Message from the Editor

Posted

If you would have told me five or 10 years ago that I would become the editor of the Ponte Vedra Recorder, I would have said, “You’re crazy. That’s too good to be true.”

I’m originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I grew up vacationing in Ponte Vedra to visit my grandparents, Bob and Mary Mance. For several years, they lived out their retirement on Solana Road, and my family and I took an annual trip to visit them in their quaint, beautiful town.

I grew up going to lunch and dinner at places like the Inn & Club, the Sawgrass Marriott and Barbara Jean’s. I grew up splashing around in my grandparents’ pool and hot tub overlooking the lagoon and taking walks to the beach via the access on Solana. I grew up taking an annual trip with my dad and two brothers to St. Augustine to visit the Alligator Farm and the Castillo de San Marcos.

As a result, Ponte Vedra became somewhat of a second home for me, so it’s hard to believe I’m now the editor of that community’s newspaper. Life is funny, right? With that being said, I understand how special this community is and value the opportunity to be sitting in this seat and informing you on the latest news.

Speaking of news, I’m now about four months into my role as editor, and I’m happy to share with you that I believe we’re making tremendous progress as a community newspaper (My predecessor Jennifer Logue laid an amazing foundation!). We have a small but mighty staff that is innovative and talented. We’re working to make our product more digital, with significantly increased presences on Facebook and Twitter (Give us a like on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter at @PonteVedraNews.). We’re incorporating video, including live video, into our coverage, and we’ve also added a weekly podcast to our website that recaps each paper’s top stories (Visit Pontevedrarecorder.com, and click Weekly Wrap-Up at the top of the screen.). Our long-term goal is for these efforts to open up sponsorship opportunities for our advertisers. We understand where the journalism field is headed, and we are doing our best to jump on the digital train.

Yet we also understand that we have much more work to do. We have room to grow with our paper, our website and our social media platforms. However, to get to where we ultimately want to be, we need your help. That’s why I’m asking for your feedback today. Is there something you think we’re doing well? Is there something that you think we could improve upon? We want to hear about it. Send your feedback my way to Jonb@opcfla.com, and we’ll work to incorporate your thoughts and suggestions into our future efforts.

In conclusion, I want to thank you for your support. Whether you’ve been reading the paper since 1969 or last week, I can speak for everyone that we do truly appreciate it. We will continue to do our best in serving you as the community newspaper of Ponte Vedra and the Beaches.