THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

By Joe Ingino Editor/Publisher ACCOMPLISHED WRITER/AUTHOR OF OVER 800,000 Published Columns in Canada and The United States “I live a dream in a nightmare world” Always Remember That The cosmic blueprint of your life was written in code across the sky at the moment you were born. Decode Your Life By Living It Without Regret or Sorrow. - ONE DAY AT A TIME - I like to begin this column by thanking all that have expressed their best wishes over the recent announcement of Metroland closing and The Central Newspaper now becoming the only newspaper printing hard copies across Durham Region. It has been a long journey. 28 years in the making. Slowly chipping away at the giants. Controlling and monitoring some fly-by niters that attempted to print and eventually close. I remember the nights I spent wondering if I was on the right path. Questioning my decisions and wondering my future in the industry. One valuable lesson I learned from those sleepless night is to... never compromise your goal. Never doubt yourself. Never negotiate your integrity. Always have the best interest of your clients, readers and community at large. Even though sometimes it appears that everyone is against you. Even though you get more criticism than praise, the end game has to be kept at the forefront. I deem it a test of my passion and desire. The Oshawa/Durham Central Newspaper is not a one man success. Instead it is a team effort. From the advertisers, readers, contributors, associates, columnists, affiliates, suppliers, designers, technical support to our award winning staff. Without our staff we could not produce the award winning newspaper we publish today. Our writers, columnist, contributors and associates. As a newspaper, we are nothing but a intel filtering social institution. Our out put is the publishing of unbias news. News that matters to you from a neutral perspective. When you read Central news articles you can be assured that our integrity was never compromised through contracts, bids and or political agenda. In the past we have suffered for being true to the journalistic integrity. We have had our share of road blocks through the years. Luckily, we managed to overcome and conquer. People ask me all the time. What makes you so different than other newspapers. I always answer the same, “Treat customers as you like to be treated. Treat everyone equal. Where you can give back or contribute back to the community. Help those that are suffering and or struggling. Never be compromised by wealth.” This formula has worked and will continue to work with great success in The Central newspaper future. I remember many times being asked by my own marketing sales professionals. Why are you so lenient with some customers. Why do you allow such terms to be negotiated. I would always tell them. Look at your clients financial situation. Look at where they want to be and where they are now. Our job is to help them get there. Yes, many times local businesses have the product, passion and desire to succeed. But if no one knows about them. It is a matter of time before they will close their doors. Here is where we step in. Much like our successful shop downtown Ingino initiative. This initiative was born out of this reality. Downtown businesses are struggling with high rents, hydro and utilities. They are suffering from limited parking for their customers... this diminishing traffic. All this compounded with the homeless and rampant drug use in the core. Is a recipie for failure. To ad this to the problem. There is no association or group to represent the merchants. So operating a business in the core a matter of depending on a prayer and hope that people will walk in. This is where the Central stepped in and made a difference. The Central offered them a way to advertise very affordably on a weekly basis. This has been the success of the Shop Local Ingino downtown initiative. Black yellow signs all over the core. The Central has lasted for 28 years by working with people. With recognizing people’s needs. A discounted rate today is a long term client for tomorrow. People appreciate help. I remember the days when our offices where next to the OPUC. OPUC clients would walk into our office wanting to vent over the fact that OPUC back then would cut off people. Normally I felt bad. I would have them come in my office and on a 9 out of 10 cases. The Central would pay their bill on a promise to repay. I felt good for helping. The people we helped were ever appreciative. Until today people still walk up to me and thank me for helping them 15 years ago. I remember the late Jim Flaherty, one of our first columnist tell me. “You have something good with this newspaper. You have a long road ahead, but if you keep doing what you are doing you will reap great success.” He was right. The late former Mayor of Oshawa once told me, “Joe, I do not approve of the way you go about things... It makes you more enemies than friends. But I have to admit it. You are effective at getting people’s attention.” She was right also. 28 year years and here we are. THANK YOU OSHAWA. THANK YOU DURHAM. It is an honor and privilege to serve and continue bringing you The Central newspaper.