This Tuesday, Sept 25th, is the first anniversary of my joining the Juice family. I don’t know if I should thank Art or not. As I learned years before entering the political world you need to have thick skin in several professions, including this new adventure of becoming a blogger.
Having just received OC Weekly’s recognition as “best local blog“ and in reviewing my own posts over the past 12 months I engaged in some analysis of our posts in this time frame.
Like any volunteer organization you do experience turnover from time to time. The Juice is no exception. Tim Whitaker, whom I know from our mutual involvement in the Republican Party, departed prior to my accepting Art’s challenge.
Gila and Ryan, other bloggers whom I briefly met, have also departed. We have all read that due to personal reasons Art’s “left” hand man Claudio will be taking a much deserved sabbatical starting next month. I say sabbatical in that the door will always remain open for his future return (as a card carrying Republican).
You also have read that Art added two new bloggers representing both of the major political parties. You can read about them here and here.
While I don’t wish to bore you with numbers please bear with me. Over the past 12 months the Juice has posted around 750 stories. Of that number close to 250 were from this keyboard.
Although I have no insider information as to how or why we earned that OC Weekly recognition, our archives are a gold mine that contains many clues to that decision.
Art has previously posted about SAUSD’s corruption which by far represents the Juice post with the highest number of comments during the past 12 months.
What about our other posts? Which stories triggered the most interaction, etc?
Art Pedroza is truly gifted when it comes to writing stories that make your hair stand up. Not in my case but that’s another story.
Some of our most active posts written by Art, include:
O.C. Political “Chismes”
Good Bye to County Commission appointment
What do Mimi and Harry think about Harold Martin
Santa Ana says no to massage permits
Santa Ana schools lose $2 million
Moorlach says “nobody’s untouchable”
Some of Claudio’s popular posts include:
Don’t get caught in a side debate
Message to Dana Parsons: It’s not about how Latino Pulido is
Who is going for school board seat
Sal Tinajero speaks, wants attacks to stop
Ryan Trabuco’s biggest post was entitled “Blog war in Orange County”
He also wrote “SAUSD spying on bloggers” and “Get the picket signs ready.”
Sean Mill had many posts with multiple comments such as:
Metzler goes home empty handed
The hypocrisy of the Cribb Crowd
One time conservative darling Nestande pleads guilty
Thomas Gordon had some very active posts including:
SAUSD fraud continues
You might be a redneck
Pulido no es Villaraigosa
Joe Shaw, who has his own blog, wrote several including:
Rohrabacher on Ramos and Campeon downtown Huntington Beach
Health Care Italian Style
The Vietnamese community deserves it’s win
The team of Ron and Anna Winship wrote:
Property values
Subpoenas “The Redux”
Moral and Ethical Accountability?
While my initial posts were about the renewal of Measure M and the property rights Initiative Prop 90, I shifted my focus to a variety of issues including one which triggered comments as to my sensitivity towards Latinos. That post had the headline:
Some of my other posts with multiple comments included:
Peace Activist Cindy Sheehan
Senator Edwards $400 haircuts
How did Santa Ana get into it’s financial “pot hole”
My first Juice post read “CRA/LA city council “blink.” The story included a quote from LA councilman Eric Garcetti’s Press Release which read it’s “a great day for Hollywood.”
No! They caved on their attempt to follow through on the “eminent domain” taking of Bernard Luggage. This was a great day for defenders of real property rights.
Sometimes we get lucky and find ourselves in the right place at the right time. I refer to my scoop of Otto Bade runnin
g as a write-in candidate in the 34th congressional district last Oct. Otto could have been a spoiler in that contest.
This summary is not about bragging rights. It’s really about marketing. The challenge for us is to elevate our reports especially as the Juice is now receiving more hits from around the state and beyond. While it is interesting to see which stories our readers responded to last year, we live in an ever changing world and need to be on our toes looking for new nuggets to share with you as we move ahead.
New readers will be looking for a wider variety of topic coverage that initiates dialog. Finding and posting those stories is our challenge for the next 12 months.
On behalf of Art and the rest of the Juice family we thank you for your participation. Without your comments the OC Weekly recognition would not have occurred.
you left out the list of Orange Juice posts that said how great and important Orange Juice is in the eyes of Orange Juice posters.
So, Larry knows the words to the Barney song. “I love you, you love me, OC Juice self loving family….”
Anonymous.
Isn’t it nice that you can hide behind an alias as you attack those of us who spend our free time writing stories you obviously read.
My overview of the past year was not on winning an award. If we are to truly perform an effective public service for our readers it is relevant to know what issues they prefer. Many of my posts did not receive a single comment. Perhaps the report was without dispute or my post simply missed the audience target.
Thank you for your insightful feedback. I’ll be sure to pray for each of you.
I refer to my scoop of Otto Bade running as a write-in candidate in the 34th congressional district last Oct.
Scoop? You gotta be kidding, Larry. You mentioned Bade as one of “other write-in candidates” AFTER Rosie Avila’s congressional write-in and the write-in candidate of a WATER BOARD candidate. You obviously had no idea about the meaning or importance of Bade’s candidacy.
anonymous.
While I worked to get Congressman Issa elected a few years ago and endorsed John Campbell in his race I did not participate in the 34th race.
That said, it was only after I posted about Otto Bade, and the other write in candidates, that it was picked up by the other blogs and the local media. To me, that does show that I was in “the right place at the right time” to go through all of the filing papers at the Registrar’s office and posted about all the write-in applications, including Otto’s.
No I didn’t interview him as he was not present. In fact, he was a stealth candidate and not accessible to anyone at the time.
While I was in Santa Ana I did see and speak to Will B King, aka William David Beckingham, another candidate for elected office. It’s true!
Dear Mr. Pedroza,
Thank you for keeping us informed. You are now my main source of local news. I heard from my Aunt that the S.A. City council held a special “retreat” to discuss various issues regarding the city. Does the Brown Act allow for such secret meetings? Was the O.J. staff made aware of it? I’m told that removal of yourself and Mr. Mill and Mr. Gallegos from City Boards was a topic of discussion and that a straw vote came back with all seven agreeing to consider your removals. I’m shocked and saddened that the city council would try to bully you all and show such disregard for free speech. Please post on this meeting and the topic of your removal as well as Mr. Mill and Mr. Gallegos. Thanks!
congratulations, larry, on your one year anniversary with the oc juice !! you are the best. you have a gift and you use it well. i know how hard you work on bringing us topics that challenge us, enlighten us and amuse us. i look forward to another year of mind stimulating posts. your friend, cathy schlicht
Anonymous 7:38 p.m.
While I suggest headlines for all of my posts we also have an editor who can alter them. For the most part our editor will never get recognized for his investment of time and talent to this blog.
This particular report was to share some market research, an area for which I have over 25 years of private sector experience.
We are not directed as to which stories or cities to cover on our posts. However, rather than spin our wheels it is useful to know what issues the readers wished to expand upon. While I have had many letters published in several newspapers, you can all get your mesaage to us in minutes so long as you stay on point, refrain from vulgarity, character assasination or commenting on members of our families.
That’s the only ground rules. You can even sign in without providing your names. Not too tough is it?
Lose the snotty attitude Larry.
I posted a remark which stayed well within your parameters, and still you chose to delete it. You might remember the statement, Gustavo awarded OJblog, not for their hard hitting, truth finding, exposes, but for their “unpredictability and sheer entertainment”
I’m sure it just got lost in the email
anonymous 5:08 p.m.
Be careful here.
“I posted a remark which stayed well within your parameters, and still you chose to delete it.’
Larry is not the only member of this blog with power to delete blog comments. Furthermore, I have not deleted any comment in many months other than my own where they were a duplicate.
Thank you for clarifying Gustavo’s recognition criteria. FYI. I have several friends who write for OC Blog and commend them for their contributions to the debate. If we had not written the stories that appeared last year, and members of the public had not responded, we would not have received any recognition. Can you agree to these basic facts? Perhaps the only think that will make you happy is to lob hand grenades.
If you haven’t already done so, let me suggest that you start your own blog where you can control what the public gets to see.