[RP TownTalk] (no subject)

[Kate Kelly]

Council Member Kiernan’s proposal to repeal Section 3 of the Town  
Code baffles me. Who cares what other towns do? And I’m certainly not  
swayed by the amazement of the MML administrative staff: My mother  
told me I need not jump off the bridge simply to follow suit. The  
discussion—here and elsewhere—about the farmers’ market flyer is just  
plain silly. The Spanish-language issues are even bigger than they  
seem, and the editorial staff was working on them.

I’d like to understand the true objective of the repeal. If it’s to  
give the mayor and members of the council freedom to write whatever  
they want, they’ve already got it. If it was to keep the editorial  
staff from changing their copy, they had that too. And what exactly  
is it that Mr. Kiernan wanted to see in print that wasn’t published?  
He was able to use his space any way he wished, even if it wasn’t  
always as a ward or committee report.

Here’s a thought: If all that’s wanted from the newsletter is  
critical data, kill the Crier and deliver a monthly flier with phone  
numbers on the front and trash pick-up days on the back. Of course,  
that means we’d have missed why Donald Soles is the soul of this  
town, how Novella Sargusingh got started, why FEMA’s maps aren’t as  
good as they ought to be and how you can get flood insurance, how  
Detective Vitchock’s dedication runs deep into the heart of this  
town, and how crime has changed over the years. To say nothing of the  
rundown on bloggers and other sources on the Web, Community Circles,  
and the story of the little solar house that could.

Kate Kelly
Town Crier copy desk, retired
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://riverdale-park.org/pipermail/towntalk/attachments/20051202/ea536e07/attachment-0003.html>