At last! Welcome to the debut of The Citizen on-line!

We've been working hard the last few months to create a Web presence that will both complement and enhance the print newspaper that has been serving the North Boroughs for more than 30 years. We're very excited to finally share with you the fruits of our labor.

This Web site will offer a number of features not available in the print newspaper. For instance, we're often limited in print as to how many pictures we can run. We generally have to pick one or two photos from among dozens. That's no longer the case! Here, we will be posting additional photos, which you will be able to find in the multimedia area accessible from the Home Page.

In that same section you can expect to find video and audio clips, so you'll be able to see and hear firsthand some of the news happening in the North Boroughs.

If you're looking for something to do, the Home Page and the Events tab will keep you updated on special happenings in the Boroughs.

This Blog section will be used to post late-breaking news, editorial blurbs, and to speak directly with our readers and visitors from time to time.

The Web site, however, will not in any way replace the printed version of the paper. Not all stories from the paper will be posted on the Web, and any number of print features will be available only in print. Many of the top news stories of the week will not immediately be released in full on the Web -- you'll have to pick up the printed version to get those stories right away.

As time goes by, we will be posting additional stories from our archives, so that several years' worth of news is available in one searchable location.

The Web site also will provide links to many of our advertisers, and we hope you use this resource to find out more about the companies that do business here in the North Boroughs.

Creating the site really has been an exciting time for us here at The Citizen. It's given us the opportunity to develop an entirely new way to report the news of the area, and we're looking forward to exploring those options more fully in the future.

Most of the really cool stuff on this site (okay, almost all of it!) is here thanks to the brilliant efforts of Sean Waters and UpTime IT Systems. Their creative and technical skills have produced a site we can really be proud of, and we hope you explore all of the features this site has to offer.

So visit often, click away, and enjoy the newest way of getting your hometown news!

Connie Rankin
Publisher