It’s true, this October the West Seattle Herald is leaving the office in the Admiral District that it has inhabited for the last few years. But, we are not leaving the community we have served for 86 years. Not even close.

While our base of operations will officially be the Robinson Newspapers publishing offices in Burien, we will not be covering West Seattle from Burien.

The West Seattle Herald reporters and ad sales staff will be working from our Burien office, our home offices, and out in the field wherever we can plug in a computer to best serve you, the readers.

Please see our new Web site, www.westseattleherald.com, for up-to-the-minute news, sports and features throughout the day, as well as slideshows, videos, stories and columns that are exclusive to the Web. We are now covering West Seattle at a level never seen in our history.

It’s no secret that the current recession and the rise of online news sources have hurt the newspaper industry, by streamlining our operations through office closures and mail-only delivery, we hope to be able to continue providing accurate, timely and newsworthy information about the community we love.

We acknowledge that neighborhood blogs – and we have some very good ones in this city – play an important role in keeping citizens informed. However, we would like to present ourselves as a complementary, and much needed, alternative to them.

The West Seattle Herald boasts in-depth stories with background, context and multiple viewpoints that blogs can’t compete with. Not to mention our wide array of columnists, who bring their own unique voices to West Seattle.

Thanks to www.westseattleherald.com, which was launched this spring and continues to be improved every week, we as a news source can finally bring information to you as it happens and when it matters.

We can’t do it on our own though. We still need to hear from you, our West Seattle neighbors (and also our neighbors in Fauntleory, Highland Park, White Center, Westwood).

We would like you to see the Web site not only as a place to get information about your community, but also a platform to foster discussion and share ideas with your neighbors.

As we prepare to leave our office in downtown West Seattle, it will become even more important for our reporters to receive your news tips and thoughts on your neighborhoods. There is no way our editorial staff, dedicated as we may be, can match your knowledge of what is happening in West Seattle.

Following this letter is a list of our staff’s cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Please make use of them to let us know what you know, what you want to know, and what we need to know so that we can keep covering West Seattle in a way that does justice to the neighborhood and our 85-year tradition.

Since the announcement last week that the West Seattle Herald will no longer be delivered by paper carriers, we have heard from many of you whose parents were paper carriers, who were paper carriers themselves, and whose children are paper carriers.

We sincerely regret that the times have necessitated that we discontinue a great tradition and opportunity for West Seattle residents. We wish all our past and present carriers the best.

To conclude, we are not leaving you, West Seattle, and we will continue to bring you the news of our neighborhood better than we ever have. And remember, our office is not closing until October, so please feel free to visit us at 2604 California Ave. S.W. or call us at 206.932-0300.

Sincerely,

The West Seattle Herald staff:

Steve Shay, (reporter/photographer) 206-948-0394 steves@robinsonnews.com

Rebekah Schilperoort (online content editor) 206.412.4866 rebekahs@robinsonnews.com

Dick Sherman, (ad sales), 206-356-7288 richards@robinsonnews.com

Stephanie Walters (ad sales) stephaniew@robinsonnews.com

Ken Robinson (editor) 425.238.4616 kenr@robinsonnews.com

Patrick Robinson (director of new media) patr@robinsonnews.com