Weekend Watch: Navy Pier and open records laws

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In a major decision in the fight for government transparency, a Cook County judge recently ruled in favor of the Better Government Association's claim that Navy Pier should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the state's open records law.

The judge made the ruling even though the pier is now run as a non-profit entity, which is separate -- on paper at least -- from its former government overseer, the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (McPier).

The ruling says, in essence, that organizations can't avoid open records laws by changing governance structure when they (A) sit on public land, which the pier does, (B) take public dollars, which the pier does, and (C) perform a quasi-government function, which the pier does.

Read the full Better Government Association story online at bettergov.org.