Reporter scores Right-to-Know Law victory
By MATT BRETZIUS Times Herald
Staff
NORRISTOWN — In a victory for public information, an officer from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records granted an appeal from a Times Herald reporter seeking documents that were originally denied for release from a Montgomery County authority. Times Herald reporter Carl Rotenberg filed an appeal with the state Office of Open Records on June 19 after a request for copies of a Tax Increment Financing Plan from the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority was rejected, citing that the plan was exempt from release to the public under the Right-to-Know Law. “On June 5, I asked Jerry Nugent (executive director of the MCRA) for a copy of the TIF plan. He said on the phone he couldn’t give it to me, but to send him a formal request in writing and that he’d send a formal denial,” Rotenberg said. “So I wrote up a request and sent it to him the same day and he rejected it the same day.” Once he received the rejection from Nugent, Rotenberg figured out the appeals process and consulted with a lawyer from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association before sending an official appeal to Harrisburg. The appeal was reviewed by appeals officer Nathanael J. Byerly, who determined that it should be partially granted and partially denied. Per his ruling, the Redevelopment Authority is required to provide copies of the records requested with any nonpublic information redacted, and must do so within 30 days of the mailing date, which was July 20. Rotenberg picked up the documents from Nugent on July 29. Rotenberg planned on using the documents to help explain to the public how the $8 million in tax monies would be used to help fund the $100 million Studio Centre renovation of the former Logan Square Shopping Center on Markley Street. “I wanted to write a story explaining how the tax money from the (Norristown) school district, (Norristown) borough and Montgomery County, how they will all be used to help finance part of the construction of the project,” he said. “That’s the public’s money that’s going to be used to fund the project, so the public needs to understand it so they can go to the public meetings and express their opinions about it.” Rotenberg’s descriptive story about the TIF plan is being readied for an imminent edition of The Times Herald.
NORRISTOWN — In a victory for public information, an officer from the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records granted an appeal from a Times Herald reporter seeking documents that were originally denied for release from a Montgomery County authority. Times Herald reporter Carl Rotenberg filed an appeal with the state Office of Open Records on June 19 after a request for copies of a Tax Increment Financing Plan from the Montgomery County Redevelopment Authority was rejected, citing that the plan was exempt from release to the public under the Right-to-Know Law. “On June 5, I asked Jerry Nugent (executive director of the MCRA) for a copy of the TIF plan. He said on the phone he couldn’t give it to me, but to send him a formal request in writing and that he’d send a formal denial,” Rotenberg said. “So I wrote up a request and sent it to him the same day and he rejected it the same day.” Once he received the rejection from Nugent, Rotenberg figured out the appeals process and consulted with a lawyer from the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association before sending an official appeal to Harrisburg. The appeal was reviewed by appeals officer Nathanael J. Byerly, who determined that it should be partially granted and partially denied. Per his ruling, the Redevelopment Authority is required to provide copies of the records requested with any nonpublic information redacted, and must do so within 30 days of the mailing date, which was July 20. Rotenberg picked up the documents from Nugent on July 29. Rotenberg planned on using the documents to help explain to the public how the $8 million in tax monies would be used to help fund the $100 million Studio Centre renovation of the former Logan Square Shopping Center on Markley Street. “I wanted to write a story explaining how the tax money from the (Norristown) school district, (Norristown) borough and Montgomery County, how they will all be used to help finance part of the construction of the project,” he said. “That’s the public’s money that’s going to be used to fund the project, so the public needs to understand it so they can go to the public meetings and express their opinions about it.” Rotenberg’s descriptive story about the TIF plan is being readied for an imminent edition of The Times Herald.