The City of New York’s Law Department says it will need five weeks to work on a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request. In this time, officials might determine an answer. Or they might just figure out how long it will really take.

A records officer wrote: “We are investigating your request. We will require twenty five business days in which to reach a determination or an estimate of the time required to reach such a determination.”

If that’s all a bit confusing, here’s a simpler version: The Law Department needs about five weeks to review the request. That review might produce a records response, or it could just lead to an official estimate of how long it will take the department to eventually respond for real.

In other words: Hold tight. They’ll get back to us, at some point.

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