Last week, the Beach Gazette held its launch party, and I want to say something simple first: thank you.
Thank you to everyone who showed up. Thank you to all who decided the Beach Gazette was worth investing in before they'd read a single issue.
The room brimmed with positive energy. That energy is not about us. It's about a hunger that has been building since the Beaches lost their newspaper. When The Beaches Leader closed, we didn't just lose a publication. We lost the person sitting in the back of the council chamber taking notes. We lost the record of who voted for what, whose rates went up, and what got decided while the rest of us were at work. We lost trusted information about what was happening in our community.
Beach Gazette is not a traditional for-profit newsroom. This newsroom belongs to you. We are a nonprofit. There is no owner, no shareholder waiting for margins. The Gazette answers to the people of Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, and Mayport - and to no one else. That structure is only as strong as the community behind it, and last week the community showed up.
So what happens now? We get to work. Meetings covered. Records read. Questions asked. The stories we heard at the party — the ones you've been waiting for someone to dig into — are already shaping our reporting list.
Our writers are also covering stories about this community, stories that make the Beaches unique. Our goal is to strengthen civic participation, increase government accountability, and tighten the social fabric of our community.
Over the next year, I will be asking for your support to sustain this vision. Individuals can become a supporting member for as little as $5 per month. Businesses can support us through sponsorships and advertising at varying levels. Interested? Just let us know. We need your support.
If you were in the room, you've seen what this can be. If you weren't, you're not late; you're right on time. Read us. Share us. And if you believe a community should be able to see itself clearly, become a member.
The excitement in that room wasn't for a party. It was for what comes after. Let's build it.
