What are the essential elements of a forum serving a local community ?

[Niteblade]

I'm thinking about redesigning my personal forum :: right now, it's too focused on academia, and it seems that most people in academia do not use the internet except for research, email, and sending strange images to one another. 

In light of this, instead of my forum being focused on academia found in our local community, I would like to open it up for the community at large. With this in mind, I was wondering what are the most important elements (categories -- sub-categories) of forum discussion in a local community forum?

I was thinking of having my forum patterned after the "sections" found in the local newspaper(s) ... Arts & Entertainment, Politics, Religion, Education, Book Reviews, Classified etc.. however, I do not want the forum's content to be "news" driven -- instead, it should be community driven.

So, my next task is to look at my local community as if I were an outsider.. Perhaps discussion about local area businesses, services, goods, etc..

Are there any popular forums out there that people have which are based around local city discussion?