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The public has a right to know, and government has an obligation to try and make its operations and expenditures as transparent as possible.
But some how, when it comes to disclosing information for the public and the media, the city of Detroit doesn't always make it so easy.
Steve Neavling of Motor City Muckraker reports:
The Detroit Land Bank is demanding nearly $600 for records that show how much the public agency is charging taxpayers for high-priced attorneys to handle a federal investigation into the city’s massive demolition program.
Motor City Muckraker requested the records under the Freedom of Information Act last month. The Land Bank responded late last week, saying it would cost at least $591 to divulge the attorney fees, even though the information is confined to one page on each monthly invoice and contains no privileged information.
One invoice obtained by Motor City Muckraker reveals the Land Bank is paying one attorney $760 an hour.
The Land Bank hired two law firms – Washington D.C.-based WilmerHale and Michigan-based Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone – to handle the ongoing federal investigation.
The Land Bank also declined to divulge records that show how the agency is paying for the attorneys, saying no such records exist.
