What's Up?

Welcome to What's Up, Westfield?  As far as I can tell, there are no other blogs dedicated to all things Westfield, Indiana.  So let's get on this train they call social media.

There's lots going on in Westfield these days.  The Grand Park Sports Campus is underway.  The Grand Junction is moving along.  US 31 freeway construction has started.  We have a new City Council.  There's a little thing called the Super Bowl happening a bit south of us. . . . Just to name a few.

However, one of the difficulties that we endure here in Westfield is that there really is no dedicated 20th Century form of media to adequately inform the public.  Sure, there's the Indianapolis Star, but really, how much energy do they expend reporting on life in Westfield?  There's actually a Carmel,/Zionsville/Westfield weekly edition of the Star that I get for free in the mail.  For a while it made an attempt at reporting some local content.  There would be one story on the front page focusing on one of the three municipalities.  The rest of it was ads and recipes.  Now the sole story is gone and the ads don't even make an attempt at being local.  It's a waste of paper as far as I'm concerned.

"But, Ken," you say, "we have the Current in Westfield."  To which I counter that a good third of Westfield residents don't get Current in the mail because they don't have a Westfield address.  Current mails its Westfield edition only to 46074 addresses.  That means if you live in Village Farms or Bridgewater you get Current in Carmel and if you live in Brookside, you get Current in Noblesville.  When I was writing my column in Current in Westfield, some of my biggest fans lived in Carmel.  Go figure!

What about The Noblesville Daily Times (or whatever it's called these days)?  What's their circulation in Westfield?  Maybe 500?  Enough said.

The City tries to communicate with residents by stuffing fliers in the utility bill, but I've never found that to be an effective way to communicate.  I'd guess that most people throw out stuff that's stuffed in the bill.  Believe it or not, there are still some Westfield residents who are on well and septic.  For a long time they never received a utility bill from the city.  (That may be moot now with the storm water utility and the garbage collection service that I believe is charged to every resident.)

Recently, the City has been mailing a monthly newsletter titled Westfield Matters to residents, highlighting some of the goings on in Westfield. It's a nice four page glossy piece that looks a bit like an over sized post card.  I think I accidentally threw it in the garbage the first time it came in the mail--and I was expecting it!  It's a good attempt, but it too, has its limitations.

So maybe in the year 2012, we should start utilizing new media.  That's where this blog comes in.  I'll do my best to talk about things that are relevant to Westfield, just like I did on a weekly basis at Current in Westfield for over three years.  Except that I won't be restricted by their schedule (or their editing).  I'll write as things happen.  It'll be part reporting and part opinion.  Hopefully, you'll read and maybe even comment.  But please keep the interaction civil and clean.  And don't be anonymous.  I'm putting my name on this product for all the world to see.  If you feel moved to respond to what I've said, please identify yourself.

Thanks for reading.

KK