NORWALK, Conn. – If we had a dollar for every time we’ve been told that information was readily available to the public because it was on the city’s website, we wouldn’t need to ask for donations.
OK, I exaggerate. But we’d at least be able to pay the phone bills.
I’m not just talking about Norwalk here, nor am I holding municipalities in general responsible for the lack of technological acuity on the part of the citizenry.
That, however, is exactly why cities should not and cannot rely on their websites – and those useless little legal ads in the daily paper – to keep the taxpayers informed of things that could have a major impact on their lives.
Case in point: Raise your hand if you knew the Water Pollution Control Authority has a website, and how to find it. Then raise your other hand if you found the site and could find any information about its bid to get its permit to operate renewed (it expired three years ago but the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection has dragged its feet, according to WPCA’s Lisa Burns). There was a public hearing last week, and a public comment period that expired Friday.
This is why we need an engaged and robust news media – not to keep up with the Kardashians, twerking and cute cat videos, but to keep informed about things that affect your life without having to spend hours hunting through dozens of web pages for information that may or may not be there.
And that leads us to The Plea.
Yup, that time again. This being the season of giving and all, we are hoping you might consider giving to us. When you donate to NancyOnNorwalk, you are supporting a small, ma-and-pa independent news site – no corporate overlords here – that focuses on your local government, municipal services, schools and social service agencies, keeping you informed and shining a light on what your elected and appointed representatives are doing, and how they are doing, on your dime.
Very few niche news websites nationwide exist on advertising. We sure don’t. We depend mainly on you, our readers, to pay the bills so we can continue to bring you our reports.
If you wish to help out, click on the yellow Donate button near the top of the page on the right side. Prefer to send a check or money order? Make it out to Englewood Edge LLC and mail it to Englewood Edge LLC, P.O. Box 64, Norwalk, CT 06856. (Englewood Edge is our company name derived from our other site in Florida.)
Thank you for your generosity and your continued readership.
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