The realty board letter peaked my interest. I like to read good news as well as anyone, but Idyllwild is not Disneyland. This is a real community with a real newspaper with real news. I know sometimes the folk from down below think it is Disneyland, walking down the center of the streets and stopping in the middle of the highway.
Since the Realtors don’t advertise in the paper anymore, why would they think the tourists would read it anyway? If the Realtors choose not to serve the visitors in the Town Crier, why are they trying to dictate the format?
I used to love the colorful double- and quadruple-page ads that I could show my guests. We would read the ads and they would get all enthusiastic. We would drive into town and stop at my favorite real estate offices — like Robin Oates, who has the best maps in town and Village Properties for the take-your-own-tour listings — and gawk at the pictures in the windows at Idyllwild Realty.
Now, we just go to lunch. I can’t get them to muster up enthusiasm to go into the real estate offices, endure the chit chat with the Realtors and then drive around with them when they take you to look at their choices. My guests want me to drive them around while exchanging news of our activities, families and general gossip that one would never speak of in front of a stranger.
They want to look at neighborhoods, exteriors and prices before narrowing down candidates for further inspection. Now, I just send them to Zillow, a wildly inaccurate site for cyber hunting without the gossip, lunch or even visiting. I’ve only had one guest actually take moving here seriously since the great ads ceased.
Now, the paper targets the locals who need to know the news. We already like this place. Puff pieces on the front page won’t make us like it even more.
The paper serves the locals. We need to know what is going on. The important news needs to be up front, not hidden in the back to appease a group that doesn’t support the paper anyway.
I want to know about the burglaries, what IFPD is up to this time, what the entertainment venues are offering, what good things the locals are doing and the dangers that face our community. I want the important articles that impact my life on the front page. I love this community and I want to know what is going on. Hiding the news on back pages does not serve the community.
Nancy Borchers
Pine Cove
