I'm well-known as an electronic kind of guy, former broadcast executive and now a computer consultant with his own internet website (www.mckeown.net). So why am I writing to encourage support of a local daily paper? Isn't that, well, "old" technology?

Sorry, but there's nothing quite like local news unfolding across the dining room table with that first morning cup of coffee... make mine French roast, industrial strength. I'm weary of the world news, the national news, the regional news. The only Monica I want to see in my headlines is Santa Monica.

Until March 14th, like most Santa Monicans, I took our local daily paper for granted. After all, it had been around 123 years, and I've been here only 22. That final headline, "Goodbye!," was the shovel that dug a big hole in my daily life.

Santa Monica is a marvelous island at the far edge of L.A.'s vast media sea. Without a local paper, our daily news coverage shrinks to surf reports and celebrity trials. I ache to start my day, every day, with real news about THIS city, where I live and work.

They say all news is local. In New England, where I grew up, it was about potholes. Santa Monica doesn't have many potholes. We also don't have safe crosswalks. When's the last time you saw the daily L.A. metroplex media cover crosswalks in Santa Monica?

More than issues, I miss daily local coverage of people. Give me names, give me stories about how we're working together for our neighborhoods, our local businesses, our schools!

Only a local paper, published daily, has space for all the details. That sort of information sitting in black and white on my dining room table, and yours, isn't just "news." It's an affirmation of Santa Monica's spirit and energy.

Reading about our neighbors, we build a base of common experience that leads to a sense of belonging. Recognizing the aspirations we share for Santa Monica, we can work through situations and issues where we temporarily disagree.

Why is a paper to call our own important to me? Local daily newsprint is the papier-mache from which we may sculpt community.

-- Kevin McKeown served on the City of Santa Monica Telecommunications Working Group.

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