A Bittersweet Farewell From The Back Fence

It is with profound sadness that I have to inform all of my subscribers that I will have to cease publication of THE BACK FENCE newsletter on April 25, 2013.  There may be one additional special edition devoted to Opening Day Celebrations.  

It also means I will have to curtail some of my commitments to events that I have volunteered to participate in recently.  However, long term, I will attempt to continue to be a strong advocate for sidewalks and bicycle connections from the future light rail stations to multi-family dwellings here in Lakewood, Colorado.

Unknown to most of you is the back story of my family's fragile economic state.  

Basically, we are two families living in a duplex with three family members living on fixed incomes; one member who has been working outside the two households has just now decided that he will leave our family group. 

The situation means that two seniors on a fixed income and one on Social Security Disability cannot support two households, raise an elementary school child and pay a looming balloon payment on our duel mortgages without changing our family's current path.

I will, despite being retired for six years, have to return to the workforce and seek part-time employment sometime in late summer to put the two houses on a steady and dependable course of stability.  The new path means that time must be made available for this effort by eliminating time set aside for THE BACK FENCE. 

Reality does not listen to prays, pleas of anguish or wishes. Publishing a weekly newsletter on the internet and sharing interesting items of transit, urban and sustainability issues -- despite how emotionally fulfilling it has been to myself and helpful to my readers and the long term benefit to my neighborhood -- will not remove the stark reality of a financial responsibility.  

I do not have the financial resources, networks, social skills nor technological expertise to "go commercial" as some people have suggested to make THE BACK FENCE a revenue stream. I am even amassed, at my age, (67) of what I have technologically been able to do, but even now, I'm hard pressed to keep up with constant changes.

From the responses from my readers, I am glad that most of you have found my newsletters a useful resource. I am sure that I helped, in some small way, to help increase ridership and secure the future success of the West Corridor light rail line and spark readers' interests enough to create livable communities in their own neighborhoods. 

I will miss doing what I have done for the past four & a half years; it's given me much joy to produce and publish. 

Thank you for your kind words and supportive comments during this time of publication. 

It is a bittersweet farewell.  

William Spriggs