Welcome to MyRye.com’s explainer series: who we are, what we do, why we do it and how we do it.
And we can already tell you when and where we do it. It’s every day, 365 days a year. And it is on this website and in our daily newsletter at 9:00 a.m. every morning (sign-up – it’s FREE).
Our Why
It was a summer evening twenty years ago, and we were out along Florence Avenue in the Bradford Park neighborhood along with our neighbors. We all had young children and a safety concern was raised about cars racing through the intersection of Florence Avenue and Bradford Avenue. I offered to draft a letter to the city with our concerns.
Little did I know it was the start of MyRye.com and its community news operation.
The initial letters got marginal traction but given my technology background, I decided to create what is now MyRye.com and start writing about this journey of concerned citizens looking out for the safety and welfare of their children.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote in 1913 that “sunlight is the best disinfectant”. By organizing the neighbors and writing openly about our advocacy for the stop sign we secured the city’s cooperation within eight months. By any measure of municipal time, that’s lightning fast.
Along the way I got to know our neighbors better, met long-standing active citizens such as Brian Dempsey of the Traffic and Transportation Committee (still serving), appeared before Mayor Steve Otis (now Assemblyman) and the city council and was interviewed by Councilman Joe Sack (before he became mayor) and his Rye TV program, Eye on Rye.
What Happened Next
Professionally, I rode the waves of Internet technology and media, and kept MyRye.com as a side hustle and a way to deepen my connection to the community. We always welcomed voices across the community via letters and other contributions. Congressman George Latimer, who was then in the State Assembly, would regularly file columns about his local meetings with citizens and their array of concerns.
COVID and 12,000 Stories Later
The local news operation you see today is wildly different than our early days. Just prior to the COVID outbreak, we committed to rebuilding and expanding our operations.
MyRye.com now publishes its website and newsletter 365 days a year with support from freelancers, columnists, contributors, and interns who all care about our community. We welcome your role in helping make this a sustainable community resource for generations to come.
MyRye.com. Your News. Always Local.
MyRye.com exists so people connected to Rye receive local news that provides appreciation, insight and utility, and holds the City accountable to be its best self.
-Jay Sears, publisher
