Is it censorship or just curation? My city council deleted my public comment.

Last month I wrote a comment at a city council meeting in Austin about a new noise ordinance. Nothing rude, just laid out how the rules would hit small venues harder than big ones. A week later I checked the public record and it was gone. No email, no explanation. When I called, a clerk said comments get removed if they're "not relevant to the agenda." But my comment was literally about the agenda item. So here's the debate I want to open: when does moderating become silencing? Is deleting a comment that doesn't match the official line censorship, or just housekeeping? I've seen this community talk about governments blocking websites, but this felt more sneaky. It's one thing to ban hate speech or spam, another to erase a polite, on-topic opinion. Has anyone else had a public comment or forum post vanish without a trace? What did you do about it, and did you ever get a real answer?

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victor75927d ago

Contact your state open records office. I did that when my HOA board scrubbed my question about their budget. Took a week but they got a formal warning. Emails with the date and time of your comment help a lot. Keep a screenshot too. The city might have a records retention law they broke. Texas has one, that's why I pushed back. Sometimes you gotta go over their heads to get a straight answer.