In December of 2006 a major storm hit the Seattle area. Power was out for days, thousands of homes were damaged, and a resident of our neighborhood drowned in her basement during a flash flood. And throughout the ordeal there was a shocking lack of information. When would power be restored? Which roads were blocked due to fallen trees? There was no local, authoritative source where people could go to get neighborhood-level information.

That led to an idea. What if there was a service that would let anyone launch a neighborhood news website, where other members could join and help report the news that was happening on their street. They would be grass-roots hyperlocal news communities, providing a new layer of news...