Publish Day - Ink Blog - Developers Part 2

My grand experiment to incorporate feedback into Ink Blog seems to have worked. I received some pointed messages from readers, so much so that I was able to build a followup piece to Wednesday's entry around their perspectives.

Not a day goes by that I don't thank goodness we live in a time and a place that makes it easy for those who publish to interact with those who read our work. I'm just now starting to apply my learnings from the blog world to my work in the traditional media one. And the deeper I get into it, the more I realize the two are inextricably linked.

(BTW, no word from city hall yet. Nice to know they're so responsive to their citizens and the media.)

Here's the piece:

Readers cite concern about developers

Published Saturday, October 1, 2005

The London Free Press

I’m apparently not the only one who questions the influence some area property developers have on London city hall.

When I wrote in Wednesday’s Ink Blog column that some developers’ recipe for success seems to be to run properties into the ground before asking city hall to pay for repairs, I hit a nerve with readers.

Marg Johnston e-mailed me and said she’s tired of the city’s and developers’ aggressiveness.

“I classify the two together, as each has a hand in each other’s pockets,” she wrote.

Steve Ronson said developers must be more accountable for their own properties.

“I do not favour public money being spent to restore these landmarks. Once a building has been designated as historic, the owners must be held accountable for good maintenance,” he said.

Readers want to know how city hall will reduce developers’ influence on municipal government while protecting taxpayer interests.

Come to think of it, so do I.

So consider this my formal invitation to Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco and anyone else at city hall to share their thoughts on this page. Inquiring minds want to know.

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