'Raising Sand' Website Seeks to Engage Alamedans

A new website founded by west Alameda resident Susan Galleymore hopes to serve not only as a source of information about Alameda neighborhoods and issues, especially those related to sustainability, but also as a forum for residents to network with each other.

Galleymore said she began building the "Raising Sand radio & new media" site last fall with embedded maps that show locations of special interest. On the map for "Alameda Development Sites," for example, a reader can click on one of the markers and see a window with further information about what's happening at that particular site.

The website has expanded since then and defines itself as "a community-building center that offers a space (online and face-to-face) to meet neighbors, share your creativity (arts, writing, photography, etc) and what’s going on in your neighborhood, and collaborate on development that sustains people and places.

"We also offer interactive maps that allow you to submit data on Alameda development zones, general data about Alameda, and traffic and transportation."

Galleymore, a past Alameda Patch contributor who has lived in the city for 13-14 years, said the name "Raising Sand" harkens back to a radio program she did under the same name for four years on Stanford's campus radio station KZSU around 2004-08.

At the station, she said, the producer of a blues show told her about the term.

"In the blues community, he said, 'raising sand' means you're creating a little bit of a stir," she said.

Galleymore said she made an effort to establish a low-power radio station in Alameda, but it did not succeed. 

Recently, the website is seeking to create a bit of a stir with two new projects.

One is an effort by Galleymore and Alameda Sun co-publisher Dennis Evanovsky to establish a transit shuttle system in Alameda. The Raising Sand description of the project notes that Alameda once had train stations around town that also served as hubs for local business communities.

Galleymore and Evanosky hope to partner with the local business people to create low-cost or free transit shuttles. 

The project is "tentatively – and humorously – called Ride the ASS (Alameda Station Shuttle)," the website says.

"I'm hoping we can eventually engage with city officials," she said.

The second project – called "'Safe' does not mean 'Risk-free'" – seeks to present information about contaminants and clean-up at Alameda Point in "every-day" language.

The site also features organizations or locales that Galleymore said can serve as examples of effective networking or areas of concern, including a page about  Transition Albany in the Bay Area and an interactive map for a part of Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa, where Galleymore is from. 

Galleymore said she hopes to sign up residents as site members and also to become self-sustaining by selling ads.

Asked how the response has been so far, she said she was quite pleased with reaction to her first newsletter.

"I think I got a 35-percent open rate on the newsletter, which is extraordinary," she said.

"I think there's a niche here," she said, adding that she sees Raising Sand not as a competitor to local news sites that serve Alameda but as a complement that provides more neighborhood focus and opportunity for residents to network and contribute information.