We do it by taking the Yorks subsidy request and separating fact from fiction. Analyzing their request as they presented it, and assessing what it means to you, as a resident.

We do not rely on hubris, hype or any other statement not based on fact.

First, we are fortunate to have a stable of well educated residents who have donated their time (a lot of it), to help us sift the numbers. They present their analysis in a manner easy to understand and, by the rules of notwithmymoney.org, footnoted or hot linked to every fact cited.

Second, we report based from original sources. Documents, quotes and records in the public domain are the sources upon which we rely.

Third, we exercise our legal rights. We do make demands for documents under the California Public Records Act. No doubt, the emails, letters, memos of the Yorks, their agents, City Council members, City Staff and certainly self-styled “insiders,” produced and reported, are often embarrassing for the authors and recipients. However, your right to know trumps those embarrassments.

Finally, we do irony, irreverence and humor.

Perhaps, those rhetorical devices are the construct to get us through this otherwise theater of the absurd and comedic.