Torontoist to Close on January 1

According to a Dave Topping yesterday Torontoist, after thousands of posts and millions of visitors, is shutting down:

At the end of this month, I will be stepping down as Torontoist's Editor-in-Chief. I've loved everything about this job since I started it, and my decision to leave was not an easy one to make, but it is, ultimately, the right one at the right time for the right reasons. Gothamist has decided, as a result of both my resignation and the recession, to close Torontoist on January 1, 2009 and concentrate on their more lucrative American sites. That decision is the right one, too: as it exists now, Torontoist can barely be sustained, let alone developed, and it has survived and thrived as long as it has, in spite of modest means, largely because of the ceaseless hard work of that aforementioned collective. Torontoist may return at some later date, if conditions are different; until then, it will remain in suspended animation, its content still public and searchable.

It would appear that even in the blogosphere that collaborations between Canadian and US media simply do not work. If Canadians want th;eir own culture, their own media and their own stories told it must be created, maintained and supported in Canada.

One of the things, I think, that has kept publicbroadcasting.ca going this long is that there is no business model. There is no revenue, no donations, and no paid staff. It was designed this way on purpose because Canadians interest in themselves is simply not there yet and if you plan on having no revenue, you can't be driven out of business. It is also impossible to 'buy influence'. Hopefully, one day, more Canadians will be interested in Canada, more Torontonians will be interested in Toronto and Torontoist will return and thrive. If any of you have an interest in contributing here, knowing that it won't pay, feel free to get in touch.