If you enjoy the blog but would like to get more actively involved, I have some great options for you! First and foremost, I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you if you’re interested in donating… are you? You can click the big “DONATE” button if you are! I’ve never made a single dollar off this blog but your dollar could be the first!
I’m also hoping to get some merch stood up here soon so that you might be able to support while get something out of it (and help spread the good word through your sartorial choices). But if you were looking for more of a non-monetary way to support the cause, I have some great options for you as well.
Offer Public Support:
The single most helpful way to contribute is to comment at public hearings on good (or bad!) projects. Public hearings are long and usually pretty demoralizing, meaning that the only people who show up to them are the select few who are really, really pissed off, while the majority of people who are indifferent or moderately support the project likely don’t feel strongly enough about it to dedicate an entire Thursday night to it. Based on this disproportionate representation, the city council assumes that all of Kirkwood hates the project, and so they vote against it. All we have to do to challenge this unanimity is to have a couple of us show up and say, “Actually, I think it’s pretty good.” You can check the city’s calendar page to see when the big public hearings are, but I’ll try to keep you abreast of them via the newsletter as well.
If public speaking isn’t your thing, there are some great options for offering public support in writing as well. If you email any public comments you have to City Clerk Laurie Asche by 4:00 on the day of public hearings, those comments will be distributed to City Council and if you want to try your hand at more public persuasion, Webster-Kirkwood Times letters to the editor offer an extremely low barrier to entry
Help With Gadfly Content:
Although I’m currently the only writer on Kirkwood Gadfly, I would love for that not to be the case! If you would like to write a story, please by all means, 1) send me an email (parker.pence@kirkwoodgadfly.com), 2) let me know what you’d like to write about, and 3) I’ll toss ya the admin keys so you can write it. My initial goal was for Kirkwood Gadfly to be a website with multiple perspectives all pulling in the same general direction, it hasn’t happened yet but you can help make it happen! If you have an idea for a story, or have a question you would like answered in some depth but you don’t have any desire to write it yourself, that works too! Email me your idea, I’ll kick the tires, and write ‘er up!
Come Hang Out:
And finally, I’d love to hang out and grab a coffee or a beer. I’ll try and let you guys know via newsletter ahead of time when and where. Until then, I need you guys to be considering the important questions: What is the home bar of The Swarm? What is our drink of choice? What is the song we put on the jukebox after we get a big council vote? I can’t wait to hear.