Methodology
How We Verify Facts
Every claim on this site is labeled one of five ways, so you can judge the strength of the evidence and check it yourself.
Updated as new information is verified — check back often.
Backed by an official document: the City Charter, a staff report, meeting minutes, an agenda, a court ruling, or a purchase record. Anyone can look these up directly on the city's website or Legistar system.
Covered by established news outlets describing a confirmed public event or vote. Reliable, but reflects a journalist's summary rather than a primary document.
Something a named person said publicly, at a meeting or in writing. That they said it is verifiable; whether it's true is their claim, not an independently confirmed fact.
Could not be verified against any official record, often because no public record exists (for example, small committees that fall below the size requiring public minutes under California's Brown Act). Flagged clearly rather than omitted, so you know it's worth asking about directly.
Two or more checkable sources make contradicting claims about the same specific fact (a date, figure, vote count, quote, etc.), and neither can currently be established as more authoritative. Both claims are shown, each with its own source and tag, followed by a note that the discrepancy is unresolved and an invitation for readers to help.
We welcome input and tips from residents. Everything submitted is checked against our sourcing standards, and labeled accordingly, before anything is added to the site.
How a DISCREPANCY appears on the page
DISCREPANCY is distinct from UNCONFIRMED (no record exists at all) and from ordinary two-sided coverage of opinions or positions — it is specifically for when documented facts conflict, not when people or officials hold different views. We treat it as a temporary state where possible: we flag it, then keep looking for the resolving document rather than leaving it unresolved indefinitely.
[Source A] states X. [Source B] states Y. This has not been independently resolved. If you can help us stay current, please let us know.
We present what happened
The Ledger seeks to distinguish clearly between verified facts, attributed statements, and analysis. Descriptive language reflects the evidence and, where applicable, the language used in official records.
A note on how this site is maintained
Research and drafting are assisted by artificial intelligence, working from primary sources, including city documents, court records, and established news coverage, which are cited whenever practical. Every published article is reviewed and maintained by a human editor before and after publication; nothing on this site publishes automatically. This site is updated on an ongoing basis; each page shows when it was last checked, and readers are encouraged to consult original source materials for anything they intend to rely on or repeat elsewhere.