This headline caught my “eagle-eyes” and caused me to ask myself, “even though I’ve been blogging about Petaluma’s sense of community and claiming that it is second to none in community spirit, can we do better?” Do we still have smaller communities within the larger community waiting to happen? Of course, I’m referring to our neighborhoods.
We know that our community leaders – elected, appointed, and self-proclaimed boast about our great town … now a growing city. But, is it as “great” as we think it is, or as it once was? As I listen to citizens speak up during public comment before our City Council, and as I read their Letters to the Editor and Guest Commentaries, and blogs; I have to ask, “Can we do better?”
The person who coined the above headline and title for this Weblog founded a placeblog at http://www.h2otown.info … in Watertown, MA … my hometown in the late ‘20s. It was her message, however, that I wanted to share with Petaluma viewers. Here are a few quotes for your consideration:
“As media consolidation has made regional and small town dailies more and more anemic, suburbanites and small city residents are feeling more and more ignored by traditional media, even their local hometown newspaper.”
“Despite the attempts of large newspaper organizations to reach readers on-line, place blogs are cropping up all over the country.”
“Why leave local on-line community to print? Where is the Digg of public media? We don’t have to answer to a conglomerate. We have local presence and personal connections. We have a community waiting to happen.”
“Food for thought!” This Project OPEN site was created to promote citizen participation at the neighborhood level. What are your thoughts and opinions about your neighborhood and our community? Stay tuned.
