From the Publisher

Our ubiquity is showing and we think that is a good thing for our readers and advertisers alike.
On the content side, we’re evolving from a magazine devoted exclusively to business to a more broadened editorial platfom. In business as in life you pick your spots, but in our case we asked you for your thoughts and what you said was that we needed to grow beyond how we had been previously defined in the marketplace.
Our research also told us that we needed to put our footprint into coverage of San Diego’s live theater scene and real estate, two areas where we had not been as productive as we should be.
Our readership is evolving, too, as we expand our distribution along the coast to include drop locations in Coronado, La Jolla, Del Mar, Solana Beach, Carmel Valley, Encinitas and Rancho Santa Fe as well as Downtown, Kensington, Bankers Hill, Mission Hills and North Park.
The number of readers who receive the magazine by mail has grown as well.
For coverage of live theater we welcome the very talented Pat Launer, an inveterate observer of San Diego’s best in theater. Pat brings years of experience to the table and we’re delighted to share her insights with you.
Pat has been long known as “the voice of theater in San Diego,” is an Emmy Award-winning arts writer and theater critic. She has been named a Living Legacy by the Women’s International Center.
The volatility of the real estate market scored high as another area of interest where we  needed to do more. To close the gap we’ve reached out to Zach Todaro, a young man with a new career in real estate. Zach comes to the table with a statistican’s eye for numbers.
Moving on, we think you’ll enjoy our inteview with  Ed Moss and Jeff Light, the two charged with re-imaging the Union-Tribune, and Kris Michell, the new president of the Downtown San Diego Partnership.
Ed and Jeff are new to San Diego but they are already putting an indelible  plant on the U-T. No city, large or small, can ill afford to be without a daily newspaper and whether you like or dislike the U-T, surely there would be agreement that as Thomas Jefferson said, “Were it to be left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate  a moment to prefer the latter.”
Manny Cruz took on the assignment of writing our interview with Kris Michell. Kris brings a unique perspective to the Partnership, having been involved with issues too numerous to tick off, but her most recent stint as Mayor Sanders’ right arm is a huge plus for all things Downtown.
We also launched the first in a series of upcoming profiles on businesses owned exclusively by women in San Diego. Our initial foursome are Laurie Black, Tracy Borkum, Bonnie Kutch and Lisa Wilson-Wirth.
Roger Hedgecock and Dave Marino continue to pen their perspective pieces on politics and commercial real estate. And congratulations to Dave as he joins Jason Hughes and has his named added to door in the newly constituted Hughes Marino firm.
“Senators just don’t make good presidents” is the theme of Roger’s column this month. “Witness Barack Obama … and does anyone, left or right, think John Kerry, Joe Biden or John McCain would have done any better? I don’t.” It makes for good reading.
Roger  also writes for his Website and Human Events Magazine.
We can’t claim to have interviewed Nicholas Berggruen and I suspect that if you asked 10 Californians if they had ever heard of him that you would get a “Who?” response and I would be among them.
Berggruen is a “homeless billionaire” and a  Paris-born investor, who lives from hotel to hotel. He says it simplifies his life!
He popped up recently in an interview with the Financial Times of London, a piece in which he said among many other things that he is going to save California!
He says he has already plowed $25 million of his reported $2.2. billion net worth into a project called “Think Long Committee for California.” He says it will help “save” California, a place where he spends several months of the year, usually living at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, according to the Financial Times.
His committee includes Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, former Gov. Gray Davis and Condolezza Rice. When the Financial Times asked him to explain is motivation, he said, “California is the kind of place where change is possible, California is in trouble but I think California is ready.”
Let’s hope he’s right.

Bob Page
Chairman/CEO