The Burnside News offices are in a bit of an uproar as this issue goes off to the printer as we prepare for to head back to the business parks.
For the first three quarters of the paper’s existence, our offices were – quite predictably – located in Burnside. Granted, the exact location of those offices moved around within the Park several times, but we were still a resident. That held many advantages during those early years. It was easy to see what was going on in the Park – even a quick lunch run could reveal something new getting underway – and it was a snap to run out to even the most last minute meeting or interview.
All that changed shortly after Transcontinental took over and merged the specialty publications division that published The Burnside News with some other acquisitions in Halifax.
For the past six to seven years the paper has been based out of downtown Halifax, which presented certain challenges in trying to stay on top of what was happening day-to-day in the parks.
However, further consolidation of Transcontinental operations is now leading us back to a business park location – although not to the park of our origin.
Starting this month, The Burnside News will now be sharing space with the Transcontinental Weeklies on Horseshoe Lake Drive in the Bayers Lake Business Park. It’s a move that I think can only improve the paper’s coverage and I’m looking forward to it.
For several years now The Burnside News has tried to keep its readers up to date not only on Burnside, but also on what’s happening in and around the various business parks spread across HRM. Being the second largest park in the area, we have devoted specific pages to Bayers Lake on an ongoing basis. Being located in the heart of the park will make it that much easier to stay on top of what’s taking place.
The move also comes at an interesting time in Bayers Lake’s development. One of the paper’s best sources of information on the park – the Bayers Lake Business Association – recently ceased operations, so the move will help offset this loss. Also, the single largest development in Bayers Lake’s history – the Banc development that will almost double the size of the park – will be getting underway soon (possibly even later this year).
Another upside to the move is the closer working relationship it will foster with the Transcontinental Weeklies. The community-based coverage of these publications sometimes overlaps the business parks covered by The Burnside News, thus opening up the opportunity for our staff to share information and knowledge between the publications and create an even stronger news product for our readers.
I will admit that ideally it would be nice to see the paper headed back to Burnside and its roots. However, Bayers Lake is a good alternative and may well lead to an expansion of its coverage in the issues ahead.
