued to Nuvision Networks", made by TBS of Lemont, IL on Aug. 10, 2009. The FOIA officer at UI replied

Your request for documents and information listed in your email is considered unduly burdensome to the University, inasmuch as there are hundreds of pages of documents located in multiple offices that could be responsive to your request. Pursuant to Section 3(f) of the Act, we would like to extend to you an opportunity to modify your request to a specific topic, making it of more manageable proportions. Specifically, we suggest that you provide a date range for us to search.

The request was finally fulfilled on Sept. 9, 2009, almost a month after the original query; The person making this request could have sped up the results by making the request easier to fulfill. In general, the more specific you can be about where the records can be located, the easier the organization has a chance of finding them.

Finally, the classic search technique for reporters is to figure out what other reporters are reporting on and to get copies of items they have requested. Here's a reporter who doesn't quite get it right, taking 20 days to get results with this query:

This is a FOIA reuest for correspondence between reporters at the Chicago 
Tribune and University of Illinois administrators between June 1, 2008 and 
June 2, 2009. 
We are asking for all FOIA-related correspondence, including emails and 
written correspondence. 
Thank you for your time. 

This request triggered a reply which asked for extra time to redact these materials to ensure that no protected information was released. A more effective approach appears to be to simply ask for copies of the FOIA requests and their replies - the so called "FOIA log", much as UI eventually has published on this site - so that you can see each of the individual requests and their responses.

Now a log, of sorts, of active FOIA activity at AnnArbor.com and other organizations we are aware of around town.

City of Ann Arbor

Most of this week's activity with the city has had to do with automating retrieval of published records in the Trakit system, which the city uses to track everything from building permits to chicken permits. City staff has been helpful in assisting with this, and I'm hopeful I can do some simple scripting to get records out in bulk for further analysis.

One project to watch in Trakit in particular is SP08-015, which is the master project for this stage of the South Fifth Avenue underground parking garage.

I have new FOIA requests in for information about sidewalk repairs, water shutoffs, and parking enforcement.

The East Stadium bridges FOIA came back, and it's interesting.  I placed a call to the engineering firm, Northwest Consultants Inc., which did a repeat inspection of the bridge on Sept. 15, 2009, and reported that "in general, the bridge was in slightly, although noticeably, worse condition than it was during my last intermediate inspection performed on February 10, 2009, and my last routine inspection performed on October 22, 2008."  Look for more on this as I follow up.

I still don't know what the construction plans are for property across from Arborland, where there is work being done on a city right-of-way in a location that would be appropriate for use as an AATA bus stop.

"He said, 'Gentlemen do not read each other's mail.' Or something like that." 
Pancho snorted. "Maybe you're a gentleman, but Humphries sure ain't." - Ben Bova, "The Precipice", 2002.

City of Ann Arbor - Police Records

The Ann Arbor Police Records department phone number is (734) 794-6954 ; the FOIA records request form is available as a PDF, with instructions on how to submit it.  If you are looking for information about a traffic accident, crash reports are available for $10 via TRACView.

Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority

The Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority is subject to FOIA, but it does not publish a FOIA policy or contact information on its Web site.

We're making inquiries to help figure out just what happened with this ticket issued by Officer POMO, 8 minutes after the space was paid for on the new ePark system, operated by Republic Parking on behalf of the Ann Arbor Downtown Development Authority.

This is why you should keep your receipts.

The license plate on the ticket has been redacted for personal privacy. (Provided by the vehicle owner.)

Ann Arbor Transportation Authority

The AATA is a public body subject to FOIA, but it does not have a written FOIA policy or procedure on its Web site.

I received my request for standing loads on AATA routes. I'm working on a story about the proposed changes to Route 2, trying to identify more details about just what those changes will do; the worst stop for the inbound 2 appears to be the Maiden Lane location, where the bus regularly leaves passengers behind on morning runs. I have copies of proposed schedule changes and artwork for all of those new routes.

As always, this is not a complete list of all FOIA activities at AnnArbor.com - there's more in the works that we're still working on or that we're not ready to write about.

Edward Vielmetti is blogging leader at AnnArbor.com.  He writes a "FOIA Friday" column in which he explores archives and public records through the use of the Freedom of Information Act to document and explore the workings of government and its impact on people's daily lives. Mr. Vielmetti is a graduate of the University of Michigan and a former program manager for the School of Information's Community Information Corps. A native of the Upper Peninsula, he believes that Ann Arbor is overrated, and points to the prevalence of deep puddles of slush in the gutters of city streets in February as evidence.