One of the primary duties of this newspaper is to report on city council. Like it or not, city council is pivotal in the quality of residents’ lives. Its budget choices affect everything from the flower beds by the B-W Parkway ramp to dog park policy, from city facilities and policing to Buddy Attick Park. Its decisions on priorities affect residents’ pockets and the budget it controls serves those in need, children in the summer and bus transportation year long, among many other things. Residents really need to know what’s going on in council.
Nitty Gritty
From time to time the News Review is challenged to cover council’s many meetings. Now is one of those times. There are typically two council meetings a month and sometimes as many as six worksessions. Regular meetings mean three or more hours of listening to the meetings and then some hours writing the story. Worksessions are usually shorter – about two hours is typical.
Currently, with only three reporters who routinely sign up for this duty, that’s a lot of work. As a result, residents are missing somewhat-less-important meetings that they should nonetheless hear about.
Writing council stories is not a minor commitment and requires at least some background in how the council operates and, of course, the city’s ongoing issues and concerns. Also, there are conventions to be learned about News Review style. We ask new reporters to work with a mentor to get them rolling. But if a few big-hearted souls signed up for just one story a month, it would be a boon to coverage and a welcome relief to the few of us (most of whom have other pressing newspaper responsibilities) now bearing the burden. Can you help? If so, contact us at editor@greenbeltnewsreview.com or call 301-474-4131 between 2 and 4 p.m. on a Monday or Tues