Don’t watch this if you want to know what Carla thinks about the massive proposed West Side “community” center. No really, this show is about cops in NH.
This RTK request was sent to the following email addresses and submitted via the Mayor’s online form this morning: “Jeanine@jeanineandcompany.com, smacleod@manchesternh.gov, mayor@manchesternh.gov, PCD-ARPA@manchesternh.gov”
July 19, 2022
Dear Mayor Joyce Craig, et al (also submitted via the online form for the Mayor’s office):
RE: Right to Know Request per RSA-91A for West Side “Mark Stebbins Community Center” Project
Pursuant to the Right to Know Law (RSA. 91-A), I am requesting public access, within 5 business days, to the governmental records reasonably described as follows:
All records, no matter what form, including but not limited to, printed documents, electronic documents, e-mails, or any other form of records regarding the “Mark Stebbins Community Center” Project for the period from the initiation of the project or 07/01/21, whichever first occurred, up to and including 07/19/2022, the date of today’s Board of Alderman meeting.
In your record disclosures, please include all information relating to this project, even if it was known as something else prior to being designated the “Mark Stebbins Community Center,” including all the partners involved.
Please also include all information about alternative West Side properties considered and rejected.
Please also include any relevant federal or local grant applications submitted regarding this project.
Please also include any environmental impact studies done.
Please include information provided to abutters of the proposed “Mark Stebbins Community Center” property, including when they were informed and the opportunities, including length of time, provided to the abutting tax-paying property owners to discuss the proposal.
Please include a proposed budget and tax assessment for the services to be provided at this site.
Please also include the committee report from Lands & Buildings regarding Lot 318-3, including the criteria used to deem a property as “surplus” to City needs.
Per RSA 91-A:4 IV(c) If you deny any portion of this request, please cite the specific exemption used to justify the denial to make each record, or part thereof, available for inspection along with a brief explanation of how the exemption applies to the information withheld.
Please let me know when these records are available for inspection or you may email the records to me at: carla@carlagericke.com.
Thank you for your lawful attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Carla Gericke
XX Durette Court
Manchester, NH 03102
Cell: 917-607-4X5X
Email: carla@carlagericke.com
Per RSA 91-A, governmental records means “any information created, accepted, or obtained by, or on behalf of, any public body, or a quorum or majority thereof, or any public agency in furtherance of its official function. Without limiting the foregoing, the term “governmental records” includes any written communication or other information, whether in paper, electronic, or other physical form, received by a quorum or majority of a public body in furtherance of its official function, whether at a meeting or outside a meeting of the body. The term “governmental records” shall also include the term “public records.””
The Ombudsman Bill for RSA 91A Right-to-Know requests was signed into law. TBH, I was ambivalent about this one, HB481, because, on the one hand, it helps citizens with a cheaper, faster alternative to get access to information, but on the other, it grows government.
Read more about it HERE, from the former president of RTKNH and an activist instrumental in its passing, David Saad. Thanks to him for all the work he did!
We will need to be vigilant about who is appointed as the Ombudsman, otherwise this could easily become a way to quash transparency. That said, recourse in the courts–i.e. business as usual–always remains an option regardless of who is appointed as the Ombudsman.
Going forward, I am very interested in creating a repository of “open government requests,” meaning every time a RTK request is fulfilled, we add it to a searchable database, so that over time, we are simply creating open and transparent government by default, in keeping with Article 8, which expressly states that government officials ARE OUR AGENTS, and therefore cannot to things we are not allowed to do (booyah!).
My goal is to turn the Free State of NH into the most transparent and accountable government in the world.
ARTICLE 8 [Accountability of Magistrates and Officers; Public’s Right to Know.]:
“All power residing originally in, and being derived from, the people, all the magistrates and officers of government are their substitutes and agents, and at all times accountable to them. Government, therefore, should be open, accessible, accountable and responsive. To that end, the public’s right of access to governmental proceedings and records shall not be unreasonably restricted.”
This week, we’re in the studio discussing grassroots solutions to the problems Granite Staters face: a government that is too big and unresponsive to our needs. Terese Grinnell is a hospice nurse, grassroots activist who was arrested for saying ‘Amen,’ and is being persecuted by the Sununu administration, and yet, she is STILL fighting back. Watch this episode to learn more about the “We The People: The Resolve” Initiative.
Read The Liberty Blocks take on The Resolve HERE.
Carla muses about what personal responsibility really means. Are YOU being your best self?
We cover yesterday’s order rescinding the CDC’s transportation mask mandate. We also cover Manchester’s fire pit ordinances, keeping the streets clean, and a lot more!
Back from a week off and raring to go! Fans of the show know that arm gesture means we’re talking about failing public schools again. The more they spend, the worse it gets, so maybe, just maybe, stop? Also, is it possible that all homicides in NH in the past 6 months have been police shooting civilians? [NOTE: the murder rate in NH is VERY LOW to start with, but still…]
This week, I am joined by Rachel Goldsmith from the New Hampshire Chapter of Mom’s for Liberty. We talk about teachers’ unions, literacy rates, and other ways schools are failing their students. Rachel tells us about some upcoming events and ways to get involved to improve the lives of all our students!
Crossover coming up at the State House. New trashcans for downtown. Hunter Biden’s laptop. It’s another week and we cover a lot of topics!
FROM PBS: “It’s Sunshine Week, the annual initiative spearheaded by the News Leaders Association to educate the public on open government and the dangers of excessive secrecy. This week on The State We’re In, we discuss New Hampshire’s Right-to-Know Law, how it’s applied, and how it can be improved. Guests include Right-to-Know New Hampshire’s Carla Gericke and Concord Monitor reporter Cassidy Jensen.”
Honored to have participated in this PBS interview to highlight how important open and transparent government is to keeping society in balance. Click the link below to learn more about my landmark #freespeech 1st Circuit win! #SunshineWeek #SunshineWeek2022 https://t.co/A92ypkzR65
— Carla Gericke, Live Free And Thrive! (@CarlaGericke) March 18, 2022