Seattle Press on Line - Happy Birthday, Seattle Press! Two Years Old and Ready for Many More

Happy Birthday, Seattle Press! Two Years Old and Ready for Many More

May 18, 2000 -- It's our second anniversary and I want to thank lots of people for helping us get where we are today.

Here's where we are:

-We are a nearly profitable, greatly expanded newspaper now running 8 pages of color in a 20-page paper-every issue a mix of good hard news about the city and our neighborhoods, and incisive and timely feature stories.

-We have a stable of columnists as skilled and professional and admired by their readers as any daily paper can offer.

Trudy Weckworth (who retired in March), Sara Longley (the new Hash columnist), Kirby Lindsay, Roger Faris, Dick Falkenbury and Sandy Bradley provide a solid backbone for each issue, and the continuity and personality that brings readers back again and again.
-Since May, 1998, we have substantially deepened and broadened our coverage of news that affects our readers lives. Much of the improvement in this area is due to the work of Wallis Bolz, the editor who passionately and tirelessly finds the stories, the people and the linkages that help us all understand how our city works and how we can make it work better for all of us.

-We have expanded our circulation to 27,000 and expect further expansion in the next few months.

-As our content has improved and expanded, we have attracted more and more advertisers. Without them there would be no Seattle Press. Nearly all of our income comes from advertisers. We believe we offer a good bargain to local businesses that want to reach customers in the neighborhoods around them. But many of our steady advertisers have made it clear they want to see the Seattle Press succeed, and we are partners together in making sure this vital news link for thousands of people continues publication.

Thanks to all our advertisers for the trust you have placed in us, and the encouragement and support you give to community journalism.

-We have expanded our advertising staff from one in 1998 to three this year. The diligence and creativity of Les Neu, Chuck Christensen and Kim Griffith provide the financial platform for our journalistic work.

-Our talented and original graphic designers Margaret Flynn and Caesar Palma create visual impacts that give our stories punch and make our ads enticing and effective.

-A small group of people has come together to provide the paper with the financial capital to permit our expansion and growth. They come from different backgrounds and different work. Some are community leaders, and some are not. All of them believe public debate, opinion and news provided by a strong community newspaper are requirements for the health of our neighborhoods, and the vitality of life in Seattle.
By some small miracle, all of these forces and passions have come together at the intersection of Fremont Avenue North and North 42nd Street over the past two years. The merging of these forces has resulted in uninterrupted publication of 52 issues of The Seattle Press.

I'm really proud of what we've been able to accomplish but I give the credit to this remarkable alliance of readers, advertisers, writers, editors, community leaders, designers, ad reps and others who share the goal of preserving and strengthening this great community newspaper.

-TH

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