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Start the Presses: A retrospective and the long goodbye

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After nearly seven years, more than 15,000 editions, and more fun than a man should be allowed to have in his work, I am stepping down as editor of the Glendale News-Press, Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun. My last day will be Dec. 11.

Tribune Publishing, the parent of our parent The Los Angeles Times, made me a buyout offer I couldn’t refuse. It’s time to move on and to give a fresh set of eyes the chance to keep our papers indispensable and relevant.

Details of the transition are still being worked out, but here’s what I know: John Canalis, the current editor of Times Community News in Orange County, will be appointed executive editor of the titles there as well as here. He will need to decide how to best steer these papers into 2016 and beyond, but having worked with him for many years, I know our papers are in good hands.

To that end, I will be announcing a date and time for a goodbye/hello for John and me. Please look for that early next week.

But for now, I’d like to share my top 10 moments — both tragic and triumphant — from my time as chief of Times Community News.

1. The closure of the Crescenta Valley Sun

This happened only a few months after I started in April 2009, and set in motion a long, difficult road for both the paper and myself personally. Rash business decisions simply do not sit well for people heavily invested in their community, nor for the paper that presumed to speak for it. That lesson has reverberated in both positive and negative ways to this day. Local matters, and it matters even more to smaller, tight-knit communities.

2. The redesign of the print and Web editions

In the positive side of the ledger, the papers simply look a heck of a lot better than when I started. Back in 2009, the papers’ design and their associated websites had a distinctly amateur feel. (Anyone remember the “Top News” that sat at the bottom of A1? Yeah, I got rid of that.) The new look was more graphically interesting and attractive, and the website and social media channels began providing the up-to-the-second updates and news our readers demanded. Earlier this year, we finally were able to make our websites responsive, meaning they can be just as easily be read on a laptop, smartphone or tablet.

3. The late, great Pasadena Sun

The 18 months that the Pasadena Sun existed were some of the more exciting — and bittersweet — of my professional life. In my nearly two decades in this business, I had never helped give birth to a publication. Unfortunately, I also got to shut it down. Despite our small staff, our weekly gave the much more established — and daily paper — a fair share of heartburn. I don’t believe a week went by in that time we didn’t force the Star-News to follow us on one issue or another. The state and national awards we won for our work, indeed, are some of the proudest in the trophy case here at TCN headquarters.

4. Burbank bonus fracas

In 2010, our reporters decided to seek out information about bonuses given to Burbank city employees. It was meant as a simple follow-up to a similar story we wrote about a shuttered bonus program in Glendale.

It was, to say the least, a lot more than that. Glendale’s system, which stopped in 2009, gave about $250,000 a year to about 40 employees. Despite having a workforce about half the size, Burbank gave out as much a $1 million a year to nearly 50% of its employees, or a total of $4 million between 2007 and 2011.

We asked Burbank for information about who was receiving those payouts and why, but were rebuffed, saying such information was private. We sued, and a judge ordered the city to reveal the names — a number of which included familial relations. The city has since ceased the practice.

5. Burbank police issues

Burbank has been through quite a lot in the last six years. Multiple investigations by the FBI, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and others have roiled the local police force. Legal issues have continued into even this month.

But I’m very proud of the work my reporters have done over the years in making sure our readers remained informed about the lawsuits, allegations and various events including, tragically, the public suicide of a Burbank sergeant in 2009. I believe the pressure we kept on Olive Avenue helped lead to the stable well-regarded force we have today.

6. ADI investigation

Of course, Glendale was far from immune to troubles. In late 2010, the Glendale News-Press and the Los Angeles Times broke a huge story about alleged fraud by an affordable housing developer.

Despite multiple complaints about the quality of the work, Advanced Development and Investment, Inc. received millions of dollars from Glendale and other cities for low-income projects. The developer was surprisingly well-connected politically, even for the insider-y, bare-knuckle world of public construction.

Many of the company’s subcontractors — the dry-wallers, electricians and fire-equipment installers — gave generously to the campaigns of Glendale City Council members, supposedly forced to do so by ADI. Though several of those councilmen and women protested they had no idea of the connections, city officials quickly set up an online system allowing campaigns — and the wider public — to better see the connections of campaign money.

7. John Drayman

One of the main recipients of ADI subcontractors’ largesse was then-Councilman John Drayman, the self-styled “Mayor of Montrose.” One of those contractors accused Drayman of stiffing them on a renovation to his condominium, demanding he pay up after ADI itself failed to do so.

Investigations later revealed ADI agreed to pay hundreds of thousands for the upgrade, with Drayman allegedly receiving the work for no cost. When ADI itself went bankrupt, the contractor went after the councilman.

While this was never fully proven, and the reason why — did Drayman promise votes for ADI projects? — unknown, the councilman found himself in deep trouble for financial irregularities surrounding the Montrose Farmers Market. The relationship between the two has also remained a mystery.

In 2014, Drayman was sentenced to a year in prison for stealing between $300,000 and nearly $1 million from the group — money that came from, in part, produce and a pony ride. Though he served only days of that sentence, Drayman’s lies and deceit still wound today.

Our paper was instrumental in keeping eyes on the irregularities of ADI and the Montrose market, helping to boot a corrupt official from the dais. Removing that band-aid might have hurt, but it was necessary, and Glendale as a whole is stronger for it.

8. My mugging

In January 2013, while walking home, I was hit over the head with the butt of a gun and robbed. This happened about six months after my wife and I moved from Burbank to our current home in the Arts District of downtown Los Angeles.

After I wrote about this, the caring and support of local elected officials, leaders and everyday readers overwhelmed me. It was just another example of how tight-knit and wonderful so many people in our towns really are. Getting mugged was no fun, truly, but it was heartening to see the response afterward.

9. Community involvement

It’s a bit of an understatement, but there is a strong sense of volunteerism in our towns. People here simply give back.

Perhaps because of this culture, I have personally taken part, serving on the boards of the Glendale Character & Ethics Project, Leadership Burbank and Glendale Healthy Kids. Each of these groups helps to make their communities a better, more inclusive place, and I’m proud to have been involved. Indeed, I will attempt to continue my involvement with at least some of these groups after I leave.

Also, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has been involved in our community advisory boards over the years. The input I received from those groups has simply made the papers better.

10. Adding it up

The sheer number of changes both the cities we cover and the papers themselves have dealt with — or endured, depending on your perspective — is staggering. The News-Press ran from Monday to Saturday when I started, then moved to Tuesday to Sunday before settling on its current Wednesday to Saturday print schedule. Glendale saw its downtown changed forever, and Burbank won back a police force it could be proud of.

Our websites have gone through two major redesigns, and the print editions one major redesign and a half-dozen minor ones. We started breaking news blogs, infographics, social media accounts and in-house video offerings. We started — and closed — a Sunday edition; started — and closed — a Pasadena paper, but came out of the Great Recession alive, kicking and relevant.

Of the 20 people on my staff, I hired all but four, and have hired nearly 40 people in that time. It is with a heavy heart I leave them, and leave all of you. But this world is much smaller than it first appears, and I hope to see you again soon. My love and thanks for this amazing ride.

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DAN EVANS is the editor for a little bit longer. Reach him at dan.evans@latimes.com or (818) 637-3234.

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