The last issue’s Editor’s Notes focused on why there was no article promoting April’s Taste of Beaumont (ToB), BWNA’s annual spring event featuring cuisine samples and raffle prizes donated by local businesses, entertainment by Cynthia Plank’s Beaumont Middle School Jazz Ambassadors, and an “Elections General Meeting” aimed at motivating attendees to step up to serve on the board. Put simply, there was no promotion of ToB because there was no ToB to promote. Disappointing turnouts coupled with meager success in filling open board positions prompted the board’s decision to discontinue ToB, with elections rescheduled for a regular second-Monday-of-April general meeting. But, as we know now, the COVID-19 epidemic would have shut down ToB anyway, along with BWNA activities for weeks to come. An exception is our newsletter.
Reading online is not everyone’s cup of tea, especially for those older-generation folks (e.g., yours truly), who prefer holding publications in hand and turning pages with fingers. But adjustments come with the territory in a crisis like this one, and it goes without saying that comfort zone inconvenience plays second fiddle to the safety of our 60-plus volunteer distributors, who walk neighborhood routes every other month to deliver over 2,600 newsletters. Still, this temporary shift to electronic-only access is not without a silver lining: for readers, there’s the aesthetically pleasing color copy; and for BWNA, a savings of $1,300 in printing costs per issue. Which begs an obvious question: if the online color version is so much prettier to read and totally free of charge to publish, why not dispense with the printing and distribution of hard copies altogether? Let me answer that with a rhetorical question: previous to this issue, when was the last time you read the newsletter online, as opposed to the copy delivered to your doorstep? That’s what I thought.
But not so fast, perhaps; after all, a bit of honey sweetens the pot: with online access the only choice for the time being, might not a good number of readers develop a preference for the “living color” version and opt to continue reading online even after the pandemic has passed? And in turn, might that trigger an accompanying upsurge in traffic on BWNA’s new, improved, and evolving website (bwnapdx.org), not only for convenient access to the current newsletter and archived issues (dating back to January-February 2012), but also for article updates, community event announcements, BWNA meeting minutes, and resource contact information? That sounds plausible to me, but I believe it would be foolish not to resume hard copy delivery down the line, given the overriding benefit to BWNA of maximizing communication channels to residents and neighborhood businesses.
Speaking of enhanced communication, I encourage you to subscribe to BWNA’s mailing list via the website. While the BWNA newsletter and online site Nextdoor have been conduits of choice for BWNA, direct e-mail to residents takes it to another level. Joining the mailing list is easy: just click on “Subscribe” at the top of the website home page and enter your contact information.