Farewell

Barbara Todd Kerr, who came up with the idea for Plaintalker and designed it, has taken her name off the blog due to lack of time to participate.

Thanks to Barbara for all she has done to enhance the blog since it began in June 2005. Little by little I have learned how to post entries, add photos and make links. I still can't do graphics or the more professional creative things that Barbara contributed. My main contribution is reporting on municipal government.

Newspapers have largely abandoned the idea of covering a town by attending meetings to see what elected officials are up to and what residents think about proposed changes. When I found out about a study of 23 blocks south of the main train station for possible redevelopment, I thought it was a story. The study covered 188 properties, including the building where I have lived since 1992.

I actually wrote up the equivalent of a news story and handed out copies to some people who keep an eye on government. The result was that some of them checked it out and came to a hearing prepared to ask questions.

I didn't know anything about blogs at the time, but Barbara explained how it worked. It certainly sounded like a better way to get information out than by handing out stories one at a time on paper. After some more talk about how it would work, I was in.

It was a lot of fun early on, but also a lot of work, unpaid at that. Neither of us had full-time jobs at the time. Since then, Barbara has taken a job and has a long commute. I still have time to go to meetings, do research at City Hall and stay up late writing.

Again, thanks to Barbara for introducing me to blogging late in my seventh decade on the planet. If you see Barbara around town and you appreciate Plaintalker, give her your own word of thanks for starting it.

--Bernice Paglia