Liquor authority fails to maintain a public license query despite law enacted to create transparency

Section 110-c of our state’s liquor laws requires the New York Sate Liquor to maintain a “public license query” and other data about active and pending licenses on its website, www.sla.ny.gov. Among other things, the license lookup tool must tell users the date an applicant can reasonably expect a determination from the agency.

None of that is happening. There is no public license query on the SLA website. Instead, users are directed to a state IT website housing a series of cumbersome spreadsheets and search tools that are not user-friendly. Industry insiders like myself know how to use them, but they are of limited value for two reasons.

First, the records do not estimate a date for review, as required by the statute. Also, the data provided as to pending license status is vague. Years back, when the agency had a true public license query tool, users could look up a record in real time and see notations like this: Deficiency letter sent, deficiencies received, Sent to Licensing Board for determination, To Secretary’s Office for next Full Board calendar.

Now, the data found in the cumbersome Open Data NY spreadsheets only has a few fields for pending application status: Intake complete, under review, conditionally approved etc. No date for anticipated review. “Under review” can actually mean “hasn’t been reviewed” or “corrections due” or “sent to Licensing Board for determination.”

The public license query in use up to five years ago actually lived on the SLA website. It was great. What happened to it? No one knows. The public was told there was a “security issue.” I cannot imagine what security issue there could be from a read-only search tool.

I do not pretend to be technology superior to anyone. But I do have some savvy. Using the Open Data NY data for pending, active and inactive licenses, I built a true Public License Query. It automatically pulls the data from all three state spreadsheets every morning at 3 am and overwrites the data contained in tables in a database I built and an outside developer enhanced with slightly complex cost. I built this database for $650.

Again, it is read-only data and is fully automated. I don’t have to do anything.

My question is this: If a 62-year-old restaurant owner and licensing consultant can maintain a user-friendly public license query using raw data published by the state, why can’t the State of New York?

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Got a question? Suggestion? Just want to call me a jerk? Email john@nybarguy.com … Warning: SLA employees are urged to email me confidentially off-duty from a personal email address.