LETTER TO THE DOWNTOWN NEWSMAGAZINE COMMUNITY
 

Downtown Newsmagazine has been providing residents of Birmingham Bloomfield Township and Bloomfield Hills a quality monthly publication since the fall of 2010, and for the vast majority of local residents the newsmagazine arrives at their doorsteps for free.



 

When we first launched Downtown

Newsmagazine, we laid out as

our mission to adhere to long-

standing principles of holding

accountable elected and appointed

government leaders while at the same time building, through quality journalism, a community of informed citizens, which is the basis for democracy. It certainly helped to be writing for an audience with one of the highest education levels in the state of Michigan.

Likewise, reaching our goal was

made much easier because we

assembled a small but experienced

and passionate group of publishing

professionals all committed to

producing an independent newsmagazine befitting an area that, as we like to say, has long defined the best of Oakland County with its vibrant businesses, top-notch schools, professionally run municipalities, community spirit and sense of refinement.



 

We are innovators producing products that go well beyond what others offer. Downtown Newsmagazine captures life in the local communities through coverage of major municipal and school issues, political gossip, personality profiles, and the latest news from the business community. We also devote considerable effort each month to address major issues facing local residents through our longform story-telling efforts, a lost art in our industry.

Aside from our monthly newsmagazine, we post regularly to our website (downtownpublications.com) and we send out a Weekly News Update newsletter every Friday along with special email alerts when there is breaking news of interest. During the month we also send out our political gossip newsletter (Oakland Confidential) and each month we also send our restaurant news column (Metro Intelligencer). And during the pandemic, we launched The COVID-19 Diary, a weekday curation of articles from over a couple of dozen publications, to keep local residents up-to-date on the crisis we were all facing. We will soon be launching an environmental newsletter and website – ThreatenedPlanet.com.

If you are not among the several thousand recipients of our online newsletter efforts, you can sign up at no charge on the home page our website.

 

When I first starting knocking on doors of advertisers in advance of our launch in 2010, I found great support as I laid out my plans to provide a product that was lacking in this part of the county. Based on constant feedback since then from residents and businesses, I think we have fulfilled that promise.

 



The support from the business community – often 50-70 advertisers per issue – has allowed us to produce a quality newsmagazine and deliver it to many of your homes at no charge. But the business community is constantly being challenged from events well beyond its control, be it the Great Recession, road reconstruction in the downtown Birmingham community (twice in two years) and now the impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.

 



We started strong and have remained strong. But to continue offering our product at no charge, and continue to grow in terms of what we offer to readers, we cannot simply ask more from the business community. So we are turning to the local residents for community support in the form of donations through a membership campaign.



 

By clicking above, you will be directed to a new page where you can make a donation to support good local journalism.



 

Any size donation, no matter how small, is appreciated. But we have created specific tiers of support, some of which come with perks in return.



 

All donors will be acknowledged by name on a Supporters Page on our website for the next year and every six months in a printed edition of Downtown Newsmagazine (unless you note you want to remain anonymous). Support on all levels is essential to our long-term success and growth.



 

We thank you in advance for your support of our effort to bring you quality local journalism.

David Hohendorf
Publisher
DavidHohendorf@DowntownPublications.com