A Time for Optimism, for Building--and for Change

The past few days have been one of those tranquil, peaceful times for most of us. The end of an old year and the start of a new one. The holidays behind us now. A year ahead that seems to promise, just for this moment anyway, a chance to build on what has already been accomplished.

In many ways, the year behind us was a fractious one. From the endless political squabbling in Thousand Oaks to the doomsday debate over Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources (SOAR), we seemed divided more than usual. But, looking back now, we can afford to chalk that up to just a heavier year of politics than most.

What’s ahead for us in 1999?

As usual, the most important stories for Ventura County may very well be the quiet ones. Our steady march to the opening of a new state university. The hesitant first steps we take as we wrestle to understand what SOAR will really mean for our future.

There’s no way of knowing, of course, what dark and sinister events will leap out at us along the way. The end of 1998 saw a string of horrible crimes. The year ahead, no doubt, will have its tragic and senseless moments too.

But these are sunny days right now. And the proper mood for most of us, it seems to me, should be one of reasonable optimism about the future.

It is certainly that way for all of us at the Ventura County Edition of The Times. In 1998, we took a series of important steps to strengthen our coverage in the communities that make up this special county.

The first step was the addition of three new Our Times publications--one for the Conejo Valley, one for Simi Valley and Moorpark, one for the West County--designed to give our readers an entirely new layer of local news about their towns and neighborhoods.

Then came a series of changes to the Ventura County Edition itself. We added new beats to bolster our coverage of subjects ranging from youth issues to culture. We expanded the role of our local columnists to provide a more human touch. And we brought our business and entertainment coverage into the B Section to make it easier on readers.

Times reporters, photographers and editors won a total of 57 awards in the annual Ventura Press Club contest, none of them more important to us than the Community Service Award for continuing coverage of our progress toward establishment of a Cal State campus here.

And an especially happy moment for us was the selection of Alan Hagman as the Associated Press photographer of the year for an amazing picture he took of a giant wave smashing into a Rincon Beach living room during the El Nino storms.

All in all, it was the busiest year for us since we started the Ventura County Edition in 1990. And your reaction makes us think it was all worthwhile. The best measure of that, perhaps, came in the form of dramatic circulation growth--our biggest annual circulation increase of the decade.

What’s in store for The Times in the year ahead in Ventura County?

In many ways, it’s the same story for us as for the county itself. This seems to be a year to build on the foundations that were strengthened in 1998. We think we have positioned ourselves for our best year ever in Ventura County. And for many years ahead in the century to come.

We’ll be doing what we have done for a decade now: scrambling and scurrying to bring you the best news coverage possible, along with our insights about the obvious and the not-so-obvious meaning of it all.

A big challenge will be to fine-tune the changes of the past year. For that, we will continue to rely on what you have to say about what we are doing, your criticisms even more than your praise.

There’s one other promise to start the new year: Just as the county itself continues to change, so will we. And we will continue to do it with you in mind.