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Gmail Damien Goodmon MTA's Violations of Law Re: Requests for Info About Youths Deaths, etc.

Fr: Damien Goodmon Tue, Sep 2, 2008 at 9:39 AMTo: Antonio Villaraigosa, Jaime De La Vega, Ara Najarian, Bernard Parks, Mike Hernandez, Dilara Rodriguez,Bonnie Lowenthal, David Fleming, Don Knabe, Doug Failing, Gloria Molina, John Fasana, Mike Antonovich, PamO'Connor, Richard Katz, Yvonne B. Burke, Mike Bohlke, Zev Yaroslavsky, Vivian Rescalvo, Ray Harris, Tony Bell,Nicole EnglundCc: Ivor E. Samson, Christopher E. Prince, Lawrence Heller, Michael Strumwasser, Jay Golida, James Simpson,Leslie Rogers, Ray Tellis, Trevor Daley, Molly O'Brien, Charles Stewart, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Eric Boyd, KarenBass, Jenny Wood, Mike Davis, Amy Nam, Herb Wesson, Andrew Westall, Hugo Ortiz, Jan Perry, Brandy Chappell,Scott Maslin, David Kooper, Irma Ulloa, Julie Korenstein, "Lamotte, Marguerite", Luis Sanchez, Marlene Canter,Mnica Garca, Richard Vladovic, Samira Estilai, Tamar Galatzan, Tom Waldman, Vernail Skaggs, Vickie Ramos,

Yolie Flores Aguilar, Edward Morelan

Dear Mr. Joe Parise, Records Management Supervisor of the MTA, and the MTA Board of Directors:

Today marks the 118th day since the initial request of this agency for accident/incident reports for each Blue Lineand Gold Line accident/incident, in particular those involving youths and youngsters, and still not one report hasbeen supplied.

Since UCA/Fix Expo's letter titled, "MTA's Failure to Respond to Fix Expo/UCA's California Public Records ActRequests of 6 May 2008, 13 May 2008, 14 July 2008, & 24 July 2008" (attached with exhibits), which was handdelivered to MTA Records Management Center on August 14, 2008, we have received your response of August19, 2008 (also attached).

Much of our response to your August 19 letter, in particular your interpretation of the series ofcommunication/events stated in the "Procedural History" section, will be addressed in a follow-up to this email.This email is a specific response to your contention that: "A public records request is not a discovery request andtherefore, MTA is not required to participate in a fishing expedition" (at Pg. 2), and status inquiry.

First, I object to your implication that this California Public Records Act ("CPRA") request is a "fishing expedition."This is a detailed request for information involving the accidents, injury, maiming and deaths of people, in

particular children, by your light rail vehicles, which are operated with public funds, and were built with taxpayersdollars.

Second, with respect to your assertion that the CPRA provides your agency greater leniency as compared todiscovery, the law states quite the reverse, and rulings have been issued, specific to cases in which MTA was aparty. Indeed, the ruling in Wilder v. LACMTA indicates that even if this were "a fishing expedition," theconstitution of the State of California entitles us to partake and MTA is legally mandated to supply us with theinformation requested.

In case you have forgotten, Wilder v. LACMTA of 1998 involved a woman injured at a Blue Line station, whorequested through the California Public Records Act, among other information, the accident report for heraccident, the accident reports of all crossings, and crossing maintenance information. MTA refused to supply theinformation to Wilder, stating as your basis that the request was "in anticipation of litigation." When Wilder fileda writ of mandate in Superior Court, MTA demurred that she was seeking to "circumvent the discovery process."

The California Court of Appeals for the 2nd District interjected stating the basis of the CPRA, and that Wilder "didnot cease to be a "member of the public" when she was struck by the Blue Line." The Court of Appeals for the2nd District also stated:

"Putting aside for the moment the time, effort, and financial resources required to institute a lawsuit against agovernmental entity and to promulgate discovery requests, discovery is limited to matters "relevant to the subjectmatter involved in the pending action" which are themselves "admissible in evidence" or "appear[] reasonablycalculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence." (Code Civ. Proc., 2017, subd. (a).) A CPRA request

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can cover anything the person making the request suspects the agency might have in its files. As a member ofthe public, petitioner is entitled to the broader categories of documents available under the CPRA."

I have both generally and specifically requested each accident/incident report for Blue Line and Gold Lineincidents/accidents, going so far as identifying some of the form codes and filing locations:

* Initial request of May 6 #4-7 (see Exhibit A),* Modified request of May 13 #1-4 (see Exhibit B)* Clarified request of July 14 #1-4, 6-9 (see Exhibit E)* July 24 request #11-16 (see Exhibit G)

It has been 118 days since the initial request. I have written, responded, clarified and specified and yet I havenot received a single report of an accident/incident involving a Blue Line and Gold Line train.

In the 4 months since the initial request, has MTA identified and is ready to supply a single piece of paper sincethe initial request?

If MTA has, please respond by the close of business tomorrow, the 119th day since the initial request, withinformation as to when these documents will be available for pick-up.

If MTA has not, or if MTA continues to assert that you will not or need more time to supply these individualaccident/incident reports, please respond by the close of business Friday, September 5th, with your interpretationof what constitutes the "delay and obstruct[ion]" referenced in California Public Records Act Section 6253(d):"Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to permit an agency to delay or obstruct the inspection or copying ofpublic records."

Finally, as you are well aware given the heightened discussion in South LA and the media in general regardinglight rail safety, the public need for this information is paramount.

Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,/S/ DAMIEN WESLEY CLARK GOODMON

Damien Wesley Clark GoodmonChair, United Community AssociationsCoordinator, Fix the Expo Rail Line Campaign

P.O. Box 781267, Los Angeles, CA 90016xx@xxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xxx.xxxx

CC:Law Firm of Sonneschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLPLaw Firm of Heller & EdwardsLaw Firm of Strumwasser & Woocher, LLPFTA Administrator James SimpsonFTA Region IX Administrator Leslie RogersFTA Los Angeles OfficeU.S. Senator Dianne FeinsteinCongresswoman Diane WatsonState Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas

Assembly Speaker Karen BassAssembly Member Mike DavisExpo Line Construction Authority Board of DirectorsLos Angeles City Board of Education

Via mail/fax:

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U.S. Senator Barbara BoxerCalifornia Attorney General Edmund C. Brown, Jr.Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley,

BCC:Community & Press

On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 11:47 AM, Damien Goodmon wrote:

To MTA Board of Directors and Relevant Parties:

Attached is the August 14th letter with accompanying exhibits from the Fix Expo Campaign/United CommunityAssociations, regarding MTA's violations of the California Public Records Act in failing to provide public documentsrelated to Blue Line and Gold Line accidents and incidents (particularly youths and youngsters), and relatedmatters.

In the interest of full disclosure on my part, and as you are surely aware, one intent of these Public RecordsAct requests is to supply the public with the truth regarding the accident/incident history of the Blue and GoldLines. So much false information has has been circulated by the Expo Line Construction Authority on this matter.

Please excuse the delay in the transmission of this letter, we have been dealing with technical difficulties overthe past week.

Sincerely,/S/ DAMIEN WESLEY CLARK GOODMONDamien GoodmonChair, United Community AssociationsCoordinator, Fix the Expo Rail Line Campaign

P.O. Box 781267, Los Angeles, CA 90016xx@xxxxxxx.xxxxxx.xxx.xxxx

CC:Law Firm of Sonneschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLPLaw Firm of Heller & EdwardsLaw Firm of Strumwasser & Woocher, LLPFTA Administrator James SimpsonFTA Region IX Administrator Leslie RogersFTA Los Angeles OfficeU.S. Senator Dianne FeinsteinCongresswoman Diane WatsonState Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas

Assembly Speaker Karen BassAssembly Member Mike DavisExpo Line Construction Authority Board of DirectorsLos Angeles City Board of Education

BCC:Community & Press

3 attachments874K MTA Response Letter 080819.pdf110K MTA 080814 PRA Violations.pdf756K MTA 080814 PRA Violations - Exhibits.pdf