We’ve moved! We’ve moved! (August 05, 2005)

by Jeb Bing

We’ve moved. Just like a growing family that finds its starter home can no longer handle the added people and activities, we outgrew our once-comfortable offices at 4713 First St. When we launched the Pleasanton Weekly Jan. 28, 2000, there were just a few of us on board to sell the ads, cover the news, design the paper and distribute the first 24-page issue. Today, we’re twice the size, printing two sections almost every week and distributing 18,000 copies each week to Pleasanton residents and newspaper racks located throughout the city. From local elections to a wide range of news, features, sports, photos and advertising specifically targeted to our Pleasanton readers, we’ve filled more than 10,000 pages over the last 5-1/2 years. Add to that the special sections we produce on a regular basis, including Home & Garden, Real Estate, Profiles and our popular InfoPleasanton directory that is your year-long guide to “everything Pleasanton,” and you can see why we needed more room, doubling our space at 5506 Sunol Blvd., a block south of Raley’s and just across from Richert Lumber. Along the way, we’ve won awards and commendations from local service clubs all the way to Sacramento and the California Newspaper Publishers Association. Two were especially appreciated, one coming from the Pleasanton City Council and the other from the Pleasanton Chamber of Commerce. On our first anniversary, the council honored me and this newspaper with a gold-framed commendation for outstanding public service. The commendation, which hangs in our lobby, notes that the paper was founded “with a mission to provide the most accurate and consistently reliable coverage of news, information and commentary of matters of importance to those who live and work in Pleasanton.” It states that the Pleasanton Weekly “has honored that commitment by regularly reporting on matters of interest to Pleasanton residents and doing so in a fair, unbiased and complete manner (and) provides an outstanding and valuable public service.” The Chamber Business Development Award, also posted in our lobby, praised us for the service that we provide to the community. “In the two years since its debut,” the Chamber stated in a press release, “the Pleasanton Weekly has firmly established itself as Pleasanton’s local newspaper. The Pleasanton Weekly gives exposure to local people and organizations that are not as easily recognized by larger publications. This paper has made a point of featuring news about local organizations and people, especially nonprofit charitable organizations that benefit the residents of Pleasanton.” We’re proud of these awards, but even more so of the confidence of our loyal readers and advertisers whose support has been essential to the growth of the Weekly. Particularly pleasing has been the strong community support of our annual Holiday Fund, which this year generated $68,000 in contributions from our readers and matching funds from the Tri-Valley Community Fund that we passed through to eight charities and nonprofits. Another measure of support has come from the hundreds of telephone calls, e-mails, faxes and letters from readers with suggestions for stories or comments about the articles we carry. Many readers also carry the Weekly along on business trips and vacations throughout the U.S. and other countries. Hundreds have gone the extra mile to have someone snap a photo of them reading the Weekly, which gives us an opportunity to share the always-creative photos with our other readers each Friday. Thanks to you, the Weekly has been on every continent, at both poles and in most major cities.

Inside our spacious new offices on Sunol, we’ve posted a large world map and pinpointed the places you’ve taken us along with many of the photos of where you’ve been. Stop by, say hello and take a look. There may be a place no other reader has been yet; we’ll give you a paper to take along when you go.

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