Residents, business owners press National City to release records as council meets in closed session on Polanco lawsuit

Residents and business owners urged the National City Council on multiple public-comment turns to release public records related to a contested development and to comply with the California Public Records Act, and the council recessed into closed session for a conference with legal counsel in Polanco v. City of National City.

The request for records and calls for transparency drew repeated remarks about procedural irregularities at the Planning Commission, questions about traffic and safety, and concern from nearby businesses that said they were not notified about the project.

Ashley Morrison, a resident of Lincoln Acres, told the council: "The public deserves answers, and we will not accept secrecy and corruption." Several other residents and business owners echoed that demand during the meeting's public-comment period.

A commenter identified in the record as Michael Aguirre argued the California Constitution and the California Public Records Act protect public access to government records and said the submitted reports show why full disclosure is necessary. "We do have a lot of records, and you'll see that we've put those records together so you know that we're reading the…