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City of Chula Vista Website Linking Policy
 PDF Version
This linking policy is declaratory of the Chula Vista’s
existing administrative practice regarding the establishment of
links from and to its website.
The purpose of the City of Chula Vista’s website is to advance
the public’s health, safety and welfare by providing information
for and interacting with the citizens, businesses, and visitors
of Chula Vista. This includes promoting tourism and economic development
within the City and region.
For purposes of this policy, an “external link” is
a hyperlink from the City’s website to a website maintained
by another party. Neither the City of Chula Vista website nor the
external links list on such website constitute a forum for expressive
activity by members of the public. Rather, the purpose of the Chula
Vista's website and the external links is to provide information
about City services, officials and attractions and to promote the
public’s health, safety and welfare. The City is not responsible
for, does not endorse, and cannot assure the accuracy of information
on these outside web sites. (See Disclaimer of Endorsement below.)
Every request by a person or entity to have the City provide a
link from its website to the requesting party’s website must
undergo review to determine its relevance and appropriateness to
the City website’s mission. The City Manager or his designee
will review the merits of the requested link, keeping in mind the
criteria and examples listed below, to determine whether the link
serves the overall purpose of the City's website. A request will
not be denied because of a viewpoint espoused by the person or entity.
Furthermore, the following criteria will be used in considering
requests for links from the City of Chula Vista’s website.
At its discretion the City may provide links to external sites
that fall into one of the following categories:
- Sponsored by governmental and educational institutions
- Maintained by organizations in a contractual relationship
with, funded or created by the City of Chula Vista
- Corporations, foundations, associations, etc. with a purpose
statement devoting itself to assisting the City of Chula Vista
- Non-profit neighborhood associations within the City
- Web sites of nonprofit organizations that assist people
in finding housing or other human and/or social services in Chula
Vista
- Non-profit organizations providing employment, non-elective
health care and other services to City residents
- Organizations providing the public with information or access
to the arts, humanities, culture or education
- Non-profit Chula Vista business development organizations
- Organizations partnering with the Chula Vista to meet the
City's strategic or operational goals
- That provide government related information and/or services
in a way that is not available on an official government website
- Tourism and convention information related to Chula Vista
and the San Diego Region, including major tourist attractions in
the region.
- Library related links that meet the selection criteria outlined
in the Chula Vista Public Library's Collection Development Policy.
The City's web site will not provide links to sites:
- Promoting or exhibiting hate, bias, discrimination, pornography;
libelous or otherwise defamatory content
- Associated with, sponsored by or serving a candidate for
elected office, any political party or organization supporting or
seeking to defeat any candidate for elective office or any ballot
proposal
- Associated with political organizations or other organizations
advocating a position on a local, state or federal issue
- Furthering the agenda of a political organization or candidate
running for office
- Furthering the non-charitable agenda of a labor union
- Violating any of the City's equal opportunity policies
- That are individual or personal home pages
Linkage to Commercial Sites with Advertising
Certain private commercial sites maintain and display information
which provide a public or community service, or other ancillary
static or interactive information to aid the public, which is not
generally available through a governmental agency due to the cost
of compiling, maintaining and/or displaying such information. To
support the cost of compilation and maintenance of this information,
these private commercial sites may include advertising or promotional
material in the information display. Although the City neither supports
nor endorses entities advertised or promoted on such sites, it recognizes
that a public benefit is served by providing the underlying information
to assist City residents. Accordingly, links to such sites which
contain this information, but also display commercial advertising
or promotional material, may be included within the City website
when the City Manager or his designee has made a good faith determination
that:
- The City’s independent replication of the information
targeted for linkage is infeasible due to financial or other considerations;
and
- No non-commercial site provides the information targeted
for linkage; and
- The information targeted for linkage greatly enhances the
usefulness of the City website and services it provides
Location and Appearance of Links
The City reserves the right to determine how and where external
links will appear on its web site; i.e. what page the link appears
on and where the link is placed on the page.
Links to the City of Chula Vista’s
Website
Advance permission to link to the City’s Website is not
necessary. However, the party linking to the City’s website
should be aware that its subpages may change at any time without
notice.
Entities and individuals linking to the City’s website shall
not capture pages within frames, present the City’s website
content as its own, or otherwise misrepresent this website’s
content or misinform users about the origin or ownership of its
content. Any link to the City’s website site should be a full
forward link that passes the client browser to the City’s
website unencumbered. The web browser’s “back”
button should return the visitor to the originating site if the
visitor wishes to back out.
Disclaimer of Endorsement
The information posted on the Chula Vista’s website includes
hypertext links to information created and maintained by other public
and/or private organizations. Chula Vista provides these links solely
for users’ of the City’s website information and convenience.
When users select a link to an outside website, they are leaving
the Chula Vista website and are subject to the privacy and security
policies of the owners/sponsors of the external.
- The City of Chula Vista does not control or guarantee
the accuracy, relevance, timeliness or completeness of information
contained on a linked website
- The City does not endorse or recommend any third party web
site, product, or services, unless otherwise noted
- The City of Chula Vista does not authorize the use of copyrighted
materials contained in linked websites. Users must request such
authorization from the sponsor of the linked website
- The City of Chula Vista does not responsible for transmissions
users receive from linked websites
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