Starting today, Lake in the Hills Patch has become one with Algonquin Patch.
The combination of the two sites is meant to strengthen our coverage of both communities.
This decision comes after receiving feedback from the community and spending time covering these communities — much of the issues affecting Algonquin readers also affect Lake in the Hills readers and vice versa.
Having all of the information in one place on the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch site will make it easier for you to keep up with all that is going on without having to flip back and forth between sites.
Here are some tips to help you continue to follow our coverage:
- The main URL for the site will be algonquin.patch.com. Be sure to bookmark it! If you are used to visiting lakeinthehills.patch.com, don't fret — you will be redirected to the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch site.
- If you already get our newsletter on either Algonquin or Lake in the Hills sites (or both) you should continue to receive that daily newsletter. If you haven't signed up already for a newsletter, be sure to do so by clicking on "join" in the top right corner of this site. You can get daily e-mail updates as well as breaking news alerts.
- Follow us on Facebook. We will be posting updates on the Algonquin Patch Facebook page, which soon will become the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch Facebook page.
- Got a news tip? Interested in blogging on our site? Wondering how you could claim your business listing on our site? E-mail Editor Amie Schaenzer at amie.schaenzer@patch.com.
Here are some of the exciting benefits the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch will bring to the Algonquin and Lake in the Hills communities:
- All of the businesses will be part of our extensive community directory, called Patch Places. Business owners will continue to be invited to claim their listing — and readers will have a comprehensive resource for finding every business in Algonquin and Lake in the Hills.
- We already are covering Algonquin and Lake in the Hills breaking news, schools and local government. This will allow us to expand that coverage and invite Algonquin and Lake in the Hills residents to add their own voices to the discussion through letters to the editor, announcements, events and photos in our neighborhood gallery.
- We’ll bring you regular coverage of the issues and events close to home. We’ve already started doing that, with coverage of Algonquin and Lake in the Hills. Now residents will have more of this kind of coverage.
We're excited about being able to provide better coverage of the things that matter to residents of both Algonquin and Lake in the Hills, which is always something we’re striving to do.
We hope you will check back often to Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Patch!
After losing $150 million dollars in 2011, Patch put all of its employees on a 30 day performance review plan. This made laying off 25% of its staff painless as employees were laid off purely because they weren't meeting expectations, not because of financial woes. Cutting and combining locations, as we see here with Algonquin-LITH Patch. Arianna has made big changes at the top; creating a new position of 'Chief Content Officer'. Her choice to fill the role is the former editor of Parenting.com. The revised approach of Patch will be to have a bunch of "best of" features, etc.. to draw in businesses who will eventually sign up on Patch to be listed in their business directories. One of Patch's initial goals was to influence political elections, particularly local races, and there will be a concerted move towards covering the 2012 elections. After that? It's anybody's guess. There are no guarantees that AOL will move into 2013 with Patch if it continues to bleed money like it has since its inception.