Help Us Cover Downtown: blogdowntown Needs Your Support
Eric Richardson
[Flickr]
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — blogdowntown is about to turn four years old, and we need the help of readers like you to continue our mission of creating a conversation about life in Downtown Los Angeles.
Today we're kicking off our first pledge drive, beginning a push to shape blogdowntown into a community-supported voice for those who live and work Downtown.
That process really began back in September, when we announced the creation of verbdowntown, a non-profit parent for this site. We believe that online resources like blogdowntown can play an essential role in helping Downtown's stakeholders shape our neighborhood, and through verbdowntown we want to foster the growth of this site and the development of new resources.
2008 was a great year for blogdowntown. As of today, we've run 813 stories, about 45% more than in 2007. Most of those were original reporting about events and issues taking place around Downtown. Reader comments were up roughly 34% from a year ago.
Many more of you are reading this site now than were a year ago. Unique visitors were up 76% in 2008, as more people found blogdowntown content through searches and referrals.
In April we launched a major redesign, moving from a traditional blog look to a more magazine-style format designed to support the increasing flow of content.
Between April and August we covered Broadway-related trips to Portland, Seattle and San Diego, keeping Downtown up to date on what project leaders were learning from elsewhere. We have been the first and most comprehensive source for coverage of the Bringing Back Broadway project, the Downtown Streetcar, the Regional Connector and L.A. Live. More recently, just this month we kicked off Susana Benavidez's Kid-Friendly Downtown series, the start of a conversation on how to make Downtown work while raising a family.
We did all of this on a budget of zero. For four years, blogdowntown has been supported entirely out-of-pocket by those of us who put our time and effort into making it work. Why? Because we love doing it.
Now, though, it's time to move forward. Downtown is growing, and we need to grow with it. We want to continue being your source for Downtown news and issues, and we want to get better.
First, we want to make our pace sustainable. Somehow, keeping up to date with Downtown became a full-time job, but one without any income attached to it.
Second, we want to improve our technology resources. We want to add the capability to report using video and audio. Perhaps we'll even move the site out of my living room.
Third, we want to expand. One of our biggest projects for 2009 is a calendar for Downtown events. We believe that sites like that complement and tie into what we're doing with blogdowntown.
And in all of this, we want to create more opportunities for readers like you to be involved in shaping what we're doing. We want to meet more of you, and we want to make sure that we're on top of the issues that matter to Downtown.
As publisher of the site, I'm really excited about what 2009 will bring. I thank you all for reading the site in 2008, and I thank you in advance for your continued support of our mission.
Brad Vixin on December 24, 2008, at 05:36PM – #1
What a horrible thought. Especially considering all the "talk" about news management and steering and kick-backs?
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on December 24, 2008, at 08:31PM – #2
I'm really not sure I follow, Brad. Care to make a more complete argument?
John Crandell on December 24, 2008, at 08:35PM – #3
"A hobby that became a passion."
BRAVO, Eric. Thank you for what you've done for Downtown!
Stan Lerner on December 25, 2008, at 12:27PM – #4
Downtown Oliver Brown, marked the return of a fictional series to news and culture. This would not have happened but for blogdowntown. Thank you Eric for your courage and vision. Because I write the series some might think me bias, but it comes from my heart when I say that blogdowntown deserves all of our support. Keep up the great work!!!
Caryn Ho on December 25, 2008, at 12:43PM – #5
Yeah, what's Brad Vixen talking about? We'd all like to know. By the Way. MERRY CHRISTMAS BOYS AND GIRLS! Peace on Earth and Downtown L.A.
ChattyCathy on December 25, 2008, at 01:23PM – #6
Eric, I am new to downtown and would be lost without your newsletter. Without it, I would have missed so many events and news items. You have my full support.
Craig on December 25, 2008, at 01:38PM – #7
Where do I send a check?
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on December 25, 2008, at 01:46PM – #8
Craig: If you'd like to make a donation by mail, you can send it to this address:
You need to make your check out to "Community Partners FBO verbdowntown" (FBO = For the Benefit Of).
S on December 26, 2008, at 09:53AM – #9
This should not be a blog for people that work and live in downtown only, but for people who also love to hear about the developments that don't live there. Get your facts straight Eric.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on December 26, 2008, at 12:10PM – #10
S: It's great for people from outside Downtown to read the site and to learn about the neighborhood, but blogdowntown's primary mission is to inform those who live and work here. Everything else is sort of a bonus.
Chris on December 26, 2008, at 02:59PM – #11
Sent my contribution just now. Thanks for all that you do.
Zach Behrens on December 27, 2008, at 09:34PM – #12
Congrats on another great year, Eric!
And cool Facebook Connect app, testing it out now.
Benjamin Pezzillo on December 27, 2008, at 11:48PM – #13
This appears the natural extension of expansion -- both in Eric's full time dedication to this labor of love and the fiscal role a community must play in consuming information tailored to it -- and a desire to maintain independence from a larger media umbrella that might offer Eric full time overhead.
I would not confuse Eric's excitement for development news with hype and I think anyone who has read this blog over the course of months and years would agree -- it's verbdowntown, not hypedowntown.
heston on December 28, 2008, at 09:14PM – #14
get a job or ask for donations from businesses in downtown. your kind annoy the hell out of me.
Urban Trojan on December 28, 2008, at 10:03PM – #15
You mean Heston, he of the cold dead brain? Time for an enema, gun guy.
Purple Haze on December 28, 2008, at 10:08PM – #16
Yep, an enema is just the ticket. Double barreled.
I'll pull the trigger.
Desert Bruin on December 28, 2008, at 10:11PM – #17
You betcha! What a douche bag.
Katherine on December 29, 2008, at 03:11AM – #18
I just discovered this and I am very happy you are doing this work--I am broke now due to the 'bad economy' [or at least that is what my employer said when they set me free a week earlier than expected to take more time off than I can] -- and all I can offer you is content, but I don't know how to to that yet. just wanted to say thanks.
Chris on December 30, 2008, at 06:10PM – #19
Eric & team, Ignore the haters & keep doing your thing. They sound young & jealous.
BonAmi on December 31, 2008, at 05:21PM – #20
When I first moved Downtown, I only new the path to-and-from work. Eveything advertised was pricey and not quite mt scene. The day I found BolgDowntown was the day I found my culture! I totally catch the vibe and momentum. I really dig the history. This site has educated me, interested me, and I can't quite think of being here without it.
Rock on guys! Rock on!
The check's in the mail.
Jon on January 21, 2009, at 05:22PM – #21
I live and work in Century City, but I'm in downtown often enough for this blog to have proven tremendously useful. Thank you for your efforts, Eric. You have my support.
Will the events calendar include events at USC? I attended a Julieta Venegas concert at the Nokia Threatre a while back, and I'll be attending a Julieta Venegas event at USC on Feb. 12 (yeah, I'm a big fan). I only learned of the Feb. 12 event when I walked past a poster about it on campus on my way home from a basketball game. I think USC is close enough to downtown that folks living/working downtown would be interested in events on campus. Then again, USC has its own online events calender, so maybe all you need to do is provide a link to USC's calender on your events calendare page.
Thanks again for all your work.