Photo: Sean P. Ray, the new managing editor of the Northside Chronicle, is an Allegheny County native and Duquese University graduate. By Lauren Staffer

By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor

Hello loyal readers of The Northside Chronicle. I am the new managing editor of the paper, Sean P. Ray, and I wanted to take a few moments to introduce myself and talk about the future of the paper.

I am coming to you having worked for the past five years at two newspapers in Crawford County, the Titusville Herald and the Meadville Tribune. Crawford County is a mainly rural county located just below Erie County. Meadville, its largest city, is more comparable to a neighborhood of Pittsburgh than the full downtown area itself.

However, I am not a total stranger to the Pittsburgh area. I grew up in Allegheny County, in the Pleasant Hills/Jefferson Hills area, south of the city. I attended Duquesne University, living right in downtown while I was attending.

So while I have been somewhat estranged for these past few years, Pittsburgh is well and truly my home, and my moving here is more a return to normal than anything else. It’s something I’ve been working towards for a long time. I always considered the Pittsburgh area where I wanted to settle down, and never really thought of Crawford County as home.

That said, I must admit, the Northside is a relatively new area for me. I cannot claim to be a native, nor a frequent visitor. It is something I hope to rectify in the coming weeks, meeting with as many members of the community as possible and getting myself familiar with the area.

I want to know what concerns you, what you are looking forward to, what gives you anxieties and what gives you hope. And I want to put those feelings in the paper, to be a voice for the Northside, to bring those feelings out in the open so they receive the attention they are due and are not silenced.

For anyone who wants to help me understand the Northside, I encourage you to reach out. I can be reached by email at [email protected] or you can call the office at (412) 321-3919.

But that’s enough about me. As I said, I wanted to discuss the future of the Chronicle. While I cannot promise major changes will be coming right away, I will be experimenting with some of the format of the paper, adjusting things here or there.

One thing I really hope to do is increase the ways you, our readers, can interact with the Chronicle. Toward that goal, I’m opening the Chronicle up to receiving letters from the editor. Anyone with a concern they want to voice or even a bit of praise they want to sound off can write in and may see their words appear in print and on our website.

Letters to the editor must be 350 words or less. Submissions must not contain falsehoods, personal attacks or vulgar language. We are, after all, a newspaper, not a gossip magazine.

Anyone submitting a letter should include their name and home neighborhood, which will accompany the letter in print. Phone numbers and emails should also be included, but these are just in case we need to follow up with you, and will not appear in print.

Letters can be sent to my email, or mailed to our office. Just clearly mark that it is a letter to the editor and it’ll get to me in due time.

Needless to say, all letters are subject to editorial review, and the Chronicle reserves the right to print or not print any letters received.

Now that business is out of the way, let me just say that I’m looking forward to learning about the Northside and the people who call it home. I hope to do this paper justice and live up to the expectations of all our readers, both current and future. Together, let us tell the story of the Northside, and ensure its voice is not silenced.