“Investors Flock to Little Free Libraries.” “FBI Accuses Takoma Park Parents of Summer Camp Bribery Scheme.” “Exclusive: Documents Reveal Secret Plan to Impose 19th Century on Takoma Park.”

Those are a sampling of headlines from The Takoma Torch,  a satirical news website that pokes fun at Takoma Park’s hippie tendencies and culture of liberal activism.

Takoma Park resident Eric Saul launched the site in February after attending one of the city’s famously contentious City Council meetings. People were hotly debating the fate of a downtown parking lot, which Saul found deeply amusing.

“We take ourselves a little too seriously sometimes,” he said.

He turned the debate into a satirical story in which tech billionaire Jeff Bezos announced that the parking lot would become Amazon’s HQ2.  It would become the fledgling site’s first article.

Another article suggests new categories for the city’s annual Azalea Awards (yes, that’s their real name).  There’s the “Bethesdaficationista: someone who makes too much profit, and therefore, has no soul,” and the “Keyboard Warrior: someone who dominates their local listserv.” Other stories poke fun at residents’ cult-like commitment to their annual Fourth of July parade and the high taxes they pay to fund progressive initiatives.

“I hope people understand that it comes from a place of affection and not, you know, ridicule,” Saul said. He also added that he’s been reading a lot more listservs since he launched the site in February.

(Takoma Park solidified its reputation as “the Berkeley of the East” in the 1960s when its firebrand mayor fought a play to build a freeway that would have displaced hundreds of Takoma families. However, its crunchy roots stretch as far back as the turn of the 20th century — history nerds can learn more about that here).

Saul doesn’t fancy himself a “real” writer: He’s a self-employed architect who once harbored dreams of a career in standup comedy. He writes and manages the Torch with his friends and fellow Takoma Park residents Alan Zibel and Mike Hoverter. His wife, Diana Simpson, is the unofficial editor-in-chief.

They currently operate without a budget (though if someone wants to pay him lots of money to advertise on the site, Saul says he won’t turn them away). The three writers have also thought about expanding further into Montgomery County or D.C., but they have no concrete plans just yet.

For now, the goal is to increase the site’s social media following. The Takoma Torch currently has about 270 Facebook followers and 130 Twitter followers.

Saul also hopes the site catches the eye of people outside the Washington region.

“Even though we’re a small, little city in Maryland,” he said, “I think every community has quirkiness like this.”

This story originally appeared at WAMU.