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East Valley Tribune food critic Jess Harter’s Twitter post an hour ago was quite a stunner:
“EV Trib had another massive round of layoffs this morning, including yours truly. My final day will be when sale is finalized next week.”
The layoffs followed yesterday’s announcement that the newspaper’s sale was approved.
Harter followed up by remarking, “I’m truly excited to move on to new opportunities, which you’ll hear about soon. But I’m very sad about the evisceration of Tribune.”
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Late last year, Harter was facing unemployment when the Trib announced it would close by the end of 2009 due to failed attempts at selling the paper under Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization.
At that time, Harter told me that he had still-under-wraps plans to start a new restaurant-related venture that he couldn’t elaborate upon. The paper — and, for awhile, Harter’s job — was spared when Boulder, Colorado-based Thirteenth Street Media offered to buy it from Irvine, California’s Freedom Communications, Inc.
Now, Harter’s revisiting his food-centric contingency plan, which he promises he’ll unveil soon — after a long vacation.
As for the Trib’s food coverage? No word yet on whether the paper will continue restaurant reviews, but, sadly, it seems doubtful.
