Next month marks one year for Petworth News. Well, sorta. I started writing about Petworth events on Facebook in November of 2014, and launched this website in June of 2015. When I started out I was happy to have 150 readers on Facebook… now there are almost 1,600 on FB and around 7,000 a month read the website blog. More than 420 of you subscribe to the free Weekly Newsletter (signup if you don’t receive it). Those numbers are great support, I appreciate it!

I’ve been thinking about ways to keep things fresh and help the blog reach a larger audience in Petworth. (And no, I have no interest in going citywide… this is a Petworth area blog.) Feel free to share your thoughts on the ideas below, and suggest your own in the comments, or contact me directly.

An update to Commenting Policy
While the Petworth News Facebook page gets most of the reader comments, I think it would be easier for a wider audience of people to be able to contribute comments if they did so on this website. I’ve always had a strict commenting policy on this site, in order to control anonymous commenting and a free-for-all of negative comments and fighting common on some other blogs. (Note that I don't censor comments on the Facebook page or here, as long as they're respectful.)

But to make it easier for people, I’m going to allow aliases or pseudonyms if desired. So you can be "Happyon7th" or "Frustrated Joan" and it's cool. Bear in mind, disparaging or disrespectful comments will still not be allowed — so be nice to your neighbors. You’ll have to register for a free Disqus account using your email address, or you can use your Facebook or Twitter account to log in (see below). Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments below, naturally.

*Justin Dent, Petworth resident and videographer*

Petworth News Video
I’m excited to announce a new partnership with Justin Dent, a Petworth resident who’s an accomplished videographer. We’re starting a new series of videos about our neighborhood and the people who help shape it into a community. We’ll be interviewing the people we’re calling “change makers,” neighbors who work behind the scenes to improve the quality of life for us all.

We hope to shed light on the good efforts of good people, and we’ll be taking nominations from readers for people to interview. Look for the first video coming next month. You can nominate people using this form >

Petworth T-Shirts
Now you can wear your Petworth pride with a multicolor Petworth map t-shirt. I’m trying to keep the cost down, but the design has more than 7 colors so it makes it about $20 per shirt. I’d like your feedback — are you interested in a shirt? What color should the shirt be? Sizes?

Organizing t-shirts can be a difficult affair, so I’m looking at a few vendors who can print and distribute, otherwise my basement is going to become a t-shirt storage unit, and my wife will murderize me. I’m also thinking Winter probably isn’t the best time to sell t-shirts, so will likely start in the Spring.

Look at the examples below then take a survey so I can gauge interest (check out the baby onesie... so cute). Take the t-shirt survey and share your thoughts >

Seriously, how cute is this?

White shirt with logo

Grey version (not sure about this one)

Your Ideas
I’m always interested in hearing about local news and events that benefit the neighborhood. Feel free to let me know about article ideas — and if you want to contribute an article, let me know! Happy to host contributing writers if you have something valuable for the community at large!

PS: I'm not cutting any features from the blog, so I'll still cover ANC and PSA meetings, etc. But you should still go to those meetings!