Over five days of Sunshine Week the Schenectady Daily Gazette ran three Sunshine Week editorials on New York’s transparency laws. We posted each one as it came out:
- “Great editorial by the Schenectady Daily Gazette” — It’s your government. It’s your right to know what it’s up to. (March 14, 2026), on how often officials in Dutchess, Onondaga, Cattaraugus and Erie counties kept the public out.
- “Another great editorial by the Schenectady Daily Gazette” — Requesting government records requires diligence, persistence, patience (March 16, 2026), a step-by-step guide to filing a FOIL request and to the reasons agencies give for denying one.
- “Great overview of the Open Meetings Law by the Schenectady Daily Gazette” — Don’t be left in the dark at public meetings (March 19, 2026), on notice requirements and the eight grounds for an executive session.
The middle one is the most useful thing a reader can hand to someone who has never filed a request. The third makes a point worth repeating: the word “personnel” does not appear in the Open Meetings Law, and neither does “potential litigation.”
Our own plain-language answers are on the Questions and Answers page.
