NoStringsGeneva.com Celebrates First Birthday, Receives Bloggy Award

One year ago, March 15, 2008, we quietly launched this blog as a fact-based point of view on local government in the City of Geneva.

Referred to by most locals simply as “the blog,” this site represents our collaboration which began with our service together on the Geneva City Council. We shared concerns about city government operations, specifically on the issues of accountability, open government, fiscal responsibility, and community-based decision making.

We realized that we needed a way to keep the public better informed and up to date on City government, beyond what the local paper was able to provide, and with greater independence. Capraro has since left the Council, but our work together continues, and includes a regular WGVA radio show hosted by Ted Baker.

Over the past year, we’ve logged over 20,000 hits, representing over 4,500 unique individual visitors. Our daily visitor count averages 80% returning, meaning they have been on the site before, while 20% are new, so visitor loyalty is high and new visitors continue to slowly grow our overall readership. Recent figures show about 2,000 visitors per month, and around 65 visits per day. The blog features regular responses from readers which must be signed and civil in tone.

To date, Capraro and Augustine have 88 posts on the blog, with 65 in 2007, and 23 so far in 2008. That’s about 7 per month or one every few days. Stories include information and commentary on current City business, research based entries on policy proposals, and a number of thoughtful pieces on the nature of local government in a democratic society. Most people read the newest article on the main page, but here are the Top 10 most re-read posts (in order of popularity):

1. Does Geneva Have the Highest Taxes in the Country?
2. Memo on Tax Exempts Now Available
3. Blog Gets More Hits that Dimaggio, Mantle, Ruth, or Williams
4. “Curfew” Not Really a Curfew, But It’s Still a Good Idea
5. Can We Expect Different Results From the Same Old Efforts?
6. Let the Sun Shine In
7. A Case Study in What We Call “The Back Room” and why it’s not always a good thing
8. Shouldn’t Council Have Access to Public Documents?
9. Rich Rising’s Rising Riches-- Part 1
10. Danny Boy, The Pipes Are Really Calling: Time to Stop City Subsidies for Town Water and Sewer Usage
    

Coinciding with the celebration of its first year, No Strings Geneva won a Bloggy Award in the political category. Reviewers found the site highly informative, well organized, and full of links to documents and other websites. We wish to thank our readers as we seek to make a difference for a better Geneva.