chelseamass.net covers Chelsea, Massachusetts. One city, 02150, about two square miles across the Mystic River from Boston and among the most densely populated places in the state.
What we cover
City government first. Council meetings, the budget, zoning, the school committee, and the decisions that get made in rooms most residents never see. Chelsea runs on a council-manager charter, which means an appointed manager runs the government day to day and eleven elected councillors set the rules and adopt the budget. Those eleven people are worth knowing about, and most residents cannot name them.
Beyond City Hall we publish police and fire reports, obituaries, school news, local business, sports, and community notices. We also keep a history section, because Chelsea has more of it than a city this size usually does.
How we work
We report from primary sources wherever we can get them: meeting agendas and packets, public records, court filings, and the people directly involved. When we rely on reporting by another outlet, we say which outlet and link to it.
When we cannot confirm something, we say so in the article rather than filling the gap with a plausible guess. You will see lines in our stories stating plainly what we were unable to verify. That is deliberate. A confident sentence with nothing behind it is worse than an admitted hole.
We do not publish anonymous accusations, and we do not run a story about a named person without giving their side of it where we are able to.
Advertising
This site carries advertising. Advertisers have no say in what we cover or how we cover it, and no advertiser sees a story before it publishes. Where a piece involves a business that advertises with us, we will say so in the piece.
Corrections
We correct errors, and we would rather hear about one from you than leave it standing. See our editorial standards and corrections policy, or write to [email protected].
Get in touch
News tips, documents, corrections, and complaints all go to the same address: [email protected]. More on the contact page.