A lengthy article in the Mountain Xpress tells of progress the already transparent City of Asheville has achieved in making public records even more accessible to The Wee People. The article, celebrating Sunshine Week, brings the following out of obscurity:
This year, local organizations, municipal bodies and citizens groups across Western North Carolina have partnered to empower community members to play a direct hand in the management and accessibility of public records, and help create a virtual landscape where responsibility for the dissemination of these records is shared by everyone.
Actually, that was the worst of it. The article goes on to interview Jonathan Feldman, one of my heroes, who is now CIO for the City of Asheville.
He emphasizes the “Three P’s” in regard to providing public records: pragmatic solutions that ease the burden on public employees and save money and time; policy adherence and expanding the ways local government achieves policy goals; and the participation of the community in deciding what records are prioritized to be released and what the best format for that is.
Angie Newsome, executive director for the nonprofit Carolina Public Press, shares some of the problems The Wee Peeps encounter in trying to get information, some of which pertain to governing law sufficiently complex to evade the custodians of documents. For Wee Peeps wanting to learn more, CPP will host a Full Disclosure Workshop this Friday, from 9:00 a.m. – noon, at 50 South French Broad Avenue. Tickets are $35.
