City Goes Greener, OKs Paperless Newsletter

To save money and trees, the City of Bowie will soon start publishing its bimonthly newsletter—the Bowie Spotlight—online, a change approved by the City Council during its work on the fiscal 2012 budget.

Some council members expressed concern that many people—especially senior citizens— without computers would not have access to the information.

“I’ve met with seniors who have told me, ‘I must continue to have this,” said Councilman Henri Gardner.

But City Manager David Deutsch said the city would mail hard copies to residents upon request. Copies will also be available in libraries and city facilities.

“But our hunch is that there are an awful lot of folks, including seniors, who have internet access. This is a pretty wired community,” Deutsch said.

The cost for the postage and printing of the 6 editions of the newsletter would have been $36,600, according to Deutsch.

Although it is less costly than first class mail, there are what Deutsch described as unavoidable problems with bulk mail delivery—how the newsletter is mailed—since the postal routes extend beyond the city’s borders.

About 12 percent of the 24,000 copies mailed out are sent to non-residents, Deutsch said, which creates  confusion among some outside Bowie over city services such as snow removal and code enforcement.

"We are our own worst enemy because we send a city newsletter to someone's mailbox telling them about how wonderful we are and the services that are available and they come for those services and we say 'Wait a minute, not for you," said Deutsch.

The upcoming issue, which will land in mailboxes in late June, will include instructions for those who want to keep receiving a copy in the mail and how to sign up for an email alert when the newsletter is posted on the city’s website.

A special election edition of the Spotlight, published once every two years before the November election, will continue to be mailed to all residents.