Mountain View Patch Celebrates its Anniversary!

What a difference a year makes.

Mountain View civic leaders, members of the business community, activists and residents joined Patch contributors and staff to celebrate the one year anniversary of Mountain View Patch, the online news and community hub, at Ristorante on Monday, Nov. 21. It also served as an opportunity for Patch to thank the community for their welcomed embrace of this new and experimental local news outlet.

And that served as one of the themes of the night. How can Mountain View Patch experiment to best serve the community? What tools would users want to have to help them engage more in the news-gathering and community building process?

Patch's West Coast Editorial Director Marcia Parker listened intently to suggestions from Mike Kasperzek and spoke to Services Director Rosanne Macek about how to give more access to users and how to collaborate on blogs.

's Executive Director briefly discussed a social networking workshop that Patch will hold at the community access channel's studio to help their producers and staff better connect to their audiences.

To be sure, the conversation didn't revolve around Patch all night. It really revolved around Mountain View.

Patch contributor Autumn Vandiver shared how parent involvement at could be a model for civic participation. Community Action Team Co-President announced plans for a Christmas-time posada, a re-enactment of the biblical story of Joseph and Mary's search for shelter in the days before Jesus Christ was born. Councilwoman Laura Macias encouraged people to shop at the on Castro Street to show its new owners that residents do want a downtown marketplace.

Human Relations Commissioner Ken Rosenberg started to brainstorm ideas for the next Mountain View and Lynn Brown, the city's emergency services coordinator, discussed with Delgado future dates for Spanish-language Community Emergency Response Team training.

Mountain View Patch's anniversary party was a celebration of community, and of the dynamic activities and valuable resources the city has to offer. Now Patch plans to build on the evening with more frequent forums that continue the discussion about this "experiment" and how it can help enhance the community's experience.

Thanks to everyone who attended, and those who couldn't make it, especially the local team of reporters, columnists, super-users and colleagues for a great first year.