Editor's Announcement: Patch is all "About Town"

Hope everyone is having a good first day back at school.

In keeping with that first day theme, I want to give you the head's-up on a new feature that you'll find in the Westfield Patch. Starting Tuesday, we'll be launching the "About Town" column. It'll be a place for us — and you — to deliver the news that everyone's really talking about.

For a little more than a year, Patch has been providing you with all the important Westfield news that makes a town work. From town council to school-board meetings, the effect of the state budget on local services to the latest fender-bender that is messing up your commute, we've been on it — and we will continue to make hard news an integral part of the Patch experience.

But "About Town" will give us a lot more room to have tons more fun. Here's what it will be: news from the neighborhoods, proud parents, community groups, kids hanging out downtown. It is another way of getting the news from Manor Park to Brightwood — and every neighborhood in between — that you won't find anywhere but Patch.

Here's what it's won't be: nasty gossip. We ain't Page Six, folks.

How will it differ from what we already do? It won't be stuffy official comment, it won't be partisan politics, it won't be tax ratables.

It will be you, your friends and neighbors, letting us know what you're hearing, what your talking about, what you think is important for Westfield residents to know. Did your son or daughter do something great on the field or in the classroom? Did you receive a promotion? Are you and your friends dishing about a new store or a longtime favorite business downtown? Got a fun fact on a new teacher, something offbeat from town hall or news from one of the many clubs in town? Want to give a shout-out to a selfless volunteer? Let us know — and we'll share it with the Westfield residents smart enough to know that Patch is the place to get all their Westfield news!

"About Town" will be here every day — actually, we'll be here many times throughout the day. All information for the column will run through me right now, until we find just the right columnist who can handle this important task. Think you've got what it takes? Reach out to me at johnc@patch.com and tell me why you've got the contacts to deliver the "About Town" 4-1-1. But no columnist will be able to do this alone, so we need your help to keep the "About Town" pipeline filled.

So keep your eyes peeled and your ears open as you barbecue and hang out with friends over the Labor Day weekend, then drop me an email and let me know what's going on "About Town."  See you Tuesday!

John