Onward! Editor Jennifer Squires Leaves Patch

Tuesday will be my last day with Patch. 

To be fair, I said goodbye to Watsonville Patch readers once before. While a promotion took me away from daily coverage of South County news, I never stopped contributing to the site and have been back as your editor for the past several months.

Restructuring at Patch eliminated my position. It will also change how Watsonville Patch is managed going forward.

Let me be clear: Patch is not closing. In fact, none of the local Patch sites will go dark. But Watsonvlle Patch will no longer get as much local attention from an editor. 

What does that mean? We're giving you the site. Watsonville Patch is now your free, hyperlocal community forum. Write blogs. Post your events and share announcements. (Just please be nice to each other.)

When I launched Watsonville Patch in the fall of 2010, I had no idea the level of support and encouragement I would get from locals. I appreciate how quickly you embraced this concept of a virtual newsroom and am touched that I now count many of you as friends.

It wasn't always perfect, but I hope it was fair.

To those who contributed—as freelancers, bloggers or commenters—thank you for participating in this crazy experiment into online news and community-building. To those who took the time to talk with me and answer questions for stories, I appreciate your openness and patience. And to everyone who read Patch, thanks for turning to us for your news. 

In my absence, you can contact my supervisors,  Associate Editorial Director Kari Hulac (kari@patch.com) or Senior Regional Editor Alex Gronke (alex.gronke@patch.com), with questions. 

I'm working on my next steps now. Stay in touch by connecting with me on LinkedIn or following me on Twitter.