[davidw]

No, it is not.

The small town paper where I live sends someone to sit through city council meetings, which at times decide important things, but often debate relatively unimportant things in lengthly, excruciating detail. Like that time I went to comment about a housing issue that was important to me and had to sit through a discussion of the city sign code.

In any event, even people who care about one thing or the other are not going to report on the important goings-on of your city council or planning commission. If they happen to, it probably won't be anything like an unbiased account.

[MilnerRoute]

The article makes the point with the story of a crucial school-funding referendum that failed. They spoke to people who believe that widespread rumors on Nextdoor caused the devastating swing in popular opinion.

So while local newspapers may still be reporting on schoolboard meetings, those articles aren't necessarily being read by voters. Instead, many voters are now drawing their information from Nextdoor.

So it's replacing local newspapers in that sense -- as the source of information.

Your comment speaks to the reasons why it shouldn't replace a local newspaper. But the greater worry is: maybe it still is, anyways.

[kevinpet]

Well, you're lucky. Where I am, the education report appears to just rephrase whatever they get from the teachers union.