Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Joey Zapata
Assistant City Manager, City of Dallas
Dallas City Hall
This letter and email shall serve as my formal written complaint against a City of
Dallas employee. This letter will detail her actions, which were unprofessional and
even unconstitutional.
On the evening of June 2, 2017, I, like many others, was caught in the severe
rainstorms that came through the city.
I decided that a photo of this vehicle in this condition would be a good example of
how bad the storm was impacting the city. I passed the vehicle, made a u-turn
and came up on the vehicle with my vehicle window down and my smart phone in
my hand.
Her reply I dont have to give you any information. You cant take pictures of the
car.
I was able to get a few shots of the vehicle, with the City employee blocking her
body with an umbrella (photos attached)
I pulled into a marked space near the sidewalk and waited a few moments
(actually, I had to catch my breath from laughing hysterically). I exited my vehicle
to seek shelter at the IHOP. At that moment, another person, whom I do not
believe was a City employee, was standing next to the City vehicle. He turned to
the City employee, pointed at me, and said, Who, that guy??
After about 15 minutes of drying out, I exited the IHOP and returned to my
vehicle. I grabbed my Nikon professional camera and walked around the vehicle,
taking more photographs. The City employee stayed in the car and I did not
engage in any conversation with her.
I waited on scene for about ten minutes, hoping to meet a supervisor coming out
to deal with the vehicle damage issues. I left the scene, but a few minutes later
decided I needed to try to get the employees information one more time.
I parked by the curb, went to the vehicle, and tapped on the closed window. After
the employee finished typing on her laptop, she lowered the window slightly. I
said, I want your badge number. I want it now. (repeated)
My reply, You are a City of Dallas employee, you must identify yourself to me.
She waited a second or two, then said, C. Reese. I confirmed the spelling.
I asked her what Code division she worked for but her answer was blocked by the
window. I started to walk away when she lowered the window and said
something which I could not understand. She gave me her employee number,
which I heard as 1761.
The City Manager should issue a memo to all employees, including police
and fire (with whom I have had too many confrontations on this issue to
include here), stating that as public employees working in public areas,
there is no expectation of privacy and therefore they should not interfere
with the public taking photographs of them at work.
Ms Reese should be forced to surrender any and all photographs she took
of myself or my vehicle, which will then be forwarded to me. She may keep
them, but she may not post them without permission of the City Manager
or myself.
Avi S. Adelman
5620 East Side Avenue
Dallas TX 75214
214-923-3562
avi@aviadelman.com
cc Mickey Osterreicher,