For the puzzle, I used a combination of historical things and current things, such as the boundaries of our neighborhood association, the person after whom our park was named, etc. Though most of it was specific about our own neighborhood, I also included some general things about our area such as the original spelling of our county's name which was the result of a clerical error which was later corrected. There is an area to our west that was known decades ago for the country from which many of the farm families had come before it was later renamed to Fruit Valley (I preferred the historical name, everyone has a fruit valley, glendale, etc.). If you have a local museum, it should be a good source of information for your own neighborhood. An even better, and perhaps more accessible source, are long-time residents.
For one newsletter, I included a list of birds seen in our own back yards, and some people actually did contribute to it. We always received good feedback on things like that and the puzzles, but the meetings were not well enough attended to be truly representative of the entire neighborhood. Our last several Boards have done all that could be thought of to have a wider variety of residents represented. We have about 50 percent homeowners, perhaps 30 percent renters, and 20 percent duplex/apartment dwellers, and it seems only homeowners attend. That is sad because renters' needs can sometimes be quite different than those of homeowners. It seems likely the renters would have more concerns about such things as parking and play areas for children. There are enough child-at-home families represented that the play areas are discussed, etc., but input from all would be much better.
If you have a large number of gardeners, either vegetable or just "pretty," you might make one that leans that way, especially since it's spring in the northern hemisphere. I'll bet our gardeners here could come up with some great gardening crossword puzzles! Some could even be specific to edibles or fruit or ornamental. :-)
Glenna