Somerville Patch editor laid off, future of website unclear

[ron_newman]

a post by Chris Orchard on Somerville Patch's Facebook page, dated 1:29 pm today, which I'm reposting in full here in case it goes away:

Hey all. Some of you may learn in the next hours and days that a number of colleagues and I were just laid off by Patch. That means I will no longer be running Somerville Patch. I don't know what that means for the site, but I want to say this: Covering Somerville, working with all of you in the community, and having the pleasure of learning and writing about such a vibrant city has been one of the greatest experiences of my life. I want to thank all of you for making Somerville such a great place, and I hope to see you around town soon. Thanks for a great (nearly) three years. You're the best. -- Chris Orchard, former editor of Somerville Patch.

Comments

[courtney o'keefe (from livejournal.com)]

I'm so sad to hear about this! I really hope the site continues as I always thought they did a great job delivering news.

[grapefruiteater.livejournal.com]

Most of the remaining Patch staff was laid off today, so I wouldn't count on this site continuing to exist.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

By "a number", he means 90% of the website's staff. They were all fired on a conference call.

I don't know Chris, but I've been in his situation, and I'm sorry to hear it.

[ron_newman]

So far, I know that Belmont and Waltham Patches also lost their editors. Arlington and Medford still seem to have theirs. I don't know about Charlestown yet.