Focus: “Daily news for Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood”; information categories include Events, Restaurants, Forum, Classified, Coupons, Video, Wire

Started: May 2007

Staff: Kate and Corey Bergman, founders of comunity news network Next Door Media

Funding: advertising; part of Next Door Media community news and advertising network. Next Door Media network of neighborhood sites include MyBallard.com, Phinneywood.com, QueenAnneView.com, MagnoliaVoice.com, and FremontUniverse.com.  The group partners with the Seattle Times in a content-sharing deal

Site: myballard.com

From About:

We’re Kate and Cory Bergman… a Scandinavian couple who started MyBallard.com in December of 2007. We both have long resumes in journalism — Kate works at KING 5 News and Cory at msnbc.com — and we noticed Ballard lacked a daily news source and community forum. My Ballard soon became the neighborhood’s most popular news site, even winning a community service award from the Ballard District Council.As My Ballard grew, we started a company called Next Door Media and expanded to nearby neighborhoods: PhinneyWood.com for Phinney Ridge and Greenwood, MagnoliaVoice.com in Magnolia, FremontUniverse.com in Fremont and QueenAnneView.com in Queen Anne. All of our blogs are written by folks who live in the neighborhood.

The biggest surprise has been the enormous role that all of our readers play in helping us cover the neighborhood. Unlike traditional news sites, My Ballard is powered by the community, not us. So if you see something interesting in the neighborhood, please let us know. New store? Road construction? Land use issue? Accident? Lost pet? Drop us a tip at tips@myballard.com.

Sample posts: “Lane closures on Ballard and Fremont bridges”; “Demolition crews to level Sunset Bowl tomorrow”; “Kids bounce to exhaustion at Loyal Heights CC”; “Radio Shack robbed at gunpoint”; “Borrowing changes ahead at library

Focus: “A news blog for Seattle’s Queen Anne neighborhood”; information categories include Events, Restaurants, Forum, Coupons

Started: September 2008

Staff: 1 editor, Thea Chard, a former journalist

Funding: advertising; part of Next Door Media community news and advertising network. Next Door Media network of neighborhood sites include MyBallard.com, Phinneywood.com, QueenAnneView.com, MagnoliaVoice.com, and FremontUniverse.com. Also see MyGreenLake.com independent news site covering a Seattle neighborhood, but no affiliated with Next Door Media. The group partners in a content-sharing deal with the Seattle Times

From About:

Queen Anne View is a community site dedicated to news and events in the neighborhood. Edited by Thea Chard, a journalist who lives right here in the neighborhood, Queen Anne View is dedicated to covering community stories and promoting neighborhood events often ignored by the struggling mainstream press.

…QueenAnneView.com is part of Next Door Media, an innovative publishing company in North Seattle dedicated to finding a new sustainable, community-powered model of local journalism in the neighborhoods where we live.

Sample stories: “Cat adopt-a-thon at All Best Pet Care today”; “20+ McClure students suspended for cyberbullying” story from KING 5 television station; “Community police academy looking for applicants”; “Queen Anne family in Tanzania share stories of multi-culturalism, holidays in the sun & life abroad”; “Kinnear Park project planning meeting tonight”

Focus: “A news blog for Phinney Ridge and Greenwood neighbhorhoods”; “Whatever you call it, we cover it”; news categories include Events, Food & Drink, Forum

Started: July 2008

Staff: 2 — husband and wife team Dale Steinke, who also works at Seattle’s KING 5 TV station as a web producer, and Doree Armstrong, a freelance writer.

Funding: advertising; part of Next Door Media community news and advertising network. Next Door Media network of neighborhood sites include MyBallard.com, Phinneywood.com, QueenAnneView.com, MagnoliaVoice.com, and FremontUniverse.com. Also see MyGreenLake.com independent news site covering a Seattle neighborhood, but no affiliated with Next Door Media

Site: phinneywood.com

From About:

While most Seattle neighborhoods cling tightly to their own identities, North Seattle’s Greenwood and Phinney Ridge neighborhoods also celebrate what brings them together.

…Both neighborhoods are experiencing growing pains, from new condominium complexes to long-time stores moving or going out of business due to rising rents. And that means residents are becoming more involved in their communities, wanting to have a say in what this new urban village will look like.

That’s the idea behind PhinneyWood.com. It’s a daily news blog that’s designed to be a community resource — a place where you can learn about the changes in your neighborhood and discuss the issues that are important in Phinney and Greenwood.

Sample stories: “Reduced bus service on MLK day”; “Couth Buzzard Espresso Buono welcomes crowds at grand opening”; “Police searching for armed robbery suspect at 85th Street”; “Is this your bike?” a call for claiming an abandoned bicycle in the neighborhood; “Phinney, Greenwood businesses win Home Street Banker ‘Good Neighbor’ awards