Friends, St Augustinians, Citizen Journalists — you have our ears

Historic City News was founded on the principle of a free press — with the specifically enumerated right of freedom guaranteed under the First Amendment of the US Constitution, and freedom of access to our readers; both to be heard and to speak.

We have never charged readers to access our 24-hour news portal, historiccity.com, nor have we ever charged for a subscription to Weekday Issue; our compilation of new articles making it easy to keep informed about current topics. We do not have a “pay wall” inhibiting reader’s feedback to articles we publish in the news. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors and advertisers, we can pay the bills without also charging you to see their promotional messages.

We are successful in our niche because we have never tried to be anything but local. We don’t run stock reports, but we do publish local business news. We don’t try to cover murders in Jacksonville, or scandals in Orlando, or the latest crime ring to be busted in Miami. You will find well written reports of crimes in St Johns County, often with an enhanced back story, and a jail log that is constantly updated by the St Johns County Detention Facility in real time. We are not beholding to political cronies at City Hall or the County Administration Palace — we call a spade a spade.

That said, with a limited staff and a community full of instant reporters, armed with cell phone cameras and the ability to literally be everywhere all the time, there are few activities affecting our readers in the areas of business, local government and politics that miss close scrutiny by our editor.

Who knew ten years ago that “Citizen Kane” would be toppled by “Citizen Journalists”?

Historic City News is growing again. On the heels of what remains of a “local” printed newspaper announcing to its neighborhood reporters that they would no longer publish their columns, we have been contacted by several folks interested in becoming neighborhood editors with us. We really like the idea and are committed to getting someone situated in each of the communities that St Johns County residents call “home”.

We’d like to rotate a report, at least weekly, containing information from downtown, North City, Hastings, Flagler Estates, Vilano Beach and South Ponte Vedra Beach, Julington Creek, Crescent Beach, Palm Valley and Ponte Vedra Beach, Nocatee, Fruit Cove and Switzerland.

If you would like to contribute a monthly newsletter of activities in your community and a few neighborhood-newsworthy tidbits, we want to hear from you! Reach out to us by e-mail at news@historiccity.com and let us know a little about yourself, including what part of town you’d like to cover. You’ll have fun and be doing a public service for your neighbors who will look to you when they want to know what’s going on in your neck of the woods.

NO phone calls, please. WRITTEN responses only. Thanks.