By Roman Soto
Paragraph 1 Lede / Scene Setter
Open inside the forum rather than immediately dumping background information.
- Describe where the forum took place, who attended, and the atmosphere.
- Start with a strong quote, question, disagreement, or moment from the discussion.
- Establish that the forum focused on San José Measure A and its impact on the city.
Possible structure:
city representatives and community members gathered at [insert the location] on [the date] to discuss San José Measure A, a measure increasing the city’s hotel tax and directing additional revenue into its General Fund.
Paragraph 2 Explain Measure A / Nut Graf
Give readers the background they need.
- Measure A raised San José’s total transient occupancy, or hotel, tax from 10% to 12%.
- Specifically, the General Fund portion increased from 4% to 6%.
- The city estimates the increase will generate about $10 million annually.
- Revenue is set to support city services like police, fire response, parks, cleanup and addressing homeless encampments.
- Explain why this connects to the forum.
Transition:
Those potential uses of the money became one of the central topics discussed during the forum.
Paragraph 3 Main Argument / Supportive Perspective
Focus on the strongest argument made in favor of the measure or its implementation.
- Introduce a speaker: [NAME, TITLE/CONNECTION]
- Quote them directly.
- Explain their reasoning.
- Potential argument: visitors use city infrastructure and services, so hotel guests should contribute more toward maintaining them.
- Mention specific services speakers believed needed additional funding.
Quote placeholder:
“[BEST QUOTE FROM SUPPORTER],” [LAST NAME] said.
Then explain what that quote means rather than immediately moving to another quote.
Paragraph 4 Concern / Opposing or Questioning Perspective
Show another perspective from the forum.
- Use a resident, student, business owner, hotel representative or other attendee if available.
- Possible concerns:
- whether increasing hotel costs could hurt tourism;
- whether the city will spend the additional money effectively;
- whether the General Fund gives officials too much flexibility;
- whether visitors should carry more of the city’s financial burden.
- Include a quote demonstrating the concern.
Quote placeholder:
However, [NAME] questioned whether [CONCERN].
“[QUOTE],” [LAST NAME] said.
This paragraph gives the article balance instead of making it sound like advocacy for Measure A.
Paragraph 5 Community Discussion / Most Interesting Forum Moment
Move beyond simple pro and con and report what actually happened.
- What questions did audience members ask?
- Did speakers disagree?
- Was there one issue that kept coming up?
- Did someone challenge a speaker?
- Was there a surprising response?
- What seemed to matter most to the audience?