Here comes the sun … maybe

At Save Richmond publisher Don Harrison is calling upon The City of Richmond to respond to his invocation of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act in order to open the books at CenterStage. In October, Richmond City Council passed an ordinance that shields the taxpayer-funded CenterStage project from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and basic taxpayer […]

January 29, 2009; 10:09 PM • by FTRea

At Save Richmond publisher Don Harrison is calling upon The City of Richmond to respond to his invocation of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act in order to open the books at CenterStage.

In October, Richmond City Council passed an ordinance that shields the taxpayer-funded CenterStage project from the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and basic taxpayer oversight. We think that it is high time to challenge that odious piece of business.

Click here to read Harrison’s post.

Will The City comply?

Is it does give in, would that mean The City’s curious three-month-old ordinance that supposedly shields the project from such scrutiny was just a bluff?

Or, if The City refuses, doesn’t it stand a real chance of looking rather backward, if a judge sides with Save Richmond? It’s hard to see why a judge would agree with hiding how a government is using taxpayer monies from the scrutiny of those taxpayers.

Hey, given the checkered history of the CenterStage project, why in the world did City Council choose to pass such an ordinance? Did Richmond’s elected representatives think some enemies of performing arts would use such information to hurt us?

History notwithstanding, it now seems the ball is squarely in Mayor Dwight Jones’ court. Now that he’s in office and no longer a candidate, where is he going to be on the sunlight issue?

Don knows what he’s doing with this approach. For background on this move by Save Richmond, click here to read “Sunlight in 2009.”

January 29, 2009 10:09 PM 0