Torontoist is about to enter the Deadpool — at least that’s how their rivals at BlogTO would report on yet another local institution coming to an end. As Torontoist's New Year’s Resolutions post from last Friday afternoon explained, David Topping will be stepping down as editor-in-chief and, as Topping writes, “[parent company] 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.”

While it’s disheartening to realize that the media-mauling momentum of the current financial crisis has managed to sinks its claws into such meagre prey, the real tragedy here is the loss of one of the more prominent alternative-to-the-alternative voices in the local media. Torontoist managed surprisingly thorough coverage of both local arts and politics, while maintaining a healthy supply of nay-saying voices, and a willingness to set its sights on Toronto’s golden calves and easy targets.   

Torontoist, as with the two other members of the Toronto blog triumvirate (BlogTO and Spacing Toronto, was a part of the uTOpianism that swept though the city during the early part of David Miller’s mayoral ascendency. And yet the news of its imminent passing is something of a contrasting milestone to Spacing celebrating its fifth anniversary only two days prior. Should we read anything into this coincidence? Torontoist has often been criticized for its negativity, while Spacing — with its thinkTORONTO design competitions and Toronto the Good parties — consistently encourages its readers and contributors to find ways to improve upon the city.

I don’t think the answer is quite so simple. After all, I’ve often turned to Torontoist for a rough guide to the morning’s headlines, and found Reel Toronto a useful waste of time (that also prevents me from having to relive any terrible movie moments). Maybe Toronto is destined to be a two-blog town — for now anyway. I can’t imagine the voices of Torontoist remaining silent for very long with a whole blogosphere at their disposal. (Indeed, some of their contributors are already making plans.)