More ways than ever to use the Observer

After three years, the regular operations of the Heights Observer newspaper are running as smoothly as you can expect for an all-volunteer publication. But news happens more than once a month.

So we’ve turned our attention to other ways of providing a full, flexible and timely platform for the discussion of issues that are important in University Heights and Cleveland Heights.

In January, we started posting news to the Observer website (www.heightsobserver.org) on a daily basis. Now you no longer have to wait until the beginning of next month to find out what’s been happening.

In mid-February, we launched the new Observer Blogs page, which is easily found in the left-hand menu bar of the Observer website. It features a growing collection of local bloggers who offer insights and opinions on a straightforward assignment: Life in the Heights.

Early blogs have ranged from commentary on squirrels, to ideas for dealing with the imbalance of students and facilities in the public schools, to insights about the proposed development of the former Oakwood Club. We’re actively looking for more voices. If you’re interested, contact me directly (see the end of this column).

Finally, to help bring all of this information together and make it easy to find, we have reformatted the Observer’s e-mail newsletter. The goals were to make it look better, to pack in more information, and to get it into people’s hands more often. So if you’re not in the habit of checking the Heights Observer website, you can get a digest every week of the most interesting and important articles from the website, the blogs, the forum and other sources.

Right now, about 3,500 people receive the newsletter weekly. If you’re not among them, sign up via the Heights Observer e-mail newsletter subscription link in the left-hand menu of the Observer home page.

All of this is part of a project to make the Observer a vital source of information, discussion and engagement around issues that are important to the Heights community.

As always, I think it’s worth reiterating the following:

The Observer is a nonprofit entity published by FutureHeights (www.futureheights.org), meaning that all advertising revenue goes to covering expenses and, eventually, funding community programming.

The Observer does not express editorial opinions; every opinion carried by the Observer is that of the individual contributor.

The Observer exists for you – to read and to use as a place to communicate information and ideas you may have about goings-on in the Heights.

Now, there are more ways to do that.

To express your opinion privately, e-mail Bob Rosenbaum at bob@therosenbaums.net. To express your opinion as a letter to the editor, register at the Observer Member Center (http://heightsobserver.org/members) and click on “Submit New Story” to contribute your letter.

Bob Rosenbaum, chairman of the Observer's editorial advisory committee and FutureHeights board member, writes this column to provide transparency and understanding about the Observer.

Bob Rosenbaum

Bob Rosenbaum is a Cleveland Heights resident and chairman of the FutureHeights Observer committee.

Read More on Opening the Observer
Volume 4, Issue 3, Posted 10:27 AM, 03.01.2011