Stephen Buel to take his place

John Raeside, one of the founders of East Bay Express, has announced his resignation from the editor’s post, effective March 1. Managing Editor Stephen Buel will take up the editor’s reins at that time.

Raeside has been editor of the East Bay Express for 24 years. “That’s a long time to be attached at the hip to a weekly deadline,” Raeside wrote in a memo to his staff announcing his departure. “For the last several years, I have felt that the time was fast approaching when I would conclude I needed to explore other things. I have recently decided that the time for such a change has arrived.”

One of the things Raeside will be exploring is fatherhood. “It’s sort of a cliché to say that you want to spend more time with your family, but that really is it,” Raeside tells AAN News. “I have a four-year-old daughter who is ecstatic to hear that her daddy is going to have a lot of free time.”

Beyond that, Raeside says he hasn’t had much time to think about his future, only that it will likely involve writing. “That’s always been my great love”.

New Times bought East Bay Express just over a year ago. “We have just finished a very challenging year, our first under New Times ownership, and together we have assembled an amazing list of accomplishments,” Raeside wrote. “I am very proud of what we’ve achieved, and I am firmly convinced that we have the staff and the resources to take necessary to take our paper to the next level of success and service to this community.”

Raeside noted that he was under “absolutely no pressure to leave” from New Times corporate staff.

“When Steve joins [Publisher] Lesley Jones, whose skills, insight, and leadership have been so essential to the paper over the past four years, and particularly over the last 12 months, the Express will have a senior management team in place that is second to none”

Buel “has the full confidence of the New Times corporate staff.” Raeside wrote.

John Dicker, a freelance writer based in New York, contributed to this story.