Community Corner

Editor Says Goodbye To Creve Coeur Patch

Your friendly neighborhood local editor reflects on three years of getting to know Creve Coeur.

After almost three years of telling you what was moving into that vacant retail space or what was closing up shop, the time has come to share news that strikes closer to home for me.

Tuesday October 15 is the last day on the job for St. Louis-area editors of Patch.com.

The sites are not closing. You're still encouraged to write a blog if you choose, or post an announcement or an event on our calendar as a way to get the word out to your friends and neighbors. Articles like this one, which use data to tell you more about the city, will still be here too. And you'll still receive daily newsletters. Beyond that, I don't have a whole lot more to say as far what will happen moving forward. If I find out, I'll pass it on.

But it is important for me to use this time to look back.

To say my time in this space has been a fun adventure since we started roughly three years ago would be an understatement.

Our mission was to provide local coverage of the people, places and things of interest to Creve Coeur. We were here to tell this community's stories, including the ones which often didn't get covered by the other local news outlets.

It isn't easy to embrace the new guy, and even today, I hear from people who say, "What's Patch?" But, by and large, you have, and for that, I'm grateful. You've seen me working on the laptop at Starbucks, The St. Louis Bread Company, or some other spot with wifi, and said hello. You've asked how my family was doing, offered congratulations on the birth of my son, or retweeted a story. For all of that, I'm grateful.

I want to thank those of you who have made time for an interview over the years. The high school coaches and student-athletes, city officials, and business owners. I especially want to recognize the people who understood that sometimes my job meant I needed to tell stories that weren't going to be particularly flattering about them or their organization. It didn't color the relationship on stories moving forward, which I think says something about them, and I hope what they thought they were getting by dealing with me.

I also want to thank anyone who ever posted a blog, or an announcement. In addition to the local news component, our goal was to help people with tools to connect them with their neighbors. People like Robin Tidwell and Helga Taylor, and organizations like the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center deserve special recognition in this regard.

As I've reflected on this experience, I've been thinking of some of the stories which have stuck out over the years. The extraordinary story of survival from the Detwiler family comes to mind. Witnessing the overtime goal that propelled De Smet Jesuit to a 2011 district soccer title against CBC en route to a state championship was something else too. Who could read about the inspiration Brian Thal provided for the Parkway North community and not be moved?

I've loved telling you about the new business coming to town and appreciated the responsibility we had with being the outlet to explain why something closed. And what a wide range of stories...In what other media outlet could I be covering a state baseball playoff game and also get a phone call about what was being planned at the time for the Delmar Gardens-owned property on Ladue Road? What a country!

Speaking of which, among the stories I'll look forward to seeing unfold, even if I won't be part of Patch's role in reporting them: 

  • What will happen with the Orchard Lakes Subdivision, just north of the city? Will the area finally get a (big box) hardware store?
  • Where will the talented Jayson Tatum continue his basketball career in college in the fall of 2016?
  • What will end up going in across from the Taco Bell on Olive Boulevard?
  • Will Chick-fil-A ever take another shot at coming to Creve Coeur? 
Finally, I have to thank some very important people who have helped me along this journey. An extraordinarily talented group of other editors in the St. Louis region, who have all helped each other through thick and thin. We have been honored to have had the responsibility for being plugged into our communities over these three years. I don't know what the future holds except to say that it will be here in St. Louis. I'm a better journalist for having worked with this group of people here and in service to you.

All The Best,
Gregg Palermo
Senior Local Editor

Follow me on Twitter @GreggPalermo




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