Boston.Com Expands "Your Town” Community Network From The Suburbs To The City Of Boston

Boston.com is expanding its popular "Your Town” hyper-local news sites to include individual neighborhoods within the city of Boston. The first six communities are Allston/Brighton, Back Bay, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, South Boston, and the South End. In total, 16 neighborhood sites are set to be unveiled through the fall of 2010.

"Boston truly is a city of neighborhoods and each has a distinctive identity,” said Robert Kempf, vice president, digital, The Boston Globe and Boston.com. "We believe adjusting the ‘Your Town’ model to include coverage of neighborhoods will be the most useful way to serve Bostonians. It is hyper-local journalism at its best.”

The new Boston sites will serve as digital neighborhood centers and offer a highly localized news experience for readers. As in the current "Your Town” cities and towns, each neighborhood will have local correspondents who work with Boston Globe and Boston.com staff to generate articles about topics such as local politics, crime statistics and transportation.

"In a continuing effort to encourage community journalism, readers will be able to upload personal photos and partake in important discussions about neighborhood issues,” said David Dahl, regional editor, The Boston Globe. "The sites will also curate content from the best neighborhood bloggers.”

Readers can also use the sites to:

• Pay town/city bills online
• Access trash/recycle schedules
• Order parking permits
• Report potholes and other public works issues
• Keep track of high school sports features and schedules
• Access neighborhood event listings
• Access real estate listings

In addition, with school back in session, the sites will be helpful tools for families planning after-school and weekend activities for younger children, and for college students to learn about activities happening right in their own neighborhoods.

"Your Town” sites also provide a highly-targeted advertising forum for small- to mid-size businesses with tightly drawn trading areas. By advertising to their own neighborhood, these businesses are presenting a realistic and effective call-to-action to the consumers who matter most.

"Your Town” was first launched in Newton in 2009 to deliver an online community experience that allows readers to learn, contribute, and share information about life in their own hometown. With the addition of these six Boston neighborhoods, the hyper-local network now covers 37 communities in the greater Boston region, including - Arlington, Belmont, Beverly, Braintree, Brookline, Burlington, Cambridge, Danvers, Dedham, Framingham, Hingham, Lexington, Malden, Marblehead, Medford, Melrose, Milton, Natick, Needham, Newton, Norwell, Peabody, Quincy, Salem, Scituate, Somerville, Waltham, Watertown, Wellesley, Weston and Westwood.

Users can access each of the Boston.com "Your Town” sites via the main "Your Town” portal at www.boston.com/yourtown. Residents in towns/cities that are not yet covered are encouraged to request a hyper-local site for their town/city at this portal.

About Boston.com:

Boston.com is one of the most visited regional portals in the U.S and is wholly owned by The New York Times Company, a leading media company with 2009 revenues of $2.4 billion, which includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers and more than 50 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com. The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.