Bring Salem's communications on Tent City's sweep to light!

THIS GOFUNDME'S GOAL HAS BEEN MET. THANK YOU SO MUCH AND PLEASE TAKE WHATEVER DONATION YOU WERE CONSIDERING AND SEND IT TO SOMEONE ELSE WHO NEEDS IT!

Hello everyone!

My name is Adam Nuñez and I am a student journalist at Emerson College, as well as an organizer for the unhoused with Salem Survival Program.

On October 18, 2024, I initiated a public records request with the Salem Police Department, Salem Public Works, and Salem City Hall for 20 days of communications from sixteen involved city officials leading up to, during, and directly after the sweep of the South River encampment on June 26, 2024.

Massachusetts Public Records Law charges $25 an hour for estimated labor time necessary to fulfill any request beyond two free hours, and is considered to have one of the more stringent set of laws in the country. However, the law heavily encourages municipalities within the state to "waive or reduce the amount of any fee charged" for a record "in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government" or "upon a showing that the requestor lacks the financial ability to pay the full amount of the reasonable fee."

Despite repeated explanations that these records fall squarely within the public interest, and that neither myself as an independent journalist and college student, nor the unhoused residents of Salem whom these records are most in the interest of, would have the means to pay a significant fee for them, I received a receipt of acknowledgement from Salem Assistant City Solicitor James Wellock regarding my request, as well as an estimated fee of $350 on November 1, 2024.

In the months following, the city used a wide-range of tactics to attempt to stop, as well as delay the release of these records. Despite months of attempting communication with Salem's Records Access Officer Joanne Roomey to no avail, I was forced to file multiple appeals to the statehouse. These appeals included a successful fee appeal in which my request was restricted to just email communications and the city was told they had to work with me to bring down the fee.

Despite weeks of further delays in which James Wellock offered to ask Salem's IT department for suggested key words to help tighten the search for my request, he returned suggesting the same three key words he himself had suggested all the way back in his original November estimate of $350. Wellock has maintained though "it doesn't appear to add much," he actually did ask Salem's IT department for suggested terms during this delay, and the IT department just happened to give the same exact ones he had suggested months ago.

After I further restricted the request by key words (though not solely the key words suggested by the city) the fee estimate was brought down to $183.32. The same day, the city entered a fee petition to the state asking for a further 45 day extension from the receipt of the fee payment, which the state granted them.

It is clear through their actions that the City of Salem doesn't want these records out. They know that the more they delay the records releasing, the less attention they will receive, and they know putting a high price on them is likely to stop them from coming out entirely. Help me raise the necessary $183.32 so they can't delay them any further. We deserve transparency from our local government.