https://ashlandfreepress.com/2026-08-20 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat2026-08-20 https://ashlandfreepress.com/the-sunday-edition2026-08-19 https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion2026-08-18 https://ashlandfreepress.com/about https://ashlandfreepress.com/contact https://ashlandfreepress.com/privacy https://ashlandfreepress.com/submit https://ashlandfreepress.com/terms https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-20-full-tilt-boogie2026-08-20https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/full-tilt-boogie.jpgCollage on aged paper: a council chamber seen from the gallery, a clock past the hour, sixteen torn amendment pages pinned in a grid, a quarter-shaded circle, a woman at a mimeograph, and an empty office chair clipped to the corner. https://ashlandfreepress.com/the-sunday-edition/2026-08-19-the-trouble-with-being-right2026-08-19https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-trouble-with-being-right.jpgCollage on aged paper: torn copies of the same scribbled diagram-covered page arranged in a circle of crayon arrows around a crumpled original, above a council dais with a wooden gavel. https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-08-18-five-dollars-and-fifteen-cents2026-08-18https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/five-dollars-and-fifteen-cents.jpgCollage: a utility bill with a Lithia Park photo pinned to a $5.15 line item, torn 2025/2026 date stubs, and a thread running down to an empty council dais over blank ledger paper. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-18-the-vibe-theory-of-law-enforcement2026-08-18https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-vibe-theory-of-law-enforcement.jpgCollage: a falling crime-rate line crossing torn graph paper into a photo of two police SUVs, with a gavel, a blank three-column form, and an empty council dais below. https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-08-14-pickleball-wars2026-08-14https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/pickleball-wars.jpgCollage: the Hunter Park tennis courts wrapped in a black mourning ribbon, a tennis racket and pickleball paddle tied handle to handle, and an empty dashed outline where a court should be. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-14-sixty-units-an-acre2026-08-14 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-13-with-all-due-respect2026-08-13https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/with-all-due-respect.jpgCollage: a paper seesaw balanced on a coin, a tree cut out of the light half sinking a bank building printed on the dark half, above an empty council dais. https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-08-11-where-are-the-commas2026-08-11https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/where-are-the-commas.jpgCollage on aged paper: a towering stack of newsprint studies on a scrap of downtown Ashland, a piano-keyboard ribbon spilling out of the pile, and three lead-type commas set aside on the floor. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-06-jazz-hands-for-democracy2026-08-06https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/jazz-hands-for-democracy-2.jpgCollage on aged paper: a torn strip through a folded topographic map of Ashland reveals a photograph of the Lithia Park creek path and footbridge, a mile of it pinned off with two map pins, a brass drafting compass resting below. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-05-terrible-resolve2026-08-05https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/terrible-resolve.jpgCollage: a one-minute timer disc bolted over a public-comment microphone in front of a building with one window sealed in plastic, a row of torn paper tally slips feeding into the timer. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-08-04-funny-money2026-08-04https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/funny-money.jpgCollage: play-money bills spilling from marked file folders across an assessor's parcel map, tied with a thread to an empty council dais. https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-08-04-the-reason-keeps-changing2026-08-04https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-reason-keeps-changing.jpgCollage: photos of City Hall and the Ashland Community Center under a shifting stack of taped tracing-paper rooflines, each sketch a different shape, one bar blacked out. https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-08-01-a-patterned-mess2026-08-01https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/a-patterned-mess.jpgCollage on aged paper: three torn snapshots of City Hall, the Ashland Community Center, and the covered ice rink, each redacted by a black stair-step pattern, with a matching inked stamp in the corner. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-07-22-eight-signatures-to-spare2026-07-22https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/eight-signatures-to-spare.jpgCollage: a recall petition sheet with a strip of inked fingerprints, eight circled, above an empty council dais. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-07-21-head-nods2026-07-21https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/head-nods.jpgCollage: an old press machine stamping six identical nodding-head silhouettes onto papers strung over a row of empty council chairs, above a night photo of the fenced public works yard. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-07-17-the-evacuation-piece2026-07-17 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-07-13-nine-hundred-eighty-one-answers2026-07-13 https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-07-10-ninety-eight-words2026-07-10https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/ninety-eight-words.jpgCollage: a speaker's silhouette cut out and missing from the public-comment podium under an EXIT sign, between the Parks Commission and City Council daises. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-07-09-who-can-resist-a-carousel2026-07-09https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/who-can-resist-a-carousel.jpgCollage: a carousel horse and a dollar-marked envelope balanced on a plank seesaw against a torn rendering of the proposed pavilion. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-17-the-serfs-address-the-castle2026-06-17https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-serfs-address-the-castle.jpgCollage: City Hall on a hill of zoning maps, receipt ribbons running downhill to the Wingspread Mobile Home Park sign, with three stitched shields labeled R-1, R-2, and R-3. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-16-a-fine-year-for-sarcasm2026-06-16https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/a-fine-year-for-sarcasm.jpgCollage: a thick stack of blank gold-sealed award certificates over a falling line chart, with the emergency room entrance and an empty council dais below. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-15-the-committee-has-seen-it2026-06-15 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-12-eight-dollars-and-fifty-cents-a-month2026-06-12 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-11-the-environment-gets-a-vote2026-06-11https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-environment-gets-a-vote.jpgCollage: a strip of five filled ballot dots and a gavel over the Japanese garden, a row of stamped pines whose roots run beneath the whole scene, one blank square cut out of the middle. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-04-the-sunset-has-three-fathers2026-06-04https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-sunset-has-three-fathers.jpgCollage: three inked stamps each claiming a sunset clause over a torn ordinance page, an empty council dais below. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-03-drought-in-the-rain2026-06-03https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/drought-in-the-rain.jpgCollage: inked rain falling on a taped-up proclamation whose seal is dripping, above a snowless Mt. Ashland ski slope. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-06-02-two-hundred-forty-one-years2026-06-02https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/two-hundred-forty-one-years.jpgCollage: a long paper tape of tally marks unspooling across archive photos of Ashland, counting a combined two hundred forty-one years. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-29-the-optics-are-not-great2026-05-29 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-20-threading-the-needle2026-05-20https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/threading-the-needle.jpgCollage: a sewing needle threaded through a torn strip of council dais and hospital photos, with 4–3 vote ribbons and fuel receipts trailing off the thread. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-19-meeting-number-zero2026-05-19https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/meeting-number-zero.jpgCollage: a blank meeting form stamped 0, a torn hole revealing the night shelter with police SUVs and tents, a strip of tape reading 15:54, and a checklist looping back on itself. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-18-with-regret-i-make-the-motion2026-05-18 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-15-a-use-that-does-not-exist2026-05-15 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-14-two-buckets-of-gravel2026-05-14https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/two-buckets-of-gravel.jpgCollage: torn photos of Ashland Creek and the Lithia Park duck pond with a hard-hatted engineer whose eyes are covered by a black redaction bar, holding rolled plans, two buckets at the water line. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-07-rough-draft2026-05-07https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/rough-draft.jpgCollage: an accessibility-ramp blueprint marked 1:12 over the Japanese garden, a wheelchair cutout, a microphone, a 24 HRS stamp, and a torn calendar page. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-06-already-spent-the-money2026-05-06https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/already-spent-the-money.jpgCollage: a loan agreement stamped PAID and $7.6M, a photo strip of the railroad crossing, five YES dots and one NO, one-minute comment tickets under a timer, and a crossed-out truck. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-05-not-the-droid2026-05-05https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/not-the-droid.jpgCollage: a cutaway of City Hall with a window air conditioner and an air purifier wedged in, tangled wiring behind the facade, a roof-warranty receipt tucked into a purse, and a box of $20 million plans. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-05-01-i-cant-move-my-house2026-05-01 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-22-smells-like-strawberries2026-04-22https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/smells-like-strawberries.jpgCollage: a NOTICE taped over a mail slot with an envelope sticking out, fresh strawberries beside a corroded sewer pipe section. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-21-two-percent-of-normal2026-04-21https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/two-percent-of-normal.jpgCollage: a rain gauge nearly empty at two percent, over a torn creek bed photo and a proclamation with a shrunken seal. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-17-rebuilding-the-plane-while-its-flying2026-04-17 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-14-thirty-eight-minutes2026-04-14https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/thirty-eight-minutes.jpgCollage: a kitchen timer stopped at 38 in front of an empty dais, a fingerprint, a torn police SUV photo, and a baking tray of dark liquid flooding a night photo of the fenced public works yard, five empty checkboxes clipped above. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-13-the-void2026-04-13 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-09-just-a-lull2026-04-09https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/just-a-lull.jpgCollage: a handshake between the tennis courts and a dark pickleball court, a peeled-back sheet of punched holes lifting off the council dais, a dollar-marked envelope and a map on the dais, loose tokens scattered below. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-08-the-tree-bought-us-ten-minutes2026-04-08https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-tree-bought-us-ten-minutes.jpgCollage: a bare tree rooted through a council dais, its roots chained toward a gavel, beside a 10-minute timer dial and a torn thumbs-down. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-07-the-missing-slide2026-04-07https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-missing-slide.jpgCollage: a filmstrip with one frame cut out, hung over the watershed map, the empty frame's outline traced in pencil. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-04-02-fit-beautiful-people2026-04-02https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/fit-beautiful-people.jpgCollage: the tennis courts photo flanked by taped court diagrams, a tennis racket and a pickleball paddle, ringed by nineteen numbered speaker tokens inside a dashed FIRE LIMIT boundary, five more framed on the side. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-28-give-it-back2026-03-28https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/give-it-back.jpgCollage: a library card for the Ashland Community Center with a RETURN slot, '7 yrs' penciled in the margin, a torn City Hall card behind it, and a vote row of five yes dots and one no. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-18-no-math-after-2pm2026-03-18https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/no-math-after-2pm.jpgCollage: a wall clock stopped at two, a torn worksheet of crossed-out arithmetic, and a council dais fading into blank paper. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-17-answered-by-a-time-check2026-03-17https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/answered-by-a-time-check.jpgCollage: a punch clock in front of an empty council dais, between a flat population chart and a climbing staffing chart, with a blank sewer rate bill, an apple and an orange, and the typed question 'What's driving the rate increases — population or staffing?' https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-16-eighty-eight-percent2026-03-16 https://ashlandfreepress.com/opinion/2026-03-14-a-winter-without-ice2026-03-14https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/a-winter-without-ice.jpgCollage: month cards from June to Thanksgiving strung on fraying twine, an Engineer of Record card with a blank signature line, the covered ice rink, and a chiller unit tagged $248K with a Rotary Club of Ashland donation note. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-13-the-mill-pond-standard2026-03-13 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-12-one-hundred-eighty-days2026-03-12https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/one-hundred-eighty-days.jpgCollage: a gauge needle past a tag stamped 180 EXPIRED, balanced over photos of the covered ice rink and a pavilion sketch with a blank dollar figure. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-04-the-tree-that-broke-the-city-attorney2026-03-04https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-tree-that-broke-the-city-attorney.jpgCollage: a stubborn tree standing through a torn stack of legal memos, a snapped pencil and a gavel at its roots. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-03-03-the-mayor-walks-with-rebar2026-03-03https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/the-mayor-walks-with-rebar.jpgCollage: a herd of cut-out deer photographed from behind, walking away from an empty council dais, one length of rebar propped against a chair. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-27-only-the-applicant-can-appeal2026-02-27 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-16-a-wall-the-coach-built2026-02-16 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-13-whatever-we-want-it-to-mean2026-02-13 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-12-toughest-job-in-the-city2026-02-12https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/toughest-job-in-the-city.jpgCollage: a small director's chair strung by pulleys between the Ashland Creek trail map, the council dais, a crate of City Manager monthly reports, a utility assistance application, and the city charter's parks article. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-05-they-know2026-02-05https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/they-know.jpgCollage: two nearly identical photos of the Butler-Perozzi fountain stapled side by side — statue present in one, gone in the other — above a carved stone fragment. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-04-like-underwear2026-02-04https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/like-underwear.jpgCollage: six shirt collars pinned to a clothesline above the Elizabethan theatre, a rising ticket-sales chart, a gooseneck microphone, and the emergency room tucked into an unsealed envelope, one collar safety-pinned aside. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-02-03-caved-to-political-pressure2026-02-03https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/caved-to-political-pressure.jpgCollage: a book press squeezing a stack of committee appointment forms, a card stamped NOT QUALIFIED sticking out the side. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-30-wood-is-superior-to-metal2026-01-30 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-21-a-rumor-of-trains2026-01-21https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/a-rumor-of-trains.jpgCollage: the Asante emergency entrance, railroad tracks fading into blank paper, and a taped-down form with a blacked-out box under a stair-step stamp. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-15-commas-and-decimal-points2026-01-15https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/commas-and-decimal-points.jpgCollage: letterpress digits reading 00,00 around a brass comma, hole-punched photos of City Hall and the valley, a punched strip below, and a torn corner of the City Hall facade revealing tangled wiring. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-15-it-works-it-leaks-we-fix-it2026-01-15https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/it-works-it-leaks-we-fix-it.jpgCollage on aged paper: a corroded irrigation pipe patched with hose clamps, tape, and rags leaks at every joint over the Oak Knoll golf course, above a hand-drawn chart arrow rising 28%, driving-range nets, and a heat pump beside a sinkhole. https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-14-one-tree-counted-twice2026-01-14 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-09-a-box-on-my-desk2026-01-09 https://ashlandfreepress.com/civic-beat/2026-01-08-paddling-as-hard-as-we-can2026-01-08https://ashlandfreepress.com/img/posts/paddling-as-hard-as-we-can.jpgCollage: a paper boat folded from a Parks & Recreation meeting agenda, oars shipped, drifting inside the covered rink on a ring of City of Ashland parks-use permits, a CLOSED THIS SEASON card at the bow and a Japanese-garden photo cornered by rulers.