Last week, when I went out to Un-Dark the Park, a curious thing happened. Someone walked up and told me, “I love the blog. All the voices. And it’s ok when you write too,” (or something like that).

I went out to Gallery Eleven One for Third Thursdays and the same thing happened. In fact, over the last few weeks, I’ve heard from the County, parking commission, neighborhood leaders, a priest, non-profit leaders, teachers and more. I remain humbled by how Camden residents have embraced my new voice here, and been willing to share their words with me. I also think that now, as readership has grown, it might be a good idea to introduce myself and some of the ideas that contributed to my starting this blog:

The idea behind the blog is simple. I wanted to start a space to share ideas about cities, and specifically to try to understand Camden at what I often call a “micro-local” level.

The idea came when I moved here in July, about the same time I started working at Rutgers-Camden in the Department of Public Policy and Administration. While guest-blogging for Next City, I wrote a piece called Camden, A City for Others, and I was blown away by the response. Whether it be the historical roots of families in the suburbs, the current downtown renewal in Philly, or frustration with media portrayals of Camden, there seemed to be an appetite to talk Camden that wasn’t being filled by traditional media.

It didn’t take me long on the job to realize that students were doing wonderful work related to Camden while at Rutgers. It seemed a shame that so much interesting research was disappearing, so I decided that The Local Knowledge Blog needed to have student voices.

And, of course, what would a Local Knowledge Blog be without community voices? Over and over, while working in New Orleans, community members shared with me the history and struggles of neighborhoods. I wanted this space to be a tribute to the fortitude of your everyday neighborhood activist. There’s an urban world full of potholes and street lights, history and liquor licenses, and I came away from New Orleans believing that to understand cities I had to understand them at this granular, block-by-block basis.

With all that in mind, I want to remind everybody of a few things. First, I am honored you choose to read (and occasionally contribute) here. To the extent I can keep up, I try to add to posts when you email me, the comment section is always open, and I try to bump up informative comments into the main post. I encourage guest posts, and will often write about an event if you share it with me.

Sometimes I can even attend these events. But, as this space becomes more widely read and more folks contact me, I’m also becoming aware of my own limitations. Please be patient. A lot of you have reached out and asked to sit down with me. I’m honored and humbled. I’m also way behind on getting back to you. Please accept my apologies.

With all of that in mind, I’m excited to continue on this journey. I consider this blog a tribute to those trying to get fire hydrants painted, parks lit, and potholes filled. That so many of you have chosen to read is truly remarkable, and for that I thank you.