City Lights News - Press Clippings 1

City Lights News
Press Clippings

Article from Sympatico Net Life magazine
Prairies Edition: November/December 1996 issue - page 29
special thanks to Kevin Brooker, Sympatico Netlife Prairies Editor
Putting Prince Albert Up in Lights

"My biggest hope," says Sympatico subscriber Stephen Serenelli, "is to get the entire city on the Net." A deluded boast? Not for this multimedia dynamo from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, the cocreator of City Lights News (http://www.CityLightsNews.com). At the rate he's posting pages in this city of 35,000, that goal nearer every day.
Five years ago, Serenelli and his wife, Cora, moved from his hometown of Milan, Italy, back to hers, in search of a slower pace and an improved sense of community. Happily, they've found both. They even don't mind getting by without cars, riding bikes even in Saskatchewan's harsh winter.
Shortly after arriving they founded Serenelli Desktop Publishing (citynews@sasktel.net) and launched CLN as a small monthly sheet highlighting local chat and a calendar of events, with Cora handling content and Stephen the design. Covering all their promotional bases, as small-town entrepreneurs must do, they soon posted an electronic version on a regional BBS. Stephen even appeared as producer/host for a Channel 10 program called City Lights on the Move. Then last year, Stephen launched the first of what are now hundreds of WWW pages for some 60 regional organizations and businesses, from Happy Camper RV to the Indian Metis Friendship Centre". "We now have nearly as many registered Web sites in Prince Albert as they do in Regina," he says with pride. Some 4,000 people a month are logging onto City Lights News. In most cases, Serenelli provides Internet presence for next to nothing, an incentive which, aside from satisfying his community spirit, helps generate conventional design and printing business. But locals are starting to see tangible benefits. Harold Corbett, manager of the Marlboro Inn, who was one of the first to take Serenelli up on his service, says, "I'm getting reservations by e-mail from people in Texas who are coming up this fall to hunt." Meanwhile, Stephen Serenelli continues his mission, pedalling all over Prince Albert to convert the unplugged. For a guy whose personal motto is "shut up and work," there's only one thing likely to slow him down. "At around 40 below zero," he's noticed, "the chain starts to freeze up."

Sympatico subscriber Stephen Serenelli and his wife Cora, are lighting up Prince Albert with hundreds of Web sites that they have created for local businesses, ranging from Happy Camper RV to the Indian Metis Friendship Centre.

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Copyright © 1993 Serenelli Desktop Publishing. All Rights Reserved.


	Article from Sympatico Net Life magazine Prairies Edition: November/December 1996 issue - page 29 special thanks to Kevin Brooker, Sympatico Netlife Prairies Editor
	Putting Prince Albert Up in Lights
	"My biggest hope," says Sympatico subscriber Stephen Serenelli, "is to get the entire city on the Net." A deluded boast? Not for this multimedia dynamo from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, the cocreator of City Lights News (http://www.CityLightsNews.com). At the rate he's posting pages in this city of 35,000, that goal nearer every day.
	Five years ago, Serenelli and his wife, Cora, moved from his hometown of Milan, Italy, back to hers, in search of a slower pace and an improved sense of community. Happily, they've found both. They even don't mind getting by without cars, riding bikes even in Saskatchewan's harsh winter. Shortly after arriving they founded Serenelli Desktop Publishing (citynews@sasktel.net) and launched CLN as a small monthly sheet highlighting local chat and a calendar of events, with Cora handling content and Stephen the design. Covering all their promotional bases, as small-town entrepreneurs must do, they soon posted an electronic version on a regional BBS. Stephen even appeared as producer/host for a Channel 10 program called City Lights on the Move. Then last year, Stephen launched the first of what are now hundreds of WWW pages for some 60 regional organizations and businesses, from Happy Camper RV to the Indian Metis Friendship Centre". "We now have nearly as many registered Web sites in Prince Albert as they do in Regina," he says with pride. Some 4,000 people a month are logging onto City Lights News. In most cases, Serenelli provides Internet presence for next to nothing, an incentive which, aside from satisfying his community spirit, helps generate conventional design and printing business. But locals are starting to see tangible benefits. Harold Corbett, manager of the Marlboro Inn, who was one of the first to take Serenelli up on his service, says, "I'm getting reservations by e-mail from people in Texas who are coming up this fall to hunt." Meanwhile, Stephen Serenelli continues his mission, pedalling all over Prince Albert to convert the unplugged. For a guy whose personal motto is "shut up and work," there's only one thing likely to slow him down. "At around 40 below zero," he's noticed, "the chain starts to freeze up." Sympatico subscriber Stephen Serenelli and his wife Cora, are lighting up Prince Albert with hundreds of Web sites that they have created for local businesses, ranging from Happy Camper RV to the Indian Metis Friendship Centre.