Purpose

Justice Watch Tucson is designed to provide a public eye on the justice system affecting citizens of Tucson, Arizona. The program aims to more actively insert public interests and values into the justice system and to maximize public order and the wellbeing of Tucsonans.

Public order is the absence of disorder. Disorder comes in many flavors, from simple neighbor squabbles and trashy yards to loud parties, graffiti, petty theft and serious crime. The justice system is an important societal mechanism to restore public order when individual restraint fails or simple person to person influence on the behavior of others is insufficient. Justice Watch Tucson wants the justice system to operate at an optimum level. It wants the forces of law and order to reduce the likelihood of future illegal and discordant behavior, and to do so efficiently and effectively.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Public Access to Code Enforcement Data

As followup to a December 13, 2012 meeting, I met Thursday January 17, 2013 with Housing and Community Development Interim Director Andrea Ibanez, Code Enforcement Administrator Teresa Williams, Director of City Planning & Development Services Department Ernie Duarte (home of the Permits Plus data system) and City Attorney Mike Rankin (on the phone) regarding access to Code Enforcement data.

The meeting went well with good discussion of neighborhood and City concerns. Rankin said he could find no legal reason why the City should deny our request as the data is public record. Complainant data and the exact street address of the alleged violation is not part of the JWT request. Director Ibanez was very supportive of our request.  Director Duarte will begin discussions with City Information Technology on how to extract Code Enforcement data from the Permits Plus system. Also, a mocked up format proposed for public use will be presented to Mayor and Council during a study session.

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