Council loses newsletter editor; ad revenues hurting
An option to recoup costs of publication may be to offer the newsletter as a site for the city to post public notices.
By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published September 21, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG - The most visible organization of neighborhood leaders has been losing money on its monthly newsletter. In January, the Council of Neighborhood Associations newsletter will lose its editor, Paula Engel, who is leaving to devote more time to her family's business.
Neighborhood associations keep in touch with residents in a variety of ways. Many publish newsletters, either on their own or through an outside contractor who depends on advertising revenue. Several associations are turning more to Web sites and online dissemination of neighborhood news.
Unable to sustain enough advertising, CONA dropped Monarch Publishing after July's publication, CONA president Brent Fisher said.
In August, Engel and Greater Woodlawn president Cathy Wilson designed a newsletter with Microsoft Publisher and duplicated through a local printer. But advertising remains flat.
Printing and mailing to anywhere from 600 to 800 addresses costs the organization up to $350 a month.
Fisher said CONA could seek advertising dollars from the city, offering its newsletter as another place to display public notices.
Failing that, the organization will look for ways to reduce costs. "I think some form of newsletter will be used," Fisher said. "But what's ultimately going to happen is we will put out a notice saying, "If you like what you've been getting, we need you to get it by e-mail instead."' CONA also could begin asking some recipients to pay a small fee to receive the newsletter.
CONA's problems are familiar to neighborhood leaders. Euclid Heights won a $1,200 police forfeiture grant last year to publish a newsletter, which members hoped would help in the cause to lower speed limits. Now those funds are shrinking, said board member Susan Moltere, and no one knows if the newsletter will last beyond December.
Jungle Terrace, Historic Old Northeast and North Downtown are communicating through Web sites which offer online versions of the newsletters that they still mail. Old Southeast president Karl Nurse, who is also president of a printing company, predicted a steady increase of electronic communications replacing newsprint.
"I don't think there will be any old-fashioned newsletters five years from now," Nurse said.
Eagle Crest, a neighborhood with about 375 homes, trims the fat with one legal-size sheet printed on two sides. President Lance Lubin composes the Eagle's Eye, then e-mails it to Sir Speedy. The printer returns hard copies to his doorstep, which volunteers distribute to residents. The total monthly cost: $35.68.
* * *
About 100 St. Petersburg residents attended last weekend's Florida Neighborhoods Conference in Sarasota. The 2004 event will be held Sept. 16-18 in Jacksonville. Neighborhoods USA will bring its annual conference to Hollywood, Fla., May 26-29, 2004.
Nineteen organizations have requested Neighborhood Partnership grants totaling more than $244,000. The combined grant ceiling is $200,000. The 19 applicants included several first-timers, Partnership director Susan Ajoc said. A grant review committee of city officials (not including the Neighborhood Partnership) and neighborhood leaders will meet Friday to look over the applications, and should produce recommendations to the City Council's Policy and Planning committee by late October. Final recommendations would reach the City Council by late December.
Meetings
BAYOU HIGHLANDS: 7 p.m. Thursday (6:30 p.m. social). Skyway Resource Center, 1065 62nd Ave. N. Improvements to Albert Whitted Airport. (Previously scheduled City Council member James Bennett canceled.)
CAYA COSTA: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Rampart Properties, 10033 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. Open forum.
EUCLID HEIGHTS: 7 p.m. Tuesday. First Alliance Church, 5000 10th St. N. Representative of county's Department of Consumer Protection, on scam artists. The public is invited.
LAKEWOOD ESTATES CIVIC: 7 p.m. Tuesday. Lakewood United Church of Christ, 2601 54th Ave. S. City Council member James Bennett.
GREATER WOODLAWN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Woodlawn Presbyterian Church, 2612 12th St. N. Florida Crime Preventors, on personal safety and home security.
METHODIST TOWN: 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Dwight Jones Neighborhood Center, 1035 Burlington Ave. N. Planning for Oct. 31 Halloween party.
LAKE MAGGIORE SHORES: 7 p.m. Thursday. Enoch Davis Center, 1111 18th Ave. S. Screening and lifestyle information by the Diabetes Intervention Prevention Porch Empowerment Resources (DIPPER) program.
UPTOWN: 7 p.m. Wednesday. The Sunshine Center, 330 Fifth St. N. Police Chief Chuck Harmon.
