Times to Start Weekly Section for Santa Monica

The Times on Thursday will introduce a weekly section called Our Times that will provide local news coverage of Santa Monica, Venice and neighboring communities for many Westside readers.

Our Times will feature local stories ranging from coverage of the Santa Monica City Council to news about youth soccer teams. The section will be written and produced by the Times Community News, a Times Mirror Co. subsidiary that publishes community newspapers in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Our Times will be inserted into 64,000 Thursday editions of The Times each week.

“The closing of the Santa Monica Outlook gives us an opportunity and a responsibility to provide residents of the area with the local news that had been so well provided by the Santa Monica Outlook for so many years,” said Times Publisher Mark Willes. “Times Community News has an established team that excels in community reporting.”

Times Editor Michael Parks said, “The Los Angeles Times and Our Times will be a very strong combination. With Our Times, Los Angeles Times readers will get increased local coverage, as well as the unmatched coverage of regional, state, national and international news that The Times delivers.”

Orli Low, the city editor of the Westside Weekly section of The Times, has been named editor of Our Times and will oversee a staff of six. She is a Los Angeles native who lives on the Westside with her family.

The Times will continue to deliver the Westside Weekly section to a wide range of Westside communities, including Santa Monica and Venice, on Fridays and Sundays.

Our Times will provide a more local news package and focus on a smaller geographic area, said Robert G. Magnuson, Times senior vice president, regional editions.

“Times Community News is able to provide the community and neighborhood coverage that our readers consistently tell us they want to read,” Magnuson said. “Our Times zeros in on news about Santa Monica, Venice and surrounding neighborhoods. It will be a true community newspaper--with 100% local news--for these residents. We intend to make it a daily as quickly as possible.”

Judith Kendall, Times Community News vice president and general manager, said Our Times will also give local advertisers an affordable way to reach readers in targeted communities.

The Times plans to launch other editions of Our Times in other areas.