The Madrona Community Council reconvened last night after the summer hiatus. In the meeting, one of the main topics discussed was the future of Madrona News, the monthly community newsletter.
Long-time editor Kim Herber, who has helmed the newsletter for almost 10 years, has announced that 2010-2011 will be her last season as editor. While this gives the council several months to find and train a new editor, it also raised the question of the role of a hard-copy newsletter in the community today.
Some negatives discussed were the cost of printing and publishing the newsletter, along with the concern that with presence of blogs like yours truly, the stories in the print version are “old news” by the time the newsletter is distributed.
Personally, we believe there’s room for blogs and newsletters alike in our communities. Leschi residents are active readers of CDNews and also have a thriving monthly newsletter. Squire Park has a quarterly newsletter with printing donated by Seattle University, which reduces cost to the neighborhood.
Additionally, a surprising number of homes don’t have or don’t use internet at home frequently, and still depend on a printed product. There’s also the value of an additional advertising resource for local businesses that a newsletter provides.
If you have thoughts on the role and future of Madrona News, please share them here. Also, if you’re interested in taking over the role of newsletter editor, you can contact MCC president Cynthia Stross at [email protected].
UPDATE: The September issue will come out mid-month – here is the most recent summer issue.
Why not attach a full size (i.e. readable) PDF of the newsletter to this post?
Sure – I linked to the PDF of the most recent newsletter in the update at the end of the post above.
I have valued the newsletter for years. The news it provides is usually not that time sensitive and therefore does not duplicate what CD News provides. I’d be fine with an option to get a PDF instead of hard copy to save costs and trees.