{"id":9975,"date":"2024-01-25T15:54:36","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T15:54:36","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","slug":"We-asked-what-your-top-story-of-2023-was-Here-are-the-results-53760825\/","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/?p=9975","title":{"rendered":"What was the top story of 2023? Here\u2019s what readers had to say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42775888.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"697\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42775888.jpg\" alt=\"The entrance of the former Steeplegate Mall on Loudon Road in Concord on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.\" class=\"wp-image-643\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42775888.jpg 697w, https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42775888-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42775888-400x287.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 697px) 100vw, 697px\" \/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The entrance of the former Steeplegate Mall on Loudon Road in Concord on Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure><p \/>\n        <p>At the beginning of the month, we collected our top 10 most read stories of 2023 and asked readers to tell us which was their top story of the year.<\/p>\n        <p>Out of nearly 100 responses, almost half (42.7%) said the plans for a large mixed-use development at the <a href=\"https:\/\/concordmonitor.com\/steeplegate-mall-concord-nh-52265604\">Steeplegate Mall<\/a> site was their number one. We also asked why their selection was important. Here\u2019s what readers had to say: <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cThe redevelopment of Steeplegate Mall will be a win-win for the city and surrounding communities while increasing the number of available housing units in the city. Multi-use development is the key to Concord\u2019s future.\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cThe impact of new housing and new business will have a very positive impact on many residents and future residents of Concord. While the loss of the Hatbox Theatre and Regal Cinema is disappointing to thousands, including myself, I trust that the entrepreneurial spirit will move individuals and business leaders to more than adequately replace their loss.\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cIt seems to have the biggest change to the region. (Personally, I think it should have turned it into medical offices to offset the pressure on the hospital area and attract people from eastern towns).\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>And here are the rest of our readers\u2019 top five stories of 2023: <\/p>\n        <p>2. <a href=\"concordmonitor.com\/Concord-family-experiencing-homelessness-after-Pleasant-St-move-50749695\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got nowhere else to go\u201d<\/a> \u2013 Concord family homeless once again after temporary apartment stay <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cWe need to continue to keep the fact that we lack housing &amp; support for many of our citizens as a priority for 2024. It needs to stay in the headlines.\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>3. <a href=\"https:\/\/concordmonitor.com\/Mike-Pride-Concord-Monitor-editor-50722217\">Concord Monitor editor Mike Pride<\/a> dies at 76; remembered for devotion to journalism <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cThe Concord Monitor was an important resource for our community, which Mike understood very well under his tenure.\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>4. <a href=\"https:\/\/concordmonitor.com\/tenney-mountain-ski-area-plymouth-nh-opens-49682769\">Long dormant Tenney Mountain Ski Area<\/a> in Plymouth set to reopen <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cI loved Tenney Mountain and skied there many times before I \u2018aged out.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>5.<a href=\"https:\/\/concordmonitor.com\/Longtime-fitness-guru-and-coach-Tom-Walton-won-t-quit-49999575\"> Tom Walton, who died Wednesday after suffering cardiac arrest<\/a>, left the community a healthier place <\/p>\n        <p>\u201cTom Walton was an incredibly kind and inspiring person who left this world a much better place. Positive stories about people like Tom make the Concord Monitor a great resource for local news.\u201d <\/p>\n        <p>Readers also told us that local stories that didn\u2019t make the top ten most read list were what they found most impactful in 2023, including coverage of deciding the location of the new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordmonitor.com\/New-Middle-School-at-Broken-Ground-Site-53286110\">middle school in Concord<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordmonitor.com\/Concord-City-Council-delays-vote-on-Beaver-Meadow-Clubhouse-53328627\">Beaver Meadow Golf Clubhouse<\/a> decision, the Logan Clegg <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordmonitor.com\/Logan-Clegg-guilty-or-murder-for-killing-Steve-and-Wendy-Reid-52756684\">trial<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.concordmonitor.com\/Sanborn-53508484\">Andy Sanborn<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the beginning of the month, we collected our top 10 most read stories of 2023 and asked readers to tell us which was their top story of the year.Out of nearly 100 responses, almost half (42.7%) said the plans for a large mixed-use development at&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":451,"featured_media":9976,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","_newspack_byline_active":false,"_newspack_byline":"","newspack_content_restriction_is_exempt":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,510],"tags":[505],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[537],"class_list":["post-9975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns","category-opening","tag-paywall","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/42775888-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/451"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9977,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9975\/revisions\/9977"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9975"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fnewspack_spnsrs_tax&post=9975"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nne-concord-monitor-2.newspackstaging.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=9975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}