Aimee Custis and Jonathan Neeley type during our Muriel Bowser live chat. Photo by the author.

This past year, we hosted live chats with DC’s leading mayoral candidates. A lot of you said you found them useful. Next year we’d like to do even more live chats, but we need your help.

You got to ask questions, questions that no one else was asking, which we posed to Muriel Bowser and David Catania. Many of you said you found out information that helped you decide who to vote for, information you didn’t hear elsewhere.

But to do more chats like that, we need your support.

The software we use for the chats costs money, and so does staff time to actually organize and run them. While there is not a mayoral election next year, there are two special elections in DC and two seats up in Arlington, to start with. Plus, we can talk with elected officials on the future of our area or with area planners on exciting new projects.

If we get enough support from you we, we’d also like to start a series of live-streamed video events with fascinating speakers from around the country to give you insight into the trends in building better cities. Want to hear Harriet Tregoning’s thoughts on DC’s future? Have a burning question for a Montgomery County councilmember? Imagine getting real answers from a different guest every single month. Who would you like to hear from? Tell us in the comments!

These types of events can get you direct answers from people in the know on what is and what should be going on in your community. Access and answers you don’t find anywhere else.

If you think this would be valuable, please sign up for a monthly, yearly, or one-time gift. We can’t run this site without your support!

Steven Yates grew up in Indiana before moving to DC in 2002 to attend college at American University.  He currently lives in Southwest DC.