Lincoln Park Now signals new neighborhood outreach of ChicagoNow

Do you live in Lincoln Park? I used to. Or so I thought. My first meal in the city was at Clark's Diner and my first night spent at the hostel nearby. Over the years I mostly stumbled onto discoveries in the neighborhood, like new restaurants, bars and hangouts.

In the several years that followed, I went about Lincoln Park without considering that it had its own identity among the North Side neighborhoods. And not owning my own place, didn't really think about the civics of it all, the community meetings, the comings and goings.

I eventually found out I lived in Lakeview.

Which is why I'm so excited to welcome Molly and Jenn to ChicagoNow on Lincoln Park Now, our site's inaugural blog about a Chicago neighborhood. Molly's first piece was about Lincoln Park's boundaries (Realtor's beware!) and Jenn was previewing a political square dance (or off) with Cook County President Todd Stroger and Andy Shaw, head of the Better Government Association.

Each of the city's 77 communities has its good, bad and uglies and we're hoping to develop places where we can cover those issues, talk about them and if possible arrive a solutions to improve everyone's quality of life.

We will be evolving how we consider local, community journalism and civic participation. The neighborhood blogs include maps that show where other stories have been published, helping you find stories near you. And we're growing. Recently, the Chicago Community Trust announced a partnership between Columbia College Chicago and ChicagoNow to develop a blog specifically geared for and around Austin. Expect to see another blog soon about Hyde Park, and eventually one for every neighborhood, even yours. Which is the key.

Do you love your neighborhood? Your street? Do you hate it? Do you already have a blog where you've been doing exactly this? We want to know, and if you're interested in writing about your corner of the world, let is know via email or in the comments below. We'd love to hear what you have to say and we're hoping you'll join us.