Editor's Notebook: Patch Celebrates its 100th Site Launch

A little over four months ago, Pleasanton Patch went live.

At that time, other Patch community news sites around the country had been up for just about a year in Maplewood, South Orange and Millburn-Short Hills, New Jersey.

Today, there are Patch sites in 100 towns across nine states. While the content of each is as different as the cities, all have the same aim: Being the best possible source of local news and information.

Pleasanton Patch had the honor of being the 45th site and was the third to launch in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

In honor of the 100th site launch in Morristown, New Jersey, Patches around the country are celebrating by looking back. 

Here's a look so far at some of the stories Pleasanton Patch has covered.

Government

The primary election on June 8 was an exciting one. It seemed that everyone in Pleasanton had something to say about Measure D. Covering the elections, along with Patch reporter Patrick Creaven, was a great way to learn more about the issues residents care most about. We reported on the campaigns and history of Measure D, plus we stayed up late into the night with both camps to provide readers with up-to-the minute results.

Schools

When Pleasanton Patch launched in April, the Pleasanton Unified School District was in the midst of figuring out its yearly budget. The district was able to negotiate with union organizations to close half of an $8 million budget gap for 2010-2011. But, the drastic drop in state funding, about $13 million in a span of two school years, meant more needed to be done in order to save school programs and jobs.

Pleasanton Patch was there to cover this year's districtwide efforts by parents and community organizations such as Pleasanton Partnerships In Education and the Pleasanton Schools Educational Enrichment. Patch has made a commitment in coming months to continue our coverage of school budget issues, the decline in state funding and how that impacts students and teachers.

Police and Fire

Our city is known to be a safe one. But when that occasional robbery or burglary does happen, Patch reporters work hard to keep readers updated on the latest crime news. We write a weekly log that highlights some of the interesting police and fire incidents. We also wrote about various police department programs such as a new multi-housing program and National Night Out activities.

We've also followed on what's going on in our local fire department, from the pinning ceremony for the new fire chief, disaster preparation trainings and local fires. We even went on a ride-along recently to get a first hand look at the city from the perspective of these first responders.

Businesses

Each month, Patch provides a round-up of the openings and closings of retail and restaurant establishments. We depend on tips from our readers to give us a heads up on the business news. Here's the newest one for August.

Life in Pleasanton

In our short lifespan, we've featured some great columns from local residents. Cameron Sullivan always provides some funny insights about life in Pleasanton. Wendy Smith gives useful round-ups of the various businesses around town, from the best yogurt places to the best kid friendly, wi-fi restaurants.

Sports

It was a great year for Pleasanton prep sports. Patch sports writers reported on a number of important tournaments and games last spring.  Sports Editor Kyle Bonagura had a play-by-play coverage of the Foothill versus Amador North Coast Section Baseball Championship.

Above is a collection of photos and videos from Pleasanton Patch's four months.