🏖️ City Council is on break for the next 3 weeks. Instead of our regular coverage we're doing a series of deep dives. This week: an update on InformUp! Have a request for a future deep dive? Drop it into this week’s survey.

We first wanted to say thank you so much for your time and attention each week. We know how valuable it is, and we hope we earn it each and every week (when we don’t, email me directly at [email protected]).

We started InformUp to make it as easy as possible for you (and everyone else) to engage directly with their elected officials. It’s still very early. We only started in earnest this past January, but we're excited by the initial response.

Our goal isn't just to report on what City Council is doing each week, but for you to tell us what you think about those issues. Every article has a survey, which we hope you take a minute to fill out. That way we can share your preferences directly with City Council. We can’t help make your voice heard unless you tell us how you feel.

Second, we wanted to share some numbers to give a better idea about how things are going:

• We have 184 subscribers, 6 of whom donate monthly
• Our reporting is reprinted each month in the Homepage Community Newspaper serving Hazelwood and surrounding neighborhoods.
• Our article on the City's new program to sell homes directly to residents was the most popular with over 1,200 views
• We've had 715 survey responses across 25 weeks of City Council meetings
• The question that drew the widest range of opinions was around income requirements for the new direct home sales program
  • Question Is the income limit of $128,775 for a family of four appropriate for this program?
  • Responses
    • 31% said Yes, it’s appropriate for serving moderate-income residents (22)
    • 30% said No, the limit should be higher or removed (21)
    • 27% said No, the limit should be lower to better support low-income residents (19)
    • 11% were Unsure, citing a need for more local income data (8)

Lastly, InformUp is a nonprofit. No one should ever have to pay to have access to their elected officials, to have their voices heard in the halls where the decisions that impact their daily lives are made. We will never charge for our coverage. Our work is supported by our readers and partially by the Heinz Endowments. If you appreciate our work, and are able, please consider subscribing and making a monthly donation.

Oh, and it wouldn't be an InformUp article without a survey. This one is for us though, and not for City Council. Please take a moment and let us know how we are doing (It's longer than our normal survey, so feel free to skip anything you dont want to answer).