Dear readers: Just like Mike, Rob, and Ryan before me, today I’m stepping down as DCist’s Editor-in-Chief. Sommer is going to continue to shepard the site for the months to come, and given the work she’s done so far, I know she’ll do an excellent job. I’m not going away altogether, though — I’m hoping to start writing longer pieces on issues that escape from the immediacy of day-to-day news blogging.

Writing and editing for DCist has been both tiring and satisfying. Much like the city we aspire to cover, DCist is an unpredictable beast. We try to be both a small and insurgent part of the region’s mediascape, and a serious contender for breaking news and exposing new perspectives on existing stories. We’re constantly trying to find the balance between a legitimate news outlet and a more free-flowing media collective that represents as much of the city and its diversity as it can. It’s a work in progress, for sure, but the people that have written and write for the site do it because they’re passionate about Washington.

To all the readers that sent in tips and criticisms, thanks. To all the people I never emailed back or stories I just couldn’t follow up on, my apologies. To all the journalists and photographers from whom we lifted stories and images (we always gave credit, though), thanks for doing the legwork. To the people of the city I’ve called home for the last four years (and the bloggers among them), my appreciations for the activism, the passion, and the patience. And to Jonathan Rees, we all owe you a debt of gratitude for your crazy antics and the amount of HTML we have dedicated to covering it.

Picture snapped by JamesCalder