City of Detroit Repeatedly Violates State Law on Public Records

By Steve Neavling, The Detroit Metro Times, October 12, 2023

The city of Detroit has a transparency problem.

In a little more than a year, the city has either ignored Metro Times’ Freedom of Information Act requests or taken months to respond, despite a state law that requires records to be produced within three weeks.

Metro Times is not alone in its struggle to get records from Detroit.

In July 2023, Circuit Court Judge Charles Hegarty slammed the city after it failed to disclose records to Grosse Pointe Moving & Storage, despite a court order requiring the city do so. The moving company had filed a lawsuit against the city earlier this year over a FOIA request for information about traffic near Stellantis’ Jeep plant.

Hegarty expressed bewilderment, saying, "It's possible the city of Detroit needs to sit down, evaluate how it addresses FOIA matters and fix that process.”

The Detroit Free Press, Axios, and WXYZ-TV have also had issues with getting city records.