As some of you no doubt recall, our last issue contained an informal survey of sorts, asking that you share observations you might have about Wrangler News and inviting you to offer any ideas you’d like us to consider as we go forward.
Simply said, I was amazed at the outpouring of comments/suggestions/gripes and, happily, quite a lot of praise that was indeed appreciated.
As a result of the large number of responses, I’m going to break my promise of an individual reply to each of you and try to summarize your contributions in a single column, which is what follows.
So as to not relegate to last place any of the critical remarks we might have received, let me start with those.
One writer felt that we place too much emphasis on elementary and high school news, “especially sports,” to the point that it becomes “tiresome to read.”
As a result, said the writer, the paper gets tossed into the recycle bin week after week.
Another felt we should concentrate on new businesses and the uniqueness of our south Tempe/west Chandler neighbors.
Although we try to write about the new businesses and people we discover during our neighborhood travels, we feel that our first commitment should be to those who support us via their advertising dollars. We definitely do not subscribe to the notion that only people who buy ads will get stories written about them. However, the reality is that we have a limited number of pages and a small fulltime staff—two of us, in case you wondered—so a lot of worthwhile stories get stashed away until time and space permit.
Sports news gets the amount of coverage it does because we know how much these young athletes appreciate the recognition, and we hope are encouraged to further strive as a result. A lot is written about our schools because it’s on the minds of so many people in our community, whether parents who want their kids to get a good education or business owners who want to make sure that classrooms continue to provide a sound learning experience which translates to these young people’s future employability.
Here are a few of the other suggestions our readers shared. You can be sure we’ve added all of them to our list of coverage possibilities, and we hope you’ll keep your eyes open as these stories appear on our pages in future weeks and months.
- What types of animals do the cities of Tempe and Chandler allow in their residential neighborhoods?
- What are the regulations regarding temporary street-side signs—how are those regulations enforced?
- How about more stories regarding the lives and accomplishments of our behind-the-scenes heroes, such as teachers and school administrators?
- Tell us what local people who formerly were in the spotlight are doing today—City Council members, military, news people, etc.
- More on the why’s and when’s of Tempe’s curbside refuse pickup system.
- More about the unique people who populate our neighborhoods.
This is just a sampling of some of the many suggestions we received. However, I can promise you that all of the ideas we received will help us do a better job of planning the kind of coverage you’ve said you want in your hometown newspaper.
To the many who answered our mini-survey, we want you to know how much we appreciate you taking time from your busy schedule. Your names are on our list for the Babbo’s Italian Eatery giftcard drawing coming up in a couple of days, and you’ll hear from us as soon as we dip into the hat for our winners.
Again…thank you for your support of Wrangler News.
