From the Charlotte Observer (3/28/12): Among the details that the city of Charlotte thought were worth keeping secret about the upcoming Democratic National Convention: what color to paint a new police command center; the location of fire and building inspectors at Time Warner Cable Arena, and a squabble between police and federal authorities over when to hold a meeting.
Last fall, the Observer requested six months of emails by some city officials related to the convention. The city released heavily blacked-out emails, some with entire paragraphs redacted.
City Attorney Bob Hagemann this week released a statement that said many redactions went too far. Some redacted information, it said, “cannot fairly be considered ‘sensitive public security information’ and is not otherwise exempt” from being released under N.C. public records law.
The city, however, didn’t apologize.
“While the city’s initial review may be viewed as having been too conservative, the cold hard fact is that there are those that are looking for every advantage in achieving their goal of disrupting and doing harm during the convention,” the statement said “The city does not apologize for being vigilant in attempting to thwart such efforts.”