More from Lean Dean

He was a union-buster even before he was an owner, when he worked for Joe Allbritton. However, I don't think that's it -- this is happening everywhere. Anyway, the union at the LADN has been pretty meek. Top scale for reporters there is $848.38.

 

As a very happy California homeowner, you can't afford to live on 44,000 without some major side income.

This thread makes me damn glad I walked away from it all several years ago. Unbelievable.

 

I thought Jim Rockford lived in a trailer.

 

Why do they have this many senior executives when it's obvious they want, what, about 10 employees to run every one of their publications?

Oh yeah ... Lean Dean ... cronies. Gotcha. Wise businessman that Singleton ...

And who's surprised that Brent Hopkins took the buyout? After what he said on his blog, of which every word was correct yet tactful, he had to know he would be a target of Singleton's from here on out.

 

It's not the right time to question anyone's motives for taking a buyout. Brent has been on the frontlines of this fight for a long time, a voice of reason in a time of unreasonable demands. I might not agree with his decision, but I would never question his courage. Anyone who works at a Singleton paper is a target, even the silent ones. And in my opinion, those are the worst kind of journalists.

 

Copy desks for news and sports are to be combined between the Breeze and the P-T. 12 positions created to accommodate universal desks to be stationed at the Breeze. Those 12 positions to be decided from 21 designers and copy editors from the P-T. So, 8-9 people will be technically out of a job at the P-T when it all shakes out.

 

If he works for Singleton, he'll be living in a cardboard box pretty soon.

 

I'm neither questioning anyone's motives for taking a buyout, nor am I criticizing Brent. What he did was both admirable and courageous. Without question, I agree that anyone and everyone is a target at a Singleton publication, but I can't imagine that speaking out - no matter how right the person may be - will aid your cause in a place where Lean Dean is looking for jobs to slash and burn.

 

They tried this crap before, combining the San Bernardino/Ontario/San Gabriel/Pasadena/Whittier news desks into one in San Bernardino and doing the same for the sports desks in San Gabriel. It was abandoned because it didn't work.

And if the desks are going to be in Torrance, does that mean there will be no Long Beach physical plant? That'll save some money.

 

The P-T will continue to have a newsroom in L.B. They have a 15-year lease with the ARCO Towers or something like that. The paper has already had to abandon a floor, and have split the advertising department up to the newsroom floor and down on the first floor were human resources is.