Adding To Roch's Pile: Part 11

"The result is that Greensboro has become a city where police secretly seize assets, where the city attempts to keep secret the bills it pays, and where records that would illuminate the intentions and motivations shaping public policy are kept away from the public. City council is complicit in its silence and that doesn’t bode well. !"

-Roch Smith jr in Yes Weekly,  Greensboro tightens its grip on public information

My apologies to Roch and the rest of the folks at Yes Weekly for not seeing and pointing to Roch's article sooner. I highly recommend everyone read it all.

I got a letter from the court yesterday saying that the court had granted the City of Greensboro 30 more days to respond to my lawsuit. You may view it in 3 parts here, and here . Sorry about the sideways thing.

I got 2 e-mails today telling me that yet more public information requests are waiting for me to pick up. Things are moving at a fever pitch downtown as the City Attorney knows full well he had better have all our public information requests filled before we walk into a courtroom. He never imagined that someone with a FAKE HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA might figure out how to file a lawsuit against the City of Greensboro without spending $100,000 or more on attorney fees. After all, there is no way in hell the City can justify a year of waiting. The following is a photo of the log the City  keeps of who is picking up PIRTs. Look at how many in just the last few days

Eric Robert was last seen in Spain so that's probably why he hasn't picked up his copy but trust me, he knows what is going on here. (Personally "I've never been to Spain but I kinda like the music,,," --Hoyt Axton, performed by 3 Dog Night)  Who has a pack of rabid dogs now, Mr hot shot City Freaking Out Attorney? Your ass is in a sling and everyone knows I'm the one stretching it farther and farther back to slingshot you to hell and beyond.

Now will all those PIRTs be complete? Will they be scrubbed of incriminating evidence? I can't answer that question but I'm damned sure going to ask what the judge might have to say about it. It could be, if he has a mind to, that he might order a forensic investigation of city servers.

Damn, I bet that would get expensive. Probably cost a lot more than the $4,000 City Attorney Tom Carruthers tried to charge me for the public records I never got concerning the South Elm Redevelopment Project. By the way, those records weren't included in this law suit.

Even if the judge drops the suit based on the fact that all the PIRTs in the suit have been filled I still get my money back. I cannot lose. But let's see the City explain spending over $100,000 to keep those records hidden from attorneys for Eric Robert when they only wanted $4,000 to give the same records to me?

Can you say, "Does not compute."

I got a second e-mail today from the city:

"On Fri, Sep 23, 2016 at 1:11 PM, Carter, Katherine <Katherine.Carter@greensboro-nc.gov> wrote:

Dear Billy,

Thank you for your public records request (PIRT 6009) regarding the Lawson System manual and/or user documents.

The requested information (“Lawson system manual and/or user docs”) is considered “confidential information” pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 132-1.2(1)(d), as the Lawson system manuals/user documents were “designated or indicated as ‘confidential’…at the time of its initial disclosure to the public agency.” 

Please find the attached copy of the “Legal Notice” provided from a Lawson user manual for your review.

Sincerely,

Katherine Carter, Public Records Administrator

Communications and Marketing Department - 336-373-3282

City of Greensboro

PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136

www.greensboro-nc.gov "

You know, you try to work with these people....

My original request was for "all receipts and bills pertaining to the Lawson software system as is used by the City of Greensboro." but after discussing it with Roch and Ms Carter I decided the request was too broad so after telling Roch what I am looking for I modified the request to make it smaller.

My reply:

"Then why don't we revert to my much larger, massive, original request that no one wanted to do in the first place. After all, I did modify my request to make your jobs so much easier.

-Billy"

I can wait.... Roch's idea would have saved me lots of time and effort just as it would have saved the City of Greensboro lots of time and effort.... I've published 4 fucking books, authored thousands upon thousands of articles, published thousands of poems and hundreds of short stories, do those people think I do not know and understand copyright law?
They take me for stupid because I never went to law school or college. That was their mistake in the first place but now I have them struggling to stay out of court.

I'm looking for information, not planning on distributing the book.

Roch replied too:

"It's posted on the web.

https://docs.infor.com/help_lawson_10.0/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.lawson.help.financials%2Fcom.lawson.help.amug-uwa_10.0.x%2Findex.html

You can even find the page they sent you about "confidentiality" by searching for "strict confidence."

My reply to Roch:

"Fine, let them keep working their asses off, I can double check with the receipts they eventually turn up. They do this shit to themselves, let's give them more rope."

Well, my job just got easier.

I also got a 3rd e-mail from Ms Carter today:

"Dear Billy,

Thank you for your request (PIRT 5872) for public records containing the word “Kotis.”

The City is still working on the final portion of your request, however we do have some records that are ready to release to you at this time.  Due to the size of the file, these records have been saved onto a disc which you may pick up at the City Information Desk on the plaza level of the Melvin Municipal Office Building between 8:00 am – 5:00 pm, Monday through Friday.

Emails that were duplicative or were not responsive to your request have been excluded from the response.  The records protected by NCGS 132-6, and 160A-168 have also been withheld.  Pertaining to the emails marked as redacted, the emails are public records however, pursuant to NCGS 132-1.13 the attachment is available for public inspection at the City offices but not for release in electronic format. 

We have also contacted the Mayor and Council members regarding your request, and we will release those emails, to the extent they exist and are otherwise appropriate for release in the near future.

I hope this information is helpful.

Sincerely,

Katherine Carter, Public Records Administrator

Communications and Marketing Department - 336-373-3282

City of Greensboro

PO Box 3136, Greensboro, NC 27402-3136"

Well, if the file is too big to e-mail even though they haven't finished going through it all to make all the redactions and stuff then "Kotis" must be a pretty popular subject downtown. Especially when you consider that I only asked for 6 months of e-mails. What if I had asked for all of them?


People, I couldn't write better comedy if I tried. And believe me, I've tried.

Continue reading,  Adding To Roch's Pile: Part 12 and as always, please share this post and the entire Adding To Roch's Pile series with your friends.