California First Amendment Coalition
BEACON AWARD, 2004

Watchourcity.com

The city of Huntington Park in southern California is not unlike hundreds of small jurisdictions in the state. Living in the shadows of Big Cities, none gets much TV news coverage or radio news coverage, and few if any have newspaper coverage.

So stuff happens. Especially, as in the case of Huntington Park, where most of the 62,000 people there are migrants from Mexico and Central America. First-generation workers don't have a lot of time to trot down to city hall for meetings and records searching.

In Huntington Park someone is trying to do something about the situation. A web site called WATCHOURCITY.COM has been established to give easy access to public records, to tell what is happening in city government and to point out the greed that takes root when people with power are not watched.

WATCHOURCITY.COM started in March. It has noted that one councilman spent double his travel budget two years in a row, that the council contracted for a city attorney in closed session without bids, and that the council spent $50,000 help an influential business group put on a celebration but cut preschool programs. First the site started monitoring travel and cell-phone spending, then expanded to include campaign contributions and contracts, all posted for anyone to see.

WATCHOURCITY.COM has combined new technology with old fashioned dig-it-up reporting. And it has done so with heavy dependence on public records.

It must be hitting home. One former council member who provided guidance on getting public records recently received a letter from the city attorney accusing her of obtaining city records evidently by illicit conspiratorial means. The council member said her only conspiracy was with the city clerk who followed the requirements of the California Public Records Act.

There is something else unusual about WATCHOURCITY.COM. The man behind it insists on remaining anonymous, and he promises anonymity to those who tip him to malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance.

"We receive a lot of whistle-blower e-mail," he was quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying. "Everybody fears reprisal - everybody. Anonymity is paramount."

He won't even tell his mother what he does. But he will describe his principles. He says: "WATCHOURCITY.COM'S goal is to foster open and transparent municipal administration operations and elections in Huntington Park which can be closely examined by all residents. Transparency and accountability in public administration are enhanced by strong public scrutiny based on solid legal provisions for access to information."

The California First Amendment Coalition salutes WATCHOURCITY.COM with its Beacon Award.