Sunday, March 15, 2009

As I contemplate what to write for this first post, I am realizing that this is a difficult task. I am starting this blog, called Chronicling Elizabethtown, for a couple of reasons. First, this small community in south-central Pennsylvania lost its weekly newspaper, the Elizabetown Chronicle, a few weeks ago. So in an effort to fill the gap, I am going to present the news in this space from the perspective of a member of Borough Council.

Because of Elizabethtown's geographic location, midway between Lancaster and Harrisburg, the newspapers in those respective cities sometimes overlook our fine community. While reporters from the Lancaster Newspapers (publishers of the Intelligencer-Journal and the New Era) do a good job covering us, they are stretched thin and can't cover the nitty-gritty details of life here. And The Patriot-News in Harrisburg tends to overlook us at times because we are in Lancaster County and a bit beyond its coverage area (though I have been a long-time subscriber).

Last year, a project at Elizabethtown College called We-Town was intended have college students and eventually community members become citizen journalists and post news and events from town. However, it has not taken off as I thought it might.

So, here we are, a fabulous community with tons of potential without a newspaper of record, and me, an elected official and a former newspaper reporter (and, for the record, one-time editor of the Elizabethtown Chronicle) and now a public relations professional, wanting to get the news out about my community. I look forward to letting you know what's going on from this side as an elected official -- and the dialog that can take place online via a blog. Indeed, I think we can all be Chronicling Elizabethtown for a long time.

5 comments:

  1. Jeff:
    Some obvious subjects to generate an interest would be:
    1) A continuous update on the progress to connect West College Avenue to Bainbridge Street
    2) A continuous update on the Railroad Station Renovations, especially since the announcement of $8 Million in funding from the Economic Stimulus.
    3) Maybe out of your grasp of the facts, the potential for the Food Lion Shopping Center on Hershey Road, which involves the "By-pass of the downtown" via an extension of Buckingham Blvd.
    4) The progress of the School District in starting the "Bear Creek Intermediate School."
    Thanks for taking the initiative!
    Greg

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  2. And the fact that we're losing our donut shop to big-city Lancaster!

    Glad you're doing the blog...

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  3. Thanks for the comments, Greg and Chet. And thanks for the ideas, Greg. Please spread the word about the blog!

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  4. I hope "they" remember to include bicycle storage racks nearby the renovated train station.

    What??? We're losing the donut shop? A business decision based on low margins or something else?

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  5. From my understanding, The Fractured Prune owner was unable to renegotiate the lease.

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