At lunchtime today, I received a note from the Dallas City Secretary’s Office regarding my open records request concerning communications and documents surrounding the Reverchon Park deal passed by Dallas City Council on Jan. 8.
Since I want to be precise, here’s the email verbatim and the attached letter:
RE: PUBLIC INFORMATION ACT REQUEST of 1/22/2020 1:16:58 PM, Reference# C000645-012220
Dear Jon Anderson:
This letter responds to your open records request received by the city of Dallas (“city”) on 1/22/2020 1:16:58 PM regarding:
The city is gathering the requested information and it is anticipated that some of the requested information will be exempt from mandatory disclosure. The requested documents (or a representative sample if voluminous) will be sent to the Attorney General for an open records decision regarding their release by February 13, 2020, as required by Section 552.301(e) of the Public Information Act. A copy of the letter to the Attorney General is attached for your information.
If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me at 214-671-6736.
Respectfully,
Parris Long
Public Information Coordinator II
City Secretary’s Office
“OurProduct is Service”
Empathy| Ethics | Excellence | Equity
This strikes me as funny given Parks Board President Calvert Collins-Bratton’s comment on an earlier piece about Reverchon:
“All of the documents are public since they were presented to Council. Twice. I am happy to sit down and give you the facts anytime. I’m sure RPSE would also like to set the record straight and explain the upcoming community meetings and Advisory Council they have planned.”
Last night I spoke to a few city sources who said this is a tactic to slow the release of information. It also wasn’t some clerk making a decision, it was kicked by someone involved in the matter (which makes sense, a clerk wouldn’t know what potentially dangerous or embarrassing on individual requests). So let’s see how long this takes, what’s left out and try to figure out who or what is holding back on “All of the documents are public.”
