Community newspapers bite the dust

but the Madison Park Times marches on

We were intrigued by a story we saw on KING-TV last month concerning the demise of a close-by neighborhood newspaper, The South Seattle Beacon. The twice-monthly publication, which had been around in one form or another for almost 100 years, covered Beacon Hill, Mount Baker and Rainier Beach.  It quit publishing in December. As it happens, The South Seattle Beacon was a similar-sized sister paper of our own Madison Park Times, which is produced by Pacific Publishing Co.  Unmentioned in the KING-TV story was the fact that the Pacific Publishing also shut down the venerable North Seattle Herald-Outlook (once the University Herald and the North Central Outlook) last year.  In place of these longtime community news providers, a more-generic weekly periodical, City Living Seattle, is now being circulated to the affected neighborhoods by Pacific Publishing. This will naturally mean little if any neighborhood news for those communities, since the circulation area of the replacement paper is much larger and diverse.

In a memo to readers, the papers' publisher, Mike Dillon, wrote "We mourn the passing of [the Beacon and Herald-Outlook], but they could not--in the current state of the economy--make it to the 100-year mark." It was a simple case of not enough advertising revenue to support the costs of publication, a looming threat for many print publications, especially newspapers.  Additional staff cuts, such as those undertaken by Pacific Publishing a couple of years ago, were apparently not a viable option in the face of pure economics.

The death of these two community newspapers naturally raised the question for us, "What's the future of the Madison Park Times?" So we called Pacific Publishing to ask.  Publisher Dillon acknowledged how sad it is to have to pull the plug on these respected and longtime publications, but he assured us that our paper is definitely not on the chopping block. "We have no plans to make any changes there," Dillon commented. "The focus of the Madison Park Times is not being altered."  As a monthly periodical, he said, the Madison Park Times is able to attract sufficient advertising to make the economics work. The paper, with a circulation of about 6,500, covers Madison Park, Madrona, and Leschi, described on Pacific Publishing's website as "Seattle's most affluent neighborhoods."  It's a relatively wealthy audience that advertisers want to be in front of, he noted.

The KING-TV report included an interview with a longtime Mt. Baker resident who stated, essentially, that she had taken the Beacon for granted and now that it was gone she missed it.  Since the inception of Madison Park Blogger three years ago, we've taken the view that the Madison Park Times, in spite of its inherent inadequacies, is an important means of communication for our neighborhood.  We have always had a mutually cooperative (though not precisely symbiotic) relationship with the paper.  We, like the Mr. Baker resident, would be unhappy to see our local paper fold, so we're glad to discover that the Madison Park Times has a renewed lease on life.

Communication (or lack thereof) in the ‘hood

Here’s a little piece of information that close readers of this blog already know: the construction of a new SR 520 floating bridge will necessitate the closing of the on and off ramps from Lake Washington Boulevard for the duration of the project, which is scheduled to begin in 2012. This means that for a period of about two years, everyone who currently uses those ramps will be forced to find an alternative route, thereby changing the traffic patterns along the E. Madison Street corridor, in the Arboretum, and—most especially—at Montlake.

Now maybe this information is of interest to only a few people here in the Park, but I suspect it is something that if the uninformed knew about they would be saying “What? Why didn’t I know about this?” News about future traffic flow, I think, fits into that category of information that might be called interesting or useful, but probably not critical.

The category of critical information, however, might very well include the fact that the State is seriously considering a plan to build a three-story-high floating bridge across the Lake to replace the existing low-rise affair. Many otherwise well-informed neighbors of mine (and probably most of the people living in Madison Park) have little idea of what’s going on with 520 or what the potential impact might be on them personally or on our community. Their probable reaction when all decisions have been finalized and the bridge is being built: “What? Are you kidding me? Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

Critical information is the kind that if people had it they could act upon it—perhaps even change outcomes. Without information, the possibility of influencing events is forestalled. What you don’t know can hurt you. That’s true with regard to 520, and it’s also true for a lot of other issues that potentially impact the Park. For example, if a water taxi service were under consideration or a light-rail line extension planned for Madison Park, if parking meters were being proposed for our arterials, or if bus service were being re-routed through the neighborhood, would each of us who is potentially impacted become aware and be able to react?

Not hardly. You who are reading this are among the best informed in the ‘hood, but you’re a pretty select group. Those involved with the Madison Park Community Council (MPCC) are also well informed, but they are an even more select group. There are approximately 4,300 adults living within the confines of Madison Park—and perhaps a few hundred of them (I’m being generous here) are actually aware on a regular basis of what’s happening in the neighborhood. Many may not care to know—they lead busy lives, have a lot of responsibility, and are already dealing with too much information.

Many others, I suspect, would like to know what’s going on, but are just not up on how to get the information. Right now the Madison Park Times and Madison Park Hardware (that’s their message board pictured above) are among the best sources. But they both have their drawbacks. In the case of the paper, it’s not timely--and it attempts in its limited space to cover several more neighborhoods than just ours. The hardware store, meanwhile, has a limited audience--and you have to walk there to get the news.
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So how do we widen the circle of people in the know? This blog is one attempt, and the MPCC has now come up with another. Residents interested in getting information by email about happenings in our community can sign up for the Madison Park Email Exchange, a new service designed to promote the sharing of news and ideas. About 70 people are already signed up, I am told.

Well, it’s a start.