Greetings!

You've found Greg Neiman's blog site, albeit still under construction, and only a few hours old!

I've worked in the newspaper business for 40 years or so, and after taking more photos, writing more stories, columns and editorials than anyone would care to count, and editing more material and designing more pages than I would ever care to read again, I've found myself retired.

Over the years, I've learned a lot about how people argue and exchange ideas. Outside of the newspaper, I've volunteered over the decades for a variety of public service agencies. I've sat in -- and chaired -- many a board meeting where hard decisions needed to be made, where people needed to be convinced that the compromises they'd be making were still steps forward in accomplishing goals they held dear to their hearts. In other words, through most of my life I've been an active participant in social discourse and an agent of change in our community.

Retirement creates a pretty big a change in how one defines one's role in society. I'm pretty stoked to see how this new blog thing can add to my own personal view that even without a career to define oneself, ideas still matter, and experience in the public sphere should not be wasted.

That's why I called this blog Readers Advocate. It's a riff on the name of my longtime employer, the Red Deer Advocate, but it's for people who read the news and discuss the issues of the day -- from every source and vantage point. If you're a reader, I hope you'll enjoy returning here from time to time, and perhaps even add your comments to the topics we discuss.

We'll begin with a local issue -- those controversial bike lanes the city has painted on our streets. I'll post ASAP -- and that means after I've consulted with someone to guide me through enough technical points that I'm able to present you with a platform suitable for your enjoyment.

"Ceasar non supra grammaticos!"

Greg Neiman