Power blogging

A well-deserved pat on the back for Fort Wayne Politics bloggers Jeff Pruitt and Scott Spaulding who provided over 7 hours of live blogging concerning rezoning issues surrounding the proposed Canyon Cliffs development along the scenic Cedar Creek in northern Allen County.

Mr. Pruitt covered the meeting from noon until approximately 5 PM when Scott Spaulding took over to provide continuous coverage with a laptop and Verizon aircard.

It should be regarded as one of the milestones - or would it be more appropriate to say, watershed moments - in citizen journalism in Allen County.

In between other meetings yesterday, I visited the hearing at approximately 3 PM, then returned 2 hours later for the final two hours so I got to see both gentlemen at their task.

Additional note: ACRES Land Trust indicated to the Commission yesterday that it would be willing to purchase the Canyon Cliffs  property if offered.  Those interested in joining ACRES may download a membership application here.

Comments

[Mark Garvin]

Jeff and Scott did a great job. The regular media, if they are going to have an internet presence, should consider doing the same.

Many thanks to Jeff and Scott.

[Karen Goldner]

Kudos to them both indeed. This may show one of the real strengths of blogging: the benefit of live coverage which one might traditionally associate with television (C-SPAN or for very high profile national events some of the news networks), but also the asynchronous (love that word) quality of newspapers so the reader doesn't have to be paying constant attention in order to stay informed.

Ed. note: Hmm, Karen ... so are you asserting that one can stay fully informed by reading newspapers?

[Andy Stout]

Mitch -

Thanks for the post. Jeff and Scott did a fantastic job of covering the event.

It was nice to see such a phenomenal number of people attend the meeting and voice their concerns over this proposed housing addition.

Also, thanks for noting ACRES is willing to purchase the property to save it from development.

I downloaded an application to join ACRES from your link.

I'm hoping the owners of the property in question will be open to selling it to ACRES and preserve this unique, wooded property for generations to come.

[Alex Jokay]

The last thing the world needs is another housing subdivision. And there of all places.

That pristine stretch of Chapman Road is one of the most beautiful in the county. I drive it frequently. It's land that belonged to one of my pioneer ancestors, Nathaniel Fitch, and like most of his original land holdings in that vicinity it has never been spoiled.

(I was dismayed recently to find that kids have been partying in the old Fitch homestead, which sits above Bicentennial Woods, an ACRES preserve that formerly belonged to my grandmother's sister, Mary Ellen Arnold. They've broken out all the windows and sprayed graffiti all over the interior. Family members had been hoping to work out a deal with the current owner, Irving Sand & Gravel, to save the house, built in the 1840s.)

I am grateful to our citizen bloggers for igniting public awareness; I have no doubt that it's because of them that the local press is beginning to give this story the coverage that it deserves.

And I hope that Mr. Bodenhafer will consider the offer by ACRES to purchase the property.

[Jeff Pruitt]

Thanks Mitch and everyone else.

I will admit that when I showed up to live blog the meetings I didn't expect them to last over 7 hours! But there were other concerned citizens that stayed for the entire ordeal as well.

Ultimately Scott and I just wanted to give everyone a sense of what was going on throughout the entire process. Any attempt, no matter how noble, to sum up 7 hours of discussion into a few paragraphs for a newspaper story and/or 3 minutes on television is futile...