FOIA Friday: How many scrapyards?

Why it matters: They weren't easy to find. Information on the city's website is often not readily available, even when it is used to justify new policy.

• The information isn't available on the city's open data portal, and the data a spokesperson made available to us after a public records request included an estimate that up to 50% of used-car lot businesses identified in the presentation are no longer operating.

Catch up quick: Duggan issued a moratorium in 2019 that stopped applications for an array of businesses like used tire storage and sales, used auto sales, scrap iron, junk dealers and other auto repair.

What they're saying: "[Duggan] never said 452 scrapyards, but that's how some took it," John Roach, the mayor's spokesperson, tells Axios.

• In his presentation, Duggan referenced auto and scrap yards in the same category.
• In a BSEED memo Roach shared with Axios, the city lists 920 repair shops, 372 used-car lots and 122 scrapyards — way more than identified in the mayor's presentation.

Meanwhile, other figures shared during the presentation earlier this year remain disputed — food advocates say there are more than 53 grocery stores, and the city hasn't clarified what it counts as a movie theater.

• The Michigan Science Center did screen "Oppenheimer," but most would consider 8 Mile's Bel Air Luxury Cinema as the only proper movie theater within city limits.

The bottom line: Data referenced by the city should be readily available on its open data portal "in the same way that meeting minutes could be checked for accountability and transparency," writes Alex Hill of Detroitography, who published findings last month after conducting his own search for the source of the scrap lot figure.

Worthy of your time: Read Hill's full account of trying to figure out where the mayor's figures came from.