What A Long Strange Trip It's Been

When two friends started a local blog on May 15, 2007, they didn't have sky-high expectations. The very first post on Uptown Update read: "We hope that this can be a resource for the citizens of Uptown to get up to date on the latest happenings in the 46th Ward and maybe become inspired to make our neighborhood a better place to live. A little sarcasm and wit never hurt either."

The fellas never suspected that their little hobby might last four years and require a frequently changing team of contributors.

What no one suspected was that the fourth anniversary of the two friends' venture would be the last full day in office for all three of Uptown's aldermen.  A new era will begin tomorrow at noon for Uptown, and a new year for Uptown Update.  We hope that the three new aldermen will start sending out their own news and keeping residents up to date, but we'll still be here.

Thanks to our readers and contributors, who tell us when shots are fired, when they discover a new business, when their pets are lost (or found), and act as Uptown's eyes on the street.  Thank you for keeping us in the thick of things, and for helping us get the word out about what's happening in our corner of the city.   You literally make UU what it is, and we appreciate your contributions and comments.

Some numbers, all as of this evening:

• there have been 5,300 different posts on Uptown Update (this is # 5301)
• there have been 50,614 reader comments
• there are currently 13,868 messages in our in box (12 unread), going back to 5/21/07
• there have been 5,234,000 hits on Uptown Update (last year, on May 6, 2010, the hit counter was at 3,000,000 -- that's more than two million hits in just a single year -- mind-boggling!)

We look forward to seeing what the next year brings, with all its hopes and high expectations.  Sometimes we look at what's going on around us with our hands over our eyes, peeking out between our fingers, and sometimes we are incredibly proud to be Uptowners.  Whatever the next year brings, we know it won't be boring.