We thought we would take some space here and explain who we are at Crescenta Valley Weekly, our policy and our mission:

Except for this week, Crescenta Valley Weekly will be delivered to your driveway every Thursday. We, like you, live in the community and were affected by the Station fire. We had scheduled what we thought was plenty of time to prepare for the first edition to be released on Sept. 3, then the fire. Because of our past newspaper history, community members began calling and e-mailing us in an attempt to find out any information concerning La Crescenta and the fire. We decided to send out e-mail “blast” to contacts we had from the various organizations we had been involved in throughout the years. At the beginning of the fire, blasts were sent out on a constant basis as we received updated information. Since our first blast last week our e-mail list grew substantially as neighbors told neighbors, and they in turn joined us. This took time away from our launch schedule but we knew it was important to keep the community informed of this extremely dangerous situation. Knowledge is not only power, in this case it gave a sense of comfort. The fire had delayed opening an office but we were still on schedule working out of our editor’s home, until she was evacuated. We packed up our office equipment and made it down the hill to another home outside the evacuation area still determined to stay on schedule. Late on Wednesday we realized for the betterment of our first edition, we would have to delay our debut one day. We hope it was worth the wait. We are keenly aware that community members want to hold onto their paper, not just receive their news online. The paper will be distributed at homes and buildings across the foothills.

We are also aware, especially after our fire blasts, how vital it is to remain strong online as well. Our website, www.crescentavalleyweekly.com will carry the latest news along with information on community events. We also offer our unique version of Twitter we call CV blast (TM). Readers can sign up for CV blast for a variety of subjects including news, sports, leisure and community updates. Sign up for all blasts or just the ones you are interested in and we will blast it to your computer, phone, iPod – wherever you want it sent.

We will have familiar reporters, photographers and columnist as well some new names.

We look forward to receiving your information on your organization, school event, family announcements and community based news in the form of a press release, e-mail or phone call.

Our mission is to provide timely and relevant information to the Foothill community we live in, raise our children in and love. This is your community paper and we welcome your comments, suggestions and your support.