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MyStClair.com
Lands In Middle
of
St Clair Streetcar Debate
Community-based
website provides information from all perspectives on important
issue.
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Toronto:
This week the City of Toronto and the TTC began the first round
of public
consultations regarding plans for the St Clair West streetcar
line, which includes a controversial plan for a dedicated right-of-way.
MyStClair.com,
a local community-based website, has positioned itself in the
centre of the debate by serving as a source of information for
all interested parties.
“We
realized some time back that the proposed changes to the streetcar
line would be of interest to virtually everyone with an interest
in this community’, states Tony Bolla, the principal behind
the website. “We wanted to make sure people would have the
facts so they could come to their own conclusions about this important
issue – and have a venue to express their thoughts and concerns.”
The
website, which was started in a very quiet way just about one
year ago, has slowly been building its presence in the area. Beginning
with just a few pages of text encouraging people to get involved,
it has now grown to be a fairly extensive site with a lot of information
on a variety of subjects – with more planned.
“There
seemed to be a need for this type of thing”, continues Bolla,
“so we looked at starting something in a very simple way.
The reaction was so positive that we were encouraged to continue
on. When Disero announced in January that a streetcar right-of-way
was being planned, similar to the one on Spadina, we realized
we needed to continue on.”
The
site does in fact contain a wealth of information on the
streetcar issue, including summaries
of the events leading to these first public meetings.
There are also notes placed throughout the content stressing the
sites impartiality. “We see ourselves in the middle of the
debate, but not on any side".
In
addition to the streetcar issue, there are other issue-oriented
sections, as well as items of general interest. One of the more
popular features is ‘The Couch Potato Chronicles’
a regular column
about entertainment, written by Jim Murray. In addition, there
is an email bulletin
that is broadcast whenever the needs arises, such as announcing
public meetings or other local events.
While
the audience for the site is still growing, the numbers don’t
tell the whole story. Realizing that attracting visitors and subscribers
over such a large and diverse area would not be easy – an
area the site refers to as the Ridge, which stretches from Bayview
Avenue to Scarlett Road - it was decided to focus on the important
centres in the community, business and resident associations,
churches and schools, politicians. It has done a very good job
of getting to be known in these circles.
“We’re
new and we’re learning as we go”, sums up Bolla, “but
it feels like we are on the right track.”
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