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 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 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 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 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 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.
