Wayne Barrett, whose column has appeared in the Village Voice since 1978, writes that he is leaving the paper, and suggests that the decision was not his own:

I am 65 and a half now, and it is time for something new.


If I didn’t see that, others did.

Further down, he notes that reporter Tom Robbins will also depart:

When he heard I was leaving, he quit himself and didn’t even tell me he was. “I’m going out with the guy who brought me to the dance,” Robbins told me after he resigned, crafting a lede with the very fiber of his life.

Barrett primarily covered New York city and state affairs for the Voice and was the author of two books on former NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani. Robbins’ political columns took first place in AAN’s AltWeekly Awards in both 2009 and 2010.

Barrett left the paper last week and Robbins, who also serves as a Voice union steward, will depart at the end of January.

Voice editor Tony Ortega tells AAN he is “disappointed” to be losing the two veterans, but added, “We have a lot of new people coming in, and I really like the direction we’re going.”