Goodbye For Now From Your Malibu Patch Editor

Men in blue and red body suits on a street corner with campaign signs. The Malibu Inn full of revelers, with music pulsing loudly. Victory speeches. 

My first day as editor of Malibu Patch in April 2012 happened to fall on election day. As I've written before, I hit the ground running. Let me revise that. It was a sprint that turned into a marathon. Now I'm at the finish line. 

Friday is my last day as Malibu Patch's editor. I'm leaving for another opportunity as a news director in Los Angeles. 

It has been an honor to serve the Malibu community as its Patch editor. I was right alongside many of you as I covered the Malibu Lagoon Project, the high school lights, the proposed land swap, breaking news on Pacific Coast Highway as well as countless other stories. 

I may have worked long hours to bring as much news as possible into your email inbox, homes and on mobile devices, but I could not have done it without the support of this community. 

I learned that Malibu's sense of place is in its people, a diverse bunch who care deeply about the environment, each other and preserving this special place, each in their own way. I am always struck at how this community comes together when it matters. I felt that Patch reflected that sense of community. It was my favorite part of this job.

Thank you to all who contributed either on the blogs (Fireball Tim Lawrence has the record for the most posts), the comments or the events calendar. I also want to thank Malibu Search & Rescue for working with me to provide live coverage of rescues. It was so much fun to work with Burt Ross and his column "Burt's Eye View."  There are so many others to thank, and I have tried to do so over email and in person over the past few weeks. 

My successor is still being chosen. That announcement will hopefully be made in the coming days. In the meanwhile, please continue to the use Malibu Patch as you have been. If you have questions about blogging or issues with commenting, please email Community Editor Rebecca Whitnall at Rebecca.Whitnall@patch.com. 

I will still be living in the area, so I'm not going away. I'll see you around Malibu.