Santa Monica Coco
It is a clone of this request.
| Tracking # |
R011893-071421 |
| Submitted | July 14, 2021 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Jason Koebler
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports show that the robotic delivery company Coco is operating in Santa Monica: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers
Therefore, I hereby request the following records:
1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the department about Coco or its predecessor, Cyan Robotics.
2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Coco delivery robots or Cyan Robotics devices.
3) Any emails between the department and other members of the department or other members of the Santa Monica government about or mentioning Coco.
4) Any emails between the department and employees of Coco.
5) Any resident complaints about Coco robots or other delivery robots.
The requested documents will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech site.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jason Koebler
From: Santa Monica Police Department
Dear Jason Koebler:
Thank you for your interest in public records of the City of Santa Monica. Your request has been received and is being processed in accordance with the California Government Code, Section 6253(c). Your request was received in this office on 7/14/2021 and given the reference number R011893-071421 for tracking purposes.
Records Requested: To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports show that the robotic delivery company Coco is operating in Santa Monica: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers
Therefore, I hereby request the following records:
1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the department about Coco or its predecessor, Cyan Robotics.
2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Coco delivery robots or Cyan Robotics devices.
3) Any emails between the department and other members of the department or other members of the Santa Monica government about or mentioning Coco.
4) Any emails between the department and employees of Coco.
5) Any resident complaints about Coco robots or other delivery robots.
The requested documents will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech site.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jason Koebler
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
Your request will be forwarded to the relevant department(s) to locate the information you seek and to determine the volume and any costs associated with satisfying your request. You will be contacted within the next 10 calendar days about the availability and/or provided with copies of the records in question. PLEASE NOTE: The California Public Records Act does not require a governmental body to create new information, to do legal research, or to answer questions.
You can monitor the progress of your request at the link below and you'll receive an email when your request has been completed. Again, thank you for using the Public Records Center.
City of Santa Monica
From: Santa Monica Police Department
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of July 14, 2021, Reference # R011893-071421
Dear Jason Koebler,
The City of Santa Monica received a public records request from you on July 14, 2021. Your request mentioned: “To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports show that the robotic delivery company Coco is operating in Santa Monica: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers
Therefore, I hereby request the following records:
1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the department about Coco or its predecessor, Cyan Robotics.
2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Coco delivery robots or Cyan Robotics devices.
3) Any emails between the department and other members of the department or other members of the Santa Monica government about or mentioning Coco.
4) Any emails between the department and employees of Coco.
5) Any resident complaints about Coco robots or other delivery robots.
The requested documents will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech site.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.”
This letter is to clarify what information that you are seeking from the City:
We request that you reformulate your public records request to make it clearer and less broad and, thus, permit City staff to locate records with reasonable effort. The City’s obligation under the Act is to produce records upon receiving a request that “reasonably describes an identifiable record.” (Gov. Code, § 6253, subd. (b).) “[A] person who seeks public records must present a reasonably focused and specific request, so that the public agency will have an opportunity to promptly identify and locate such records and to determine whether any exemption to disclosure applies.” (Galbiso v. Orosi Public Utility Dist. (2008) 167 Cal.App.4th 1063, 1088.) “The request to the agency must itself be focused and specific.” (Rogers v. Superior Court (1993) 19 Cal.App.4th 469, 481.) A test for the reasonable description of identifiable records requirement is “whether the records can be located with reasonable efforts.” (State Board of Equalization v. Superior Court (1992) 10 Cal.App.4th 1177, 1186.
Even a clearly framed request can be objectionable as unduly burdensome if it requires an agency to search an enormous volume of data for a “needle in a haystack” or compels the production of a huge volume of material. (American Civil Liberties Union Foundation v. Deukmejian (1982) 32 Cal.3d 440 (“ACLU”); California First Amendment Coalition v. Superior Court (1998) 67 Cal.App.4th 159, 166 (“First Amendment Coalition”).) Under the Act, a governmental agency is only obliged to disclose records that can be located with reasonable effort and cannot be compelled to a “limitless” disclosure obligation. (First Amendment Coalition at p. 166; ACLU at p. 453.)
The City has carefully reviewed your public records request and has determined that it is unduly burdensome. Under the particular circumstances here, the public interest is served by not disclosing records that the City cannot locate with reasonable effort. It is not in the public interest for the City to expend City resources and disrupt efficient government operations to search an enormous volume of records, especially in cases where the requests can be focused to permit the City to locate records with reasonable effort. Disclosure of responsive public records may be blocked as unduly burdensome if “on the facts of the particular case the public interest served by not making the records public clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of the record.” (ACLU at p. 452.) When weighing the benefits and costs of disclosure, any expense or inconvenience to the public agency may be considered. (Id.)
Here, your public records request is unduly burdensome because it is overly broad and vague. Your request includes broad and vague phrases. You did not focus your public records request to include the specific subject matter of the emails you are seeking. Your request does not provide guidance as to how attenuated a record’s relationship to the referenced topic must be to escape disclosure. The City is left to guess as to the records that you seek with respect to, for example, “any emails regarding Coco or Cyan Robotics”. Your vague and broad public records request invites a response which is either overinclusive or underinclusive. Moreover, your request would require city staff to perform a limitless search for records because it asks City staff to search through an enormous volume of records covering an undetermined time period and no subject matter.
To permit the City to locate records with reasonable effort, please clarify and focus your requests by providing a date range and identifying the subject matter of the emails that you seek, rather than “any emails”. Please identify the specific topic for the “emails” that you seek.
If you would like for the City to proceed with your public record request, please provide clarifications within (10) calendar days from 07/15/2021. Otherwise, the City will respond to the other items in your request.
You may provide a response to the City by any of the following methods:
1. by responding to this email (preferred)
2. by regular mail to City of Santa Monica, David Willis, 1685 Main Street, Room 102, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Upon receipt of your clarification, the City will further respond to your public records request as required by law, including providing you with an estimate of costs associated with producing the requested records.
Thank you for your attention.
Sincerely,
City of Santa Monica
From: Jason Koebler
For the emails, to start, please search for emails sent to/from the domain "@cocodelivery.com" - This should be an easy search to do, and many other cities and even the Santa Monica police department have done similar searches for me in the past. Please search from September 1, 2020 until the time this request is processed, which is from the time these robots started operating in Santa Monica.
However, I also want emails from residents to the city or between city employees about these robots, during that same time period. If you need suggested search terms - "coco" "delivery robot," "delivery robots," "robot," and"robots," however, I find it hard to believe that city employees don't know what I'm talking about or the types of emails I'm seeking and that you are required to process and provide.
The subject of the emails that I seek are emails that are about these robots that are everywhere in Santa Monica, riding all over sidewalks, scaring dogs and humans alike. This company is headquartered on Main Street and advertises all over the city—surely it is possible for you to find emails or records about remotely piloted robots that are driving all over the city at all hours of the day. This is not a fishing expedition, it's a request for records about how the city, the city's police department, and the city's residents have interacted with an obvious presence in the city over the last ~9 months.
From: Santa Monica Police Department
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of July 14, 2021, Reference # R011893-071421.
Dear Jason Koebler,
The City of Santa Monica received a public records request from you dated July 14, 2021. Your request mentioned: “To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports show that the robotic delivery company Coco is operating in Santa Monica: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers
Therefore, I hereby request the following records:
1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the department about Coco or its predecessor, Cyan Robotics.
2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Coco delivery robots or Cyan Robotics devices.
3) Any emails between the department and other members of the department or other members of the Santa Monica government about or mentioning Coco.
4) Any emails between the department and employees of Coco.
5) Any resident complaints about Coco robots or other delivery robots.
The requested documents will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech site.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jason Koebler
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
The City has reviewed its files and has located responsive records to your request. Please log in to the GovQA system at the following link to retrieve the appropriate responsive documents. Public Records Request - R011893-071421
If you have any questions, or wish to discuss this further, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Jamie Wand
City of Santa Monica
From: Santa Monica Police Department
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of July 14, 2021, Reference # R011893-071421.
Dear Jason Koebler,
The City of Santa Monica received a public records request from you dated July 14, 2021. Your request mentioned: “To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports show that the robotic delivery company Coco is operating in Santa Monica: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers
Therefore, I hereby request the following records:
1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the department about Coco or its predecessor, Cyan Robotics.
2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Coco delivery robots or Cyan Robotics devices.
3) Any emails between the department and other members of the department or other members of the Santa Monica government about or mentioning Coco.
4) Any emails between the department and employees of Coco.
5) Any resident complaints about Coco robots or other delivery robots.
The requested documents will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech site.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jason Koebler
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
The City has reviewed its files and has located responsive records to your request. Please log in to the GovQA system at the following link to retrieve the appropriate responsive documents. Public Records Request - R011893-071421
If you have any questions, or wish to discuss this further, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Jamie Wand
City of Santa Monica
From: Santa Monica Police Department
--- Please respond above this line ---
RE: PUBLIC RECORDS REQUEST of July 14, 2021, Reference # R011893-071421.
Dear Jason Koebler,
The City of Santa Monica received a public records request from you dated July 14, 2021. Your request mentioned: “To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the California Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:
Public reports show that the robotic delivery company Coco is operating in Santa Monica: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7m7bj/a-robot-delivery-startup-with-human-operators-is-pushing-no-tips-for-workers
Therefore, I hereby request the following records:
1) All presentations and presentation materials (including recorded video and audio, PowerPoint files, prepared remarks, and slides formats), and other information presented to the department about Coco or its predecessor, Cyan Robotics.
2) A copy of any incident reports relating to Coco delivery robots or Cyan Robotics devices.
3) Any emails between the department and other members of the department or other members of the Santa Monica government about or mentioning Coco.
4) Any emails between the department and employees of Coco.
5) Any resident complaints about Coco robots or other delivery robots.
The requested documents will be used in the course of reporting for Motherboard, VICE Media's science and tech site.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 calendar days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Jason Koebler
Upload documents directly: https://https://www.muckrock.comhttps://www.muckrock.com/
The City has reviewed its files and has located responsive records to your request. Please log in to the GovQA system at the following link to retrieve the appropriate responsive documents. Public Records Request - R011893-071421
If you have any questions, or wish to discuss this further, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Jamie Wand
City of Santa Monica
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