A New Year Message to Our Readers
Happy 2023 and welcome to the 2nd Edition of the New Westview. Our first issue last month was produced and distributed on time, and got a great reception, as we resumed the insightful community-based coverage of WestView News, which never published a December edition. Barry Benepe is back! Roger Paradiso is back! Brian Pape is back! Joy Pape is back! Keith Michael is back! And we added a new regular (we hope), Podcaster Shannon McNamara. Our publication not only spurred coverage in the online tabloid The Village Sun, it will be featured in an article in an upcoming issue of The New Yorker, along the lines of “how a staff walkout prevented a QAnon-themed takeover of a community newspaper.”
Just to be clear, our publication is not a “takeover” of WestView News. Our publication is the result of a staff which had been willing to put up with idiosyncratic leadership, but which decided that their skills would no longer be made available to publish pieces by neo-fascists, conspiracy theorists, Donald Trump supporters, and crime-focused activists. We wanted to continue the tradition started by George Capsis some 15 years ago, presenting volunteer local writers, writing about Greenwich Village and its surrounding communities—its politics, its food, its culture, its birds, its events. New Westview is now published by a 501c3 non-profit, and is run as a collective effort. Arthur Schwartz has been writing a lot, but he isn’t the boss, or the owner. We hope you enjoy the current edition.
And if you like what you see, please contribute something in writing. Try to keep it to 750 words. Or send a photo essay. Or poetry. Or a cartoon. We want to publish new community-based writers of all ages. We’d love it if someone wanted to write about our local resident and NY Mets owner Steve Cohen. How about something about our local schools? Or how about something about your favorite restaurant or store? Or some great piece of theatre you’ve seen—we can be your chance to be a theatre or film or TV critic. Or some local political issue. We want our readers to write! Send your proposed article to westviewarticles@gmail.com
Potential Advertisers:
Village View wants and needs ads. They can be print-ready or we can design it. We hand distribute 7,000 copies per month. If ad revenue increases that number will increase.
Subscribers to the old WestView News:
We are trying to recover the 500-person subscription list from George Capsis and will honor all subscriptions to that old publication once we get a hold of it. Anyone who wants a new subscription can send us a note at 78 West 12th Street, NY 10011. Subscriptions are $12/year.
Thank you John Wetherhold!
John, who lives on West 13th, was so happy with the New Westview he sent us a $2,000 contribution. Feeling generous? Join with John! Write your check to New Westview, Inc. and send to 78 West 12th Street.
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