An open letter to Mayor Kelly Anderson

Dear Mayor Anderson:

It’s been quite a summer, huh? There’s a lot going on in the city and lots of attention on your City Council and staff. You joked last week that 85239 was keeping you guys busy; rest assured, your folks are keeping us hopping as well.

I have something I was hoping to discuss with you or your key staff members in person, but neither Interim City Manager Roger Kolman, nor Public Affairs Manager Jennifer Grentz nor you returned my calls.

As a matter of fact, Mayor, that’s the subject. As the most-read news source in Maricopa, we don’t expect favored treatment from the city, but we expect some treatment. It seems your people think that if they don’t deal with us, we – and our coverage – will go away.

Two years ago, city staffers pulled inmaricopa.com from the New Resident Handbook prior to its publication, listing only the Maricopa Monitor, Maricopa Connection, The Communicator and even the Phoenix-based Arizona Republic as “local publications.” After several appeals to your senses of logic and fairness, the city still intentionally excludes inmaricopa.com from all applicable printed and online materials where those other media are listed.

In fact, some city staffers say they have been discouraged by city management from doing any business with inmaricopa.com.

After all this time, and the increasing lack of cooperation we receive from your staff, I should not be surprised. Especially since the primary source of your discontent, inmaricopa.com’s Forum, continues to increase in popularity, some of that thanks to the city.

I don’t lose any sleep over our medium not being in favor with city hall, Mr. Mayor. Our site’s traffic has increased more than 1,000% since then-City Manager Rick Buss last year suggested to me that the city might provide inmaricopa.com with city-approved press credentials as a quid pro quo for getting rid of the Forum.

Here’s a headline, Mr. Mayor: We don’t need no stinkin’ badges. We don’t need your approval, nor that of your staff, to cover city hall. There is this thing in the Constitution that government shall make no law abridging the freedom of the press that I believe supersedes the authority of your staff to pick who you permit to cover them.

The pressing issue in my opinion is the city’s continual efforts to suppress public opinion and input. Maybe your intention is “only” to diminish our coverage, but you’re doing a disservice to the community.

The city can continue to attempt to silence inmaricopa.com by dancing around issues, not returning phone calls, not providing information in a timely fashion, denying agenda item requests and other such vehicles the city has used, but it’s counter-productive.

As you’ve undoubtedly read on the Forum in recent weeks, Maricopans are smart – and they’re increasingly aware of what’s happening at city hall. Heck, the stories and threads about some firefighters involved in a bar fight had more than 600 posts that were viewed some 20,000 times.

Is there a lot of idle chitchat and trivial information on the Forum? Sure. But it’s proven to be the best vehicle for locals to communicate about many important issues – not the least of which is what’s happening at city hall.

Given all the Forum fodder the city has created itself, coupled with inmaricopa.com’s history of reporting local news, I understand why inmaricopa.com can be a burr in the city’s saddle.

But while the seats of a couple dozen public servants might be hotter with us around than without, 30,000 taxpayers benefit from our free and universally available coverage. inmaricopa.com is the No. 1 source of local news and information for your constituents. More than 10,000 visitors log on each and every day, and guess what – we’re not going away.

Our large audience could be a tremendous asset to the city, however. Know that my 3-year-old offer to work with the city for the betterment of our community and its residents still stands. But whether you decide to work with us or not, we will continue to highlight the good things that are happening in town and the stuff that still needs improving. And you should know that we will not cease our efforts to let the public know what is happening in our community – including at city hall.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the summer, Mayor, and you get a break from city business on occasion. Give me a call sometime if you want to chat.

Sincerely,

Scott Bartle
Publisher
inmaricopa.com & 85239 The Magazine

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