This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

We Need a New Direction

I believe the Patch is a valuable resource for the residents of the Pass. One that will be sorely missed when it is gone. It provides a local source of news unlike anything else and it can be used as a platform to raise awareness about local politics and environmental issues. Unfortunately it has changed since I became the first one to post a blog to the Banning-Beaumont Patch in May 2011.

I used to be able to post blogs and 80-90% of the comments addressed what I had written. Now in some cases, 80-90% of the comments have really nothing to do with the blogger's original post. Just browse through the list of recent comments and you will find mostly name calling and character assassinations, very little productive commentary.

Most Patch readers I've spoken to ignore the comments and only read the original posts. Some have posted a comment once or twice but after being attacked for their position, or the way they tried to express their position, will never comment again. Many have stopped reading the Patch all together. 

I will continue to post here as long as the Patch is available. The issues I am concerned with, Mello-Roos, warehouses, and economic development are too important to me to ignore but I need a different platform where I can carry on productive debate and organize community action for positive change without getting bogged down in the mud.

Last month I launched the StetsonCFD.org website to provide a productive platform for discussion about our Mello-Roos fees and to organize efforts by my neighbors to take control of our property fees and taxes. The StetsonCFD.org is not restricted to Stetson property owners and is where any post I have concerning CFDs will be posted for discussion. Check it out and sign up for the newsletter to stay informed about everything Mello-Roos.

In a few days I will be launching another website and a Facebook page to post my blogs about the warehouses and economic development. I think we can stop the Gateway project and others like it and we can bring the right businesses and careers to The Pass. We need the Pass to become known as business friendly, business smart, and warehouse unfriendly. This is my goal with the new site.

I will be using these new platforms to focus comments and energies to work together to make a difference. I will not allow the discussion to be distracted or brought down by the negative comments. If this is something that you have a problem with or if you become offended that I disallow one of your comments, don't worry, you still have the Patch...at least for now.

I hope those of you who are reluctant to comment in the environment The Patch has become will bring your voices to these new platforms. But I also hope you will do more than just comment. There is a lot of work ahead of us to build a community we can be proud of for years to come. I will work with other groups and individuals to organize and execute a strategy to accomplish our common goals.

Look for an announcement of the new site and Facebook page here in the next few days. I  hope you will read my latest CFD post, "Peeling Back the Next Layer of the CFD Onion" here on the patch. I also hope you will comment on the post. If you are discouraged by the comments here on The Patch, I hope you will feel welcomed on the StetsonCFD.org website. You will find the post in the "Latest News" section.

I want to say thank you to The Banning-Beaumont Patch for helping me to reach so many more concerned citizens than I was before. I will continue to support and post on The Patch as long as it is here. I believe The Patch is going to remain viable if the contributors want it to. I do. I will do my best to keep providing quality content to The Patch but I realize I need another direction.

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The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?