The neighborhood with everything now has a paper

Volume Number 1 Issue Number 1| September 29 - October 5, 2006

It’s not every day one gets to start a new community newspaper. So, naturally, it goes without saying that we’re both very enthusiastic and extremely proud about this, our, debut issue of Chelsea Now — the new weekly newspaper just for Chelsea.

And from feedback we’ve already received — yes, even before our first issue was published — a good number of residents and merchants in Chelsea are feeling the same way too: eagerly anticipating a quality paper for the neighborhood. Because one is sorely needed, that’s clear.

We’re going to change that.

Our bright orange news boxes are out there on the street corners, and each week they will be filled with the latest issue of Chelsea Now. We’ll be distributed in local stores and high-traffic locations, as well.

We’ll be bringing you the latest news; politics; profiles of newsmakers and fascinating personalities; a full police blotter; coverage of local businesses; arts; comprehensive events listings; and hard-hitting editorials on subjects that really matter to this evolving neighborhood. In short, Chelsea Now will strive to bring you all the critical must-read news happening in the neighborhood, plus an entertaining, lively mix of arts and lifestyle stories.

And we’re confident we’ll do it well — because, well, community news is what we do. Chelsea Now is the newest addition to Manhattan’s most successful and dynamic community newspaper chain, Community Media LLC. We publish The Villager, judged the state’s best weekly newspaper three out of the last five years. We also publish Downtown Express, which covers Lower Manhattan; Gay City News, the nation’s foremost gay weekly; and Thrive-NYC, aimed at the over-50 readership.

We already know Chelsea, since The Villager has been covering it up until now — though Chelsea Now, obviously, will elevate this coverage to whole new level. And no reporter knows the neighborhood like our own Albert Amateau, a trusted voice who has been writing about Chelsea for years.

All of our collective background, expertise and excellence will come to bear on Chelsea Now, making it, we are confident, both a valuable resource and terrific read. We hope it will soon become a vital part of the community — and of your lives.

Chelsea is literally bursting with stories: the art and gallery scene, the clubs, tenant and housing issues, booming residential construction, the development of the High Line Park and Hudson River Park, the Hudson Yards development and, of course, the General Theological Seminary’s construction plans and many more. Each week, we’re going to be covering this beat with our mix of award-winning reporting and photography.

We’re excited about it. The paper’s called Chelsea Now because that’s exactly what it will be about.

It starts…Now.