Q&A With the Founder of West St. Paul Reader

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The West St. Paul Reader was founded by Kevin D. Hendricks in 2019 and has now been running strong for five years. Seeing as he can’t interview himself, we decided it was the perfect time to conduct an official sit-down with the founder. Amid our five-year anniversary member drive, we spoke about his experience running the site all these years.

Sitting Down With Founder & Editor Kevin D. Hendricks

We spoke with Hendricks about founding, publishing, and promoting the West St. Paul Reader, as well as his experience as a West St. Paul local. We also answered community questions.

Who are you outside of the Reader?

I’m a freelance writer and editor. West St. Paul Reader is actually a part-time gig (well, the pay is part-time, the hours are something else).

My family moved to West St. Paul in 2007. I’ve been married since 2000, and we have two kids and two dogs. 

I love biking and lately got into mountain biking. I also read a lot—I read 184 books last year. I’m a big nerd. I like nature—the North Shore and Colorado are favorites. I’m also on a slow mission to visit every state park in Minnesota (53/65). The new professional women’s hockey league has reinvigorated my love for hockey. Seeing PWHL Minnesota in the finals is giving me flashbacks to my youth and cheering for the Detroit Red Wings. 

Fun fact: I spent a summer in college as a yo-yoing street performer in Chicago.

Why should we trust you to report on events in West St. Paul?

I try to be fair and honest. I think people recognize that and respond to it. I started writing about West St. Paul on my personal blog—where I could be much more opinionated. But even then, it was always about laying out the facts. That’s what we try to do—stick to the facts and let people make up their own minds.

What sets you apart from other journalists?

I have no formal background in journalism. Seriously, I took a single journalism class in college. I wrote for the school paper once, and that was an opinion piece. I’ve learned by doing. 

But I do have a lot of experience in running publications and writing content that connects with people. I edited my youth group’s newsletter in high school and ran a website called Church Marketing Sucks for 15 years. I’m a writer at heart.

Another difference is West St. Paul Reader is not staffed or equipped as a 24/7 news desk. The hard news beats, like crime, are difficult to cover. This week is a good example—we could report on the pedestrian hit on Robert Street, but the Pioneer Press had the story about her death. We’re happy to point to the work of other journalists—we rely on each other and can make each other better.

What drove you to start the West St. Paul Reader?

Honestly, I didn’t want to at first. I started writing about the city on my personal blog and it grew from there. A colleague asked if I’d ever start a site about West St. Paul and I said no way. But a few months later the idea wouldn’t go away and I decided to give it a shot.

It all started from a passion to inform people. Nobody knows what’s going on at the neighborhood level. I remember trying to decide who to vote for in a City Council race. The candidates said nice things, but without any news coverage there was no way to verify their claims. Voting felt like flipping a coin, and that’s a sure path to voter apathy and disengagement.

What motivation fuels your continued coverage?

I still want to inform people. I see questions pop up continually on social media—often questions we’ve already answered. And it’s clear there’s a thirst for information.

Lately I see a lot of joy around town: the Moreland mural project, watching kids bike around the pond behind the library, teens showing up early to school to make cards—how do you not love that? That kind of energy is infectious and definitely motivates our work.

What do you find to be most valuable in the publication today?

Informing people about what’s happening. No matter how much the city communicates about a project, people still complain that they didn’t know about it.

We have an election coming up, and we’ll see how contested it is (that’s a creeping problem), but giving people facts about candidates is vital. We see a lot of extreme politicians get elected in local races because no one is paying attention or there’s no media coverage. As Council Member Julie Eastman recently said, if you don’t like who gets elected—at that point it’s too late.

What is the most memorable story (that you’ve covered or in general) from your time with the Reader?

It’s so hard to pick a favorite. The public art stories are amazing. The history pieces really tap into nostalgia. I love doing the photo stories—mostly because me and my iPhone take pretty so-so pictures, so the chance to hire a real photographer and get great photos is wonderful. Stories about people and good neighbors bring more of that joy I mentioned earlier.

What is your favorite fun fact about West St. Paul?

Also hard to choose one of those. The fact that Albert Park isn’t the smallest park? Or that we’re south of St. Paul, not west? Or the history of Forty Acres? Lots of quirky stories around this little city.

Question submitted via social media from Elizabeth Bisciglia: If you could get a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of anything in West St. Paul, what would it be?

So the water tower would be a good one, but I got that tour in 2019. It’d be fun to see inside some of the historic homes in town—the Wentworth House, Dixie Slope, and the Hurley House (rumor is that one has a shooting range in the basement). I’ve always wanted to see the book return sorting machine at the library (hopefully with the remodel we’ll get a glimpse into that process like other Dakota County libraries offer).

These stories happen thanks to the support of our members. Join now and help us celebrate five years of neighborhood news.