[RP TownTalk] Riverdale Park Communications, the Town Crier, and the Hyattsville Experience: A Proposal

[Vernon Archer]

Chris,

Thanks for sharing this idea, or more correctly, following up Stuart's
earlier message.  I am always interested in working more cooperatively with
neighboring municipalities and am encouraged when private citizen's do the
same.  I don't get the exact details about this, but would certainly be
interested in exploring the idea further if someone(s) from Riverdale Park
became interested enough to follow up on this suggestion.  The fact that
both you and Stuart feel the model has worked well after two years of
operation speaks well for it.

An immediate question is would it work with half the readership (Riverdale
Park has about half the population of Hyattsville)? Also, is it delivered in
the Gazette once?--if so, how are appartments covered?

Best wishes,

Vern


On 1/26/06, The Curries <the.curries at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>  As an interested neighbor in Hyattsville, I followed the TownTalk
> discussion a couple months ago about the Town Crier and then more recently
> on ways to improve Town communications with residents.  During the earlier
> conversation, my former City Council colleague Stuart Eisenberg had this to
> say about Hyattsville's recent experiment in civic communications:
>
>
>
> "Almost two years ago, some neat, retired Hyattsville businessmen got together to propose the development of an all-volunteer newspaper to the City.  They were tired of all the negativism, and lurid headlines in the Gazette, and wanted to focus on positive, real life profiles of residents and organizations. They developed a business model and plan, and presented it to the City Council.  Their idea was to propose the monthly publication of the City's Newsletter, 'The Hyattsville Reporter,' as an advertising supplement inserted in the newspaper, through a contract agreement.
>
>
>
> "Now, once a month the Reporter is a stand alone mailer printed on distinctive green paper, and once a month it goes in the newspaper.  The net result was two-fold.  First: the initial contract got the paper on its feet, while it developed an advertising base. Second: the newsletter publication and distribution costs to the City actually lowered.  The next year's contract lowered the advertising fee further, and it's possible that eventually this paper might wean itself entirely from its reliance on a City advertising contract, or further lower the publication costs of the newsletter.
>
>
>
> "So now, once again we have a local paper, 'The Hyattsville Life & Times.'"
>
>
>
> Now nearing the end of its second year of publication, the Life & Times
> has been a great success from a business perspective, and it's likely that
> next year's advertising rates for insertion of the City newsletter will fall
> again.  It fills a previously unmet need in local commerce, allowing small
> businesses an affordable opportunity to reach City residents and those same
> residents information about the local merchants.
>
>
>
> Moreover, the paper helps build community identity and pride, develop
> social capital, and create a better informed citizenry.  And it allows an
> outlet for airing viewpoints and telling stories so that the "government
> organ", the Hyattsville Reporter, can focus on providing information on
> municipal services, Council actions and City events.  The Life & Times tries
> to steer clear of charges of partisanship by publishing letters and opinion
> columns by residents and City officials but not endorsing candidates or
> taking positions of its own on City issues.
>
>
>
> I think some of the tensions regarding the Town Crier might be eased if
> some of the creative editors and writers of the Crier were able to direct
> their energies and talents towards a similar volunteer newspaper in
> Riverdale Park.  I realize that there have been independent newsletters in
> the Town before, but what I'm proposing is the more synergistic model that
> Hyattsville has pursued – and one that is financially sustainable.
>
>
>
> I recently had the opportunity to talk with the business manager of the
> Life & Times about the conversations I've observed on this listserv.  His
> response was that the Life & Times might well be interested in partnering
> with an interested group in Riverdale Park to help produce a Riverdale Park
> newspaper.  There would be advantages for both papers in a joint-operations
> arrangement with separate publications in each City but shared advertising,
> layout and printing operations.  For example, some businesses in each town
> would likely want to buy space in both publications, while costs of
> recruiting and producing ads would decrease.
>
>
>
> Also, the combined resources of both papers might make it possible to hire
> a part-time managing editor to provide increased reliability and
> sustainability to the publications.  However, each publication would have
> its own governance, policies and standards – each uniquely meeting the needs
> of its own community.
>
>
>
> I imagine the Town Council might see some advantages in reduced
> publication costs for the Town Crier and fewer disputes over content (since
> non-government communications would appear in the independent newspaper
> rather than the official town newsletter).
>
>
>
> Would town residents welcome such a newspaper?  And if so, would there be
> volunteers to help edit and write for it?  I have no idea of the answers to
> those questions – only an observation that there seems to be a keen interest
> in civic communications amongst the members of this list.
>
>
>
> I would be interested to see comments about this proposal on this
> listserv, if there are any.  Or anyone may contact Hyattsville Life & Times
> Business Manager Steve Clements at sclements55 at earthlink.net to discuss.
>
>
>
> Best wishes for continued success in your community-building efforts –
>
>
>
> Chris Currie
>
>
>
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