BayBuzz Birthday!
Wed, Jul 01 2009

Two years ago to the day, BayBuzz posted its first blog article. It dealt with poorly heated classrooms at William Colenso College.

Who would have thought … two years later a National-led Government has just officially launched Warm Up New Zealand, a $323 million programme to provide warmer homes, and Mark Cleary, then principal at Colenso, has switched sides to become acting principal at Woodford House!

I think about eight people read that original post, including relatives of myself and then co-editor Mark Story (who has moved on to HB Today reportorial fame). But this July, BayBuzz will deliver nearly 10,000 page views to over 1,600 monthly unique visitors to our website, and another 298 subscribers will read our weekday email feed.

July also marks the first year anniversary of BayBuzz Digest, which has published ten issues each reaching 10,000 homes in Hastings, Havelock North and Napier. The Digest has made BayBuzz a family affair, dragging in my wife Brooks as indispensable publisher and editor of our arts features.

There are many friends to thank, starting with dozens of contributors who have donated so far* in amounts from $25 to $10,000 to support a fresh voice in Hawke’s Bay to speak out on the issues and help hold our elected officials accountable. We’ve also received important financial support from a cadre of 25 advertisers (and growing) who don’t mind being associated with a bit of cage-rattling.

*[That’s a hint to all you readers who think this kind of undertaking is cost-free!]

Another huge contribution has been made by dozens of guest writers — including Mayors, MPs, Councillors, and Ministers of all political persuasions — who have volunteered their time and talents to help fill our pages with insightful commentary and occasional wit.

And able folks at Grow Advertising and the web team at Mogul have made our newspaper and blog/website look great.

Finally, our efforts are helped immensely by the feedback we constantly get by mail, email, blog comments, calls and face-to-face on the street from folks who offer information, expertise, encouragement and, yes, criticism.

All this combined effort, complementing the work of many activists of much longer community standing, has had impact, perhaps most visibly with respect to protecting Ocean Beach and making better management of our waterways a priority, but also less visibly in terms of more mundane issues of Councils’ day-to-day accountability and transparency. Councils know they’re being watched like never before.

Thanks to all of you. We look forward to year three. There are more cages to be rattled!

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