From the Editor: I'm Signing Off

Hey Readers,

Starting tomorrow, I'll no longer be the editor of Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch. 

After launching the site in December of 2010, and working alongside some great writers and engaged community members to make our Patch the local hub it is today, I'll be moving on from my post as local editor to an associate producer position with HuffPost Live. 

Running Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch has been an immense but often rewarding challenge. The people of this community deserve an informative and reliable resource for local news, and it was my effort to provide that to the best of my ability. 

As many of you know--either from reading my bio or speaking to me in person--I'm not a native Angeleno. I moved to the city in the summer of 2010 to accompany my then-girlfriend, now wife, who was enrolling in a graduate program at the University of Southern California. 

I accepted the offer to launch Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch a few months later. My mission, from day one, was to respect this community and its residents. To give a voice to local writers, bloggers and commenters who wanted to be heard on issues that were very often overlooked by larger publications. 

My execution of this mission wasn't perfect. There were learning curves to crest, cultural divides to cross and garden variety gaffes to overcome. 

But, I think we did a pretty good job. I'm proud of the news reporting Patch provided, on issues ranging from the Southwest Museum, to the local arts scene, to Occupy L.A., to civic elections. And while it wasn't always pretty, I think we provided a needed forum for discussion on important local issues. 

Special thanks are due to David O'Roscoe, Kim Axelrod-Ohanneson, Andrea Quezada and James Carbone for all the fine work they did in helping to get Patch off the ground, and continuing to provide wonderful articles, columns and photos as the site came into its own. Working alongside them was one the greatest rewards of being a Patch editor. 

So, in a few hours, I'll be signing off as Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch's local editor. But I don't plan on leaving Highland Park; in fact, I'm looking forward to get to know the community as a citizen and not a journalist. And I want to keep using Patch, too, as I'm confident the site will continue to thrive under new stewardship.