I was in layout last Wednesday when I got tipped that The Local Weekly was shutting down. After firing off an email to the publisher, I walked down the hall to tell the reporters. The news was greeted with shock, concern, and sober reflection.
There was no joy in our rival’s downfall. It meant job losses for respected colleagues, the end of an established community newspaper that had its own distinct look, voice and personality, and a shrinking of the print media landscape on the Sunshine Coast. Nothing there to celebrate.
Yes, we competed with them, but never with the aim of putting them out of business. That was accomplished by the brutal economics of the newspaper industry, supercharged by the pandemic. Barely propped up for the past year on government life support, the bottom finally fell out.
To our friends at The Local, you fought the good fight and went out with class. We wish you all the very best.
To our readers who are worried about our future, we have no plans to go anywhere. We have revamped our website, tapping into the rich stream of B.C. news produced by our Glacier sister publications, and the bulk of our print advertisers have been steadfast in their support. The pandemic has diminished the entire community and we have not been spared, losing page count along with vibrant features such as Coast Scene, travel, festival coverage and much of our sports and entertainment. We continue, however, to deliver the news and stories about the Sunshine Coast and its people, with our bigger mission now to keep you informed about the local pandemic response as we all wait to exit this nightmare. That day can’t come soon enough. When it does, we’ll be here to report it.
COASTERS COME THROUGH
I wrote a few weeks ago about a lifelong resident who was facing eviction May 1 with her family of four, including an aged mother, and who predicted the problem of displaced renters was about to hit the Coast “like a tornado out of control.”
The same reader contacted me recently to say her luck had changed: the owner of a local business – “a wonderful couple” – offered her a rental for the end of June, her landlord agreed to the extension, “so my family is now safe and secure,” she said.
And while the rental situation is still “just such a mess,” the silver lining, she added, is that “the Coasters that are still left on this Coast” are coming through.
One example was an older couple on a fixed income who were frantically looking for a rental after the owner of their house “sold it out from underneath them,” despite the man’s grave medical condition. Some Coasters stepped up, found the couple a one-bedroom place and pitched in to help them move.
Another case was the owner of two seasonal rental properties who decided to go back to long-term rentals after he heard how bad things were out there, even though he will take a loss in revenue.
Our friend summed up: “The Coasters that still are here, John, bless their hearts, because they’re all rallying around to help protect us Coasters as best they can.”
Isn’t that the way it should be?
