The Rules

A short page about what the Verona Dispatch is, what to expect, and how I plan to keep this thing honest.

What this is

The Verona Dispatch is a local newsletter covering what happens at Verona Borough Council meetings, with occasional pieces on related civic matters: Chamber events, elections, board appointments, and the like. Most posts are synopses: what got discussed, what got decided, and what context a Verona resident would need to make sense of it.

It's published roughly every other week, paced to the council's meeting schedule. Posts go out by email to subscribers and live on this site.

This is a one-person operation. I'm Dave Paola. I live in Verona with my wife and our infant daughter. I'm not running for any office and don't intend to. I have no business interests in the borough. I'm doing this because I want a smarter civic conversation in Verona than the one we currently have, and the best way to get one is to start one.

The rules

Seven commitments I'm holding myself to. They aren't perfect, and I'll revise them in public as the project teaches me what I missed.

1. Show what happened. Don't characterize who did it. Describe observed behavior in plain language. Don't psychoanalyze. "Council member X declined to comment" is reportable. "Council member X seemed annoyed" isn't.
2. Explain the constraint before reporting the frustration. Most of what looks like evasiveness in council meetings is actually legal compliance. See the thesis post on this if you haven't yet. Explaining the constraint comes before reporting the frustration, every time.
3. Equal time during elections. Every candidate gets the same questions, the same word counts, the same publication timing. Personal opinions about candidates stay personal.
4. Conflicts get named. I know a lot of people in this town. When something I cover involves someone I have a personal relationship with, I'll note it in the post. Not in a footnote, at the top.
5. Right of reply, no questions asked. Anyone I describe in print can respond, and that response gets published. No editorial gatekeeping on whether the response is "warranted."
6. Corrections are loud, not quiet. When I get something factually wrong, I'll fix it inline with a dated note. No silent edits. No memory-holed mistakes.
7. No comments section. Right of reply replaces it. The local-comment-section pattern hasn't worked for anyone, and I'm not going to pretend it will here.

What this isn't

A few things the Dispatch is not trying to be:

• A breaking-news source. No beat desk; meeting synopses come on a schedule.
• A schools-coverage publication. I have a personal interest there that makes me the wrong person to cover it.
• A replacement for the existing Verona printed newsletter. More on that as the picture develops.
• An advocacy publication. I have opinions. I'll express them where appropriate. But the point isn't to push you toward a position. It's to help you form one.

Getting in touch

To respond to something I've written, reply to the email it came in on or write to [email protected].

To subscribe, the signup is at the bottom of this page.

Dave