Where would you get your neighborhood news without Forest Hills Connection?

by Marlene Berlin

Where would you get your neighborhood news without Forest Hills Connection?

The Van Ness Metro station’s west entrance, blocked off. The sign says: “We’re replacing the escalators to give you a better commute. Please use the exit behind you.”

We were the only news outlet to report Metro had to change its plans to close the west entrance to the Van Ness Metro station for the entire three-year escalator replacement project.

We were the first to let you know Chick-fil-A wants to open a restaurant at the Burger King site next year, and about the E. coli warnings in the Soapstone Valley (further digging revealed the sewer leak and the E. coli were separate issues).

This DC Water sign was posted at the Albemarle trailhead on July 11th.

We were the only news outlet in the District to report on the maximum 2015 rent increase allowed under rent control laws – and about the substantial rent breaks due the District’s seniors and disabled, regardless of income.

I ask you to think of the value that Forest Hills Connection has added to the neighborhood, not only through our coverage of local news, but also by inviting you to meet your neighbors, through our stories and at events like our first ever community yard sale. Life would be so much duller, don’t you think? If that’s a yes, please click here to make a suggested tax-deductible donation of $100 – or whatever you wish to give.

If you still need some convincing, let me tell you why we need your support. We need your donation to keep us going. The money goes toward operating expenses – web hosting fees, technical expertise and all the hours webmaster Tracy devotes to publishing the stories and keeping our website functioning.

Now that I am on a roll, let me go on. If you happen to own a business, take out an ad. Or if that’s too expensive, get a classified ad for a year at $5 a month and tailor it monthly. If you can provide a service to the neighborhood, want to get rid of a piece of furniture, have plants you want to give away just click here. I can think of lots of ways to use that $5 monthly classified ad. Contact me at [email protected] and we can brainstorm.

Who will see those ads? Forest Hills Connection has had 37,000 visitors in the past year, 62 percent more than in 2014, and we expect our readership to continue to grow by leaps and bounds in 2016. And we’ll be celebrating four years in service to the community next April. I used to worry about running out of news to build up our readership. Now I worry about keeping up with it all.

And now that we have finally gotten you to open up your wallet, please consider a $52 dollar annual subscription for Current Newspapers, which lost some advertisers when two members of its advertising network, the Montgomery and Prince George’s County Gazette newspapers, folded earlier this year. This is an important media source for you and for us, and we don’t need less of them. You can call 202-567-2020 to make a credit card payment or send a check to The Current Newspapers at P.O. Box 40400, Washington, DC, 20016-0400.