Editorial Independence Statement

Funding

Before They Build is supported by reader contributions (Friends of the Record), by paid editions and bundles at the Shop, and by mission grants that do not constrain editorial direction. It carries no advertising and sells no reader data. There is, by design, no reader data to sell.

Editorial independence

No funder, sponsor, or reader has editorial input into what we publish or how we publish it. Editorial decisions belong to the Editorial Team, which operates under the standards published at Editorial Principles and the bylaws in docs/v1-editorial-standards.md.

Sponsorship

We do not accept sponsored content. We do not accept paid placement of any kind. If a page appears on Before They Build, no one paid for it to be there.

Political neutrality

Better decisions, not automatic opposition. We do not take positions on individual developments, individual candidates, or partisan questions. We publish the reference material that lets a prepared neighbor form their own position and defend it.

Conflicts of interest

Any editor with a professional, financial, or family relationship to a developer, agency, or applicant named in a Field Report recuses from that report. Recusals are recorded internally and disclosed on the report’s colophon when material.

Review process

Every publication is reviewed for accuracy, reading level, citation integrity, and print fidelity before it ships. Reviews are logged on the Trust Ledger. Corrections are logged on the Corrections page, dated, and preserved.

What we will refuse

• Money from any party with a pending matter before a local hearing body.
• Content commissioned by a developer, agency, or candidate.
• Requests to remove correctly reported material.
• Any pressure to soften the neutrality clause on the responder directory.
• Ad networks, sponsored links, affiliate programs, and lead-generation deals.