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It's a sad day for transportation news in Los Angeles. Veteran journalist Steve Hymon was one of the many laid off at the LA Times today, according to Kevin Roderick at LA Observed. Hymon, in our opinion, was one of the best writers at the paper. He's succinct, clear, creative, has an ear for bullshit coming out of city officials mouths and is happy to call them on it. Before covering transportation issues, he was on the city hall beat and on a team that was honored with a public service Pulitzer for covering the King-Drew medical center in 2005. More than 50 people are expected to be laid off today at the paper.
Laid Off: LA Times Transit Reporter, Steve Hymon
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Any ideas why the 110 off/on ramps will be shut down for 1 year starting tomorrow from the hours of
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Typo alert (Missing a word): "...Expected to BE laid off today..."
Thanks, Linkracer, got it fixed!
Bummer, his blog being moved into L.A. Now was the only reason I subscribed to L.A. Now. A valuable source of transit news lost. So sad. Seems to me the L.A. times should turn into pamphlet, since that's about all they can fill with info of any use any more.
Un-effing-believable.
I agree with Gary. Steve was always fun to read, and he will be missed. Hopefully he'll pop up online with a transit webpage of some kind. I'd read that for sure.
He was the only reason I had the Times as my homepage.
Fingers crossed that asshole Andrew Malcolm finally gets the boot.
http://mediamatters.org/countyfair/200903200008
Rest assured he won't until the goal of destroying the paper has been accomplished. He and Jonah Goldberg serve a valuable function: Force feeding right wing bullshit to a community that doesn't want it.
Sam Zell is a movement conservative. his only interest is in killing the LAT. And I have to assume the owners agree since they let him purchase the paper in one of the most offensive cons ever perpetrated on the employyes. Funny how the employees are technically co owners of the paper that continues to lay them off.
Steve's work at City Hall and then on transportation was superb. I always looked forward to reading his articles.
sad news. as if it isn't already apparent, the future is scary for real reporting on local issues.
Steve Hymon was the best transportation writer in Los Angeles. Transportation is one of the top three issues in Southern California, and readers of the Los Angeles Times came to rely on his exclusive stories and analysis. The Times' top managers should have taken 10 percent pay cuts before showing him the door. If it would reinforce this message, I'd cancel my subscription; instead, the paper will continue to play a smaller role in my life and thinking and that of thousands of other readers. Top editors Russ Stanton and David Lauter should resign themselves before tossing aside writers of the caliber of Steve Hymon. When they push out people like him, they are surrendering the newspaper's role in keeping government accountable to the people on one of the most pressing issues facing everyone who lives in Southern California. The next time you're stuck in traffic, or choking on exhaust, or wondering why Congress or the state Legislature is so slow to address our transit needs, blame the Los Angeles Times and its less-than-visionary leaders. On second thought, maybe I will cancel my subscription unless the Times brings back Hymon and restores must-read Bottleneck Blog to its glory days. By the way, with the Times' surrendering key beats and expert reporters, does anyone really care if the Times folds? Let the online revolution continue.
Amen!
Oof.
The comment about the Times turning into a pamphlet makes me think that at this rate, the Southern California Transit Advocates newsletter is soon going to be a more reliable source of transportation news than the Times.
I don't just say that because I am part of the organization; my colleague Dana Gabbard has been writing a monthly report in the newsletter that has garnered him much praise over the 13 year-plus period he has been doing so.
Don't take my word for it, though. There is an archive at the So.CA.TA website from the first issue (December 1992) through one year ago (more current issues are only made available to members).
Oh, and would the last person leaving the Times building please remember to turn out the lights?
It was only a matter of time before someone would blame this on the right wingers. And despite what you think there are a number of us in LA who want conservative commentary as part of the mix - and some of those are liberals who want to read that as well!
Steve Hymon's excellent skills aside; this is the natural order of things. He's talented; he'll land feet up.
And Kymberleigh (howdy) I always thought that Zach Behrens and SOCATA were a vastly better source of transit news/information that anything the LA Times ever did!
I read Jonah Goldberg. It's better than a cup of coffee for getting the blood pressure up first thing in the am.
I am still a subscriber to the LA Times. With out Newspapers who will watch the bad guys and politicians? Who is going to pay for watching the bad guys and spend the time digging into misdeeds? Anyone can write an “opinion” story on a blog, but where do we get our credibility and how do we know the truth from opinion?
Is the Times another Circuit City? They fired all of their knowledgeable experienced people and replaced them with minimum wage workers. The reason to shop there Vs on-line disappeared. With few good quality knowledgeable news people on board, the reason for buying the Times diminishes.
Who is going to pay Steve to continue his great work? Is there a blog or on-line news source where Steve can go and earn his living so that we will be able profit from his experience, probing and knowledge?
Most blogs and on-line sources have a bias or slant on the news. Where are we now going to get our researched and accrete news with out our daily newspapers?
Sam Zell has been no benefactor to the Times or the citizens of LA. How can we get local money to buy the Times and have a Los Angeles newspaper again? Radio and the movies survived after TV, so can the newspapers survive the internet.
Steve’s “leaving” the Times is indeed bad news for his readers, all of us in LA and especially the Times. Is this one more important reason for the Times to even exist.
I think news papers can survive the internet by fully integrating with it. Instead of hard copy print that you pick up at the news stand you can get the news on your mobile hand held device. News papers have been in decline for some time now. Los Angeles had several daily papers that put out three or four editions a day back in the 40's through the 60's.
Think of all the forest that will be saved with this new technology, not to mention news up dated by the minute instead of the edition.
Newspapers could survive by integration only if users would be willing to pay for the online content. Unfortunately, people have grown so accustomed to the "everything is free on the Internet" model that no one will pay for an online newspaper.
TANSTAAFL.