Hey folks, welcome back to the Osprey Update. I’m David Mendez, your friendly neighborhood newsman and reporting resident of Shoreline, Wash.

So, my journalism career started in Arizona — more on that another time, surely — but I fell in love with actually being a reporter when I moved Los Angeles for a job and a girl…and kept the job.

I was at a weekly paper, where I covered a town of about 67,000 people: city council, schools, public safety, housing, the whole lot. I met people riding bikes across the country and rowing boats across the Pacific. I spent afternoons with mourning families to learn about their loved ones, and stayed up late to make sure people knew what their officials were doing with their tax money. I got laid off during the height of COVID, and landed at another, larger organization where I did work I’m proud of, but it wasn’t quite the same as meeting neighbors and finding out what they cared about.

When my wife and I moved our family here last year, I was burned out on the news business. But before last November’s local election, I needed to know more about who was asking for my vote. And I knew that if I had questions, other people did too. So I started this, and I’m proud of what I’ve done here so far, from election coverage, to city council stories, to meeting business owners, to learning about a project that feeds hundreds of people each week. Frankly, I’m just getting started.

On Thursday, we’re going to be one of more than 1,300 local newsrooms participating in Local News Day. Local newsrooms like The Osprey, the Interurban Canopy and My Edmonds News work very hard to keep our communities informed. We’re here because we believe that people need to know what’s going on in their neighborhood. And, personally, I just love the work.

If you want to celebrate Local News Day with The Osprey, we’ll be at Drumlin in Ridgecrest from about 9:30 a.m to noon on Thursday, April 9. Come down, grab a coffee and a snack, and let’s talk about what you care about. We can share story ideas, complain about the Mariners’ hitting and get hopeful about the Sonics coming back. We can chat about schools, about businesses, about politics, about whatever. (And if you’re interested in learning how to support our work financially, we can talk about that too — we’re working on it!) I’m happy to chat about any and all of it. This is our town, our community, and every time we learn something new about ourselves, we get just a bit better.

Thanks for reading.

Last week, the Shoreline City Council voted 6-1 to allow speed camera installation in school zones, starting with Meridian Park Elementary School. The vote was a win for an overwhelming amount of families with kids in that neighborhood, but others were worried about privacy and about speed camera fines harming low-income folks. The first cameras are expected to start running in January 2027, and it’s so far unclear if they’ll be installed anywhere else. (We also got into the background of the speed cameras here, shortly before the meeting! Check that out here.)

Check it out here: Shoreline City Council approves speed cameras, sets multi-tier penalties

For months, the local duo of Norene Roberts and Lauren Peterson have been dropping bits of knowledge about their forthcoming business, Richmond Beach Foods. They’re taking over the building once occupied by the Little Store at Richmond Beach, planning to introduce a grocery store like the one they went to as kids growing up in RB: a place for the community to meet and mingle, for folks to grab a quick bite and for kids to grab a candy or soda on their way to or from school.

Read more here: 'Little Store' no more: Lifelong best friends to revive Richmond Beach Foods

The Shoreline City Council discussed two potential ordinances at its April 6 meeting. One would update the city’s stormwater code to align with (some) requests from a neighboring water district, while the other would codify a ban on civil immigration enforcement on city property.

The council didn’t take action on either ordinance. Both ordinances are expected to come back on April 27.

Read more: Shoreline, neighboring water district at odds over water source protections

Thanks for reading The Osprey’s Weekly Update. Please feel welcome to reach out to me at [email protected], or on Signal (@ospreynews.13) with any questions, events, story ideas or news tips. Nothing is too small.

Take care,
David