EDITORIAL: Should City of Pickering have a community newspaper?

We want to hear from you…

Consider:

• Is there a communication problem with the City of Pickering?
• Are people justified saying City information is difficult to find?
• Is there a better way to get information to residents besides the  City website ?

Have you found getting information regarding the City of Pickering difficult to find? Do you feel the City needs to find a better way to get information about the City to its residents?

These may be troubling questions for City residents who want information about their city.

This is not an endeavour to criticize or berate the City of Pickering. Rather it is an endeavour to see if there is a way to improve how the residents of Pickering get information about their city. 

1. The City of Pickering website
   The City’s website is a confusing, disarray of information. Streamlined and improved recently, residents still find it difficult to find information.
   
   The City declares that information can easily be found on its website at www.pickering.ca  but many Pickering residents do not use computers or readily access the Internet. So digital availability is of questionable value.

2. A City-published newspaper?
   The idea of a city-published newspaper delivered to all private homes in the City is not an outlandish idea but it has been rebuffed for various reasons: costs, the appearance of being City-focused propaganda, inconvenience, lack of experienced personnel. Do these rebuffs have validity or are they just roadblocking obstacles to getting a viable idea off the ground?

3. A practical source of information about the City
   There are many reasons for having such a newspaper: acceptable cost, viable municipal expense, practical communication but if no effort is made, then the whole idea dies at birth.

4. The ball may be in the City’s court
   Could the City establish a committee to study the merits of the idea, its practicality and how it could be launched? However, it is very important that members of such a committee not be naysayers, quick to jump on “why it can’t be done, why there is a problem, why it is impossible.” They need to be people who are constructively optimistic, who are ready to say, “Yes, let’s see how we can do it.” The City could publish a convenient weekly hard copy newspaper that brings City information to every resident. What a novel idea!

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So what’s the purpose of this message? 

To gauge the City residents’ interest in the idea of a City-published newspaper.

Other communities have newsletters, magazines, and municipal publications to inform their residents. Pickering has a website. Other municipalities have publications residents receive to read information about their community. Pickering has a website.

This is not denigration of what the City is doing currently but given the growing gerontological makeup of the City’s demographic where many residents do not get their information from computers/the Internet. More and more of us are getting old but we’re still actively interested in our City.  We want a better way to get information, news and communication from the City to its residents.

A newspaper, not a newsletter, not single-page hard copies in our libraries, not wall-tacked promos, but a real City-published NEWSPAPER. Is this an idea whose time has come? 

What do you think?

Show your interest and send your opinions with an email to Richard at zippyonego@gmail.com or phone him at 905 509 8666

Thank you. I welcome your feedback regarding this endeavour and if you send me your email address. I will update you periodically as this whole endeavour develops.