Where oh where did the city codes go? PART 2

part 1

I get the unique blogger experience of quoting myself in a newspaper. My column this week in the Smyrna AM takes issue with the town's handling of the recodification and how the cost of knowledge keeps many people in the dark.

Want to be an informed citizen? It'll cost you $90

...here in Smyrna, if I want to see what a proposed ordinance says, I need to go purchase a copy at 25 cents a page. Nothing online and all very "old school".

I was informed by the Town that the recodified ordinances are on more than 360 pages. At 25 cents a sheet, we are talking $90-plus to be part of the system and to have the privilege of knowing what laws are about to change. I was also informed that I could not get it on an inexpensive computer disc either. It's paper or nothing.

I'm not sure what economic bracket you're in, but I cannot afford to pay that amount of money to know what our government is about to do to us. I figure a good chunk of Smyrna is in the same boat. This is the first time in my life that I can honestly say that I have been disenfranchised due to my social-economic class.

State law requires a city to allow copies at a reasonable price. $.25 is reasonable, but putting the file online in an easy to download pdf form is simply smart.

The free flow of knowledge is made so much easier today with computers, and the town of Smyrna needs to enter the 21st century when it comes to information dissemination.

PART 3 to come soon.