Every time I tell someone what I do for a living, I always get the same response.
"What an interesting job," they say.
That is usually followed by a question.
What exactly is it that you do?
It's a good question.
I'm not sure I have the answer, but I suggest you talk to some other people about what we do here every day here at the newspaper.
Out in Middletown, Edgmont and Thornbury, they have serious questions about the wisdom of putting new pipelines carrying butane, ethane and propane through densely populated areas, as well as alongside a local elementary school.
Of course, the folks at Sunoco Logistics have a different view of their Mariner East 2 plan, which they say could turn Marcus Hook into an industrial hub for the entire northeast and create thousands of jobs.
The folks at the chamber of commerce as well as labor unions love the idea; the residents in whose back yards and neighborhoods those pipelines will sit are not nearly as convinced.
In Springfield, they are getting ready to spend an immense amount of money to build a new high school. The low end of the estimates is $118 million. Not everyone thinks it's the right way to go. There has been a lot of debate about how the school district should proceed in terms of updating the high school. That is not going to go away anytime soon.
Out in Aston, for more than a year now there has been something of an uproar about a proposal by the Delaware County Intermediate Unit to expand their campus in the township. Residents were alarmed at the scope of the project, which would have doubled the number of students at the site from 400 to 800, and the idea of having the IU's school for alternative students located in their back yards.
Last night the IU went back before the township with a new plan, one that would drop the idea of relocating the alternative school, and one that floated the idea of a roundabout to east traffic concerns. The roundabout would cost about $1 million, and the IU would pick up the tab.
All of these stories have been very important to the people who live in these towns.
They are important to us as well.
A Sound Off caller this week took us to task for the amount of space we have devoted to the Mariner East 2 pipeline project.
In my print column I pronounced it the most important story in the county.
Yes, that includes that race you might have heard about featuring Donald and Hillary.
These are the stories that make this newspaper a critical part of life here in Delaware County.
They are the stories that are important to our readers, that make a difference in their everyday lives.
People also inevitably ask me about the newspaper industry and its future.
They want to know how long we'll be there on their doorstep every with a print edition.
They want to know if we'll be there every day to mark the important occasions in their lives, and yes, that includes the last mention of their time on this sweet earth, their obituary.
That is our mission. That is what we do.
The method of deliver certainly has changed, but the message has not.
We deliver stories that are essential to our readers every day.
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