The Larchmont Gazette, online since June of 2002, will suspend regular publication this week.
We’re not disappearing completely. The Gazette archives – including thousands of items published since June 2002 – will still be accessible at http://www.larchmontgazette.com.
And, should a new team of publishers and editors come forward, we will work with them to re-open the Gazette as a contemporary news site.
So, why are we closing down now?
Paula Eisenberg and Judy Silberstein, publishers of the Larchmont Gazette
It’s time for us to move on in our lives. The Gazette has been a tremendous labor of love – operating as a community volunteer effort since June of 2002, when we posted our first articles and sent out our first weekly email update. The number of contributing writers, photographers, commentators, and advertisers has continued to grow – as has our readership. We’ve had a lot of help, for which we are immensely grateful. (See Without Your Help There Would Have Been No Gazette for only a partial list of editors and contributors.)
But we feel our core objectives have been met.
Back in 2002, we started the Gazette with the aim of filling a void in quality coverage of local government, political and community news from the Village of Larchmont and Town of Mamaroneck, particularly in the 10538 postal zone. With the loss of its print daily in previous decades, Larchmont was missing ways to disseminate important information and to sustain community-wide conversations.
Well, 10538 is no longer as media-starved as it once was.
We now have print and online media providing regular reporting of municipal, school, political, business and community events. Citizens have more and easier access to live and on-demand video of town, village and school board meetings through LMC-TV on air or via the Internet. Calendars, meeting agendas, minutes, budgets and other primary documents are increasingly available to the public 24/7 online via municipal or media websites.
Similarly, public conversation is being carried on – with varying levels of civility – in letters to the editor and on an ever increasing number of online forums.
Will something be missing when the Gazette stops publishing? We like to think so: with scores of knowledgeable and skilled volunteers, we’ve been able to produce first-class reporting and writing with a depth and breadth difficult for commercial or smaller outlets to match. That’s why we’re keeping the door open to a restart of the Gazette in the future.
We’ve shown that a grassroots, volunteer effort can lead to quality local journalism. What we haven’t done, however, is to locate our successors.
Are You Interested in a Future Gazette?
That’s where YOU come in. Given the diversity of talent represented in Larchmont - in business, publishing, journalism, advertising, marketing and related fields – we expect there are those of you out there with the ability and interest to take the Gazette into the next decade.
Now that we’re stepping down, we’re hoping the Gazette’s next team will step up.
Intrigued? Give us a call at 834-2893 or email publisher@larchmontgazette.com
Meanwhile, you can find all the back stories, recipes, obituaries and more at http://www.larchmontgazette.com
- Judy and Paula
