What's 'The Point' here, anyway?

     In the last several decades, all across the U.S., traditional newspapers have watched their circulation numbers plummet, blaming most of that on the Internet, Craigslist and readers simply not being interested in news anymore.
         Some of that is true.
         At the same time, the print news industry decided to implement a strategy called 'hyperlocal news' - a madcap dash to focus in on very local news items and events - sort of neighborhood news - as a way of retaining and even gaining readers.
        And it worked, sort of.
       The problem has been that regional newspapers, like the East Bay Times or the San Francisco Chronicle, don't have space in their print editions - or enough boots on the ground in communities - to provide the news and information people need. And for too many reasons to go into here, they are also unwilling to use the unlimited space of their websites to dig deep and report hyperlocal news stories.
       Here in Point Richmond, that news would include the overwhelming bad smell emanating from Republic Services composting facilities, the new ferry service coming in 2018 - even the amazing good work done over at Milo.
       If you don't know what Milo is, you have a good example of why a local news outlet is important.
       Thus, The Point.
      On this page, The Point welcomes letters to the editor, op-eds - even cartoons for the sketch artists out there, subject to the caveats posted to the right of this editorial.
       See you around the point, and here in The Point.

Michael Fitzgerald