We are happy to share with our loyal Rockville Central readers a new occasional feature called "Contributor Opinion."
Why? It goes directly to our role and what we are about. As you know, Rockville Central does not take a position on issues and candidates. We've stated that clearly and regard it to be fundamental.
However, in the months since we've began, a number of readers have approached us with ideas for articles and opinions that they would like to air. Those opinions are an important part of civic life, and they deserve a fair place to be heard and commented upon.
At the same time, many readers have said they come to Rockville Central because they see it as a neutral place for information where they can get straight talk without opinion. How to do both? That was our dilemma.
We think the new Contributor Opinion feature will answer an important need.
Think of this new feature like the op-ed pages of a newspaper. Anyone can submit a piece (or an idea) for consideration, just by sending us an email. We'll edit them and publish them with an eye toward fairness, comprehensiveness, and liveliness. We will edit them, both for length and for content, but we will do it in conjunction with the author.
Every Contributor Opinion piece will be clearly marked as "opinion" and the text will be distinctive, so you can easily tell what's what.
Let me send this special invitation to all candidates for Rockville city offices: Please submit pieces for consideration. (Try to limit them to 3-4 paragraphs.) We value your voice and people want to hear -- directly from you -- what your plans are and how you see your role.
Depending on volume of submissions, we'll run Contributor Opinion columns once every week or two. It may be more, it may be less, depending on what we get.
This neighborhood blog is a work in progress. We want it to be useful to our neighbors and fellow Rockville residents. And we want it to be fun.
It is also completely volunteer-driven. We do it on our free time. We welcome your feedback and comments. We know we do some things well and other things less well. Let us know.
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