UPDATE: 'Salinas Californian' Moves to Southwest Offset Printing's Press

By: Jim Rosenberg The Salinas Californian was printed in its own pressroom for the last time Sept. 19. Southwest Offset Printing now prints the Californian, Gannett sister paper USA Today, and the Californian's other  titles, El Sol and Off 68, at its Redwood City plant. Production will remain at that location for about two weeks, "until they bring the Urbanite up" in San Jose, where SOP is "in the process of completing a new facility," says Californian General Manager Terry Feinberg. In a notice to staff, Feinberg cited the faltering economy and the cost of repairing or replacing old equipment — in need of costly repair or replacement — in the decision to outsource printing of the six-day paper, which circulates 10,791 copies weekdays and 13,100 copies of Saturdays. Though not in the same shape as the press now at SOP's new plant in San Jose, the Californian, too, has been running a Goss Urbanite. Feinberg says its fate and the future use of the pressroom have yet to be determined. The change eliminated the jobs of nine full-time and six part-time workers, who were able to apply for jobs at the San Jose facility. SOP, says Feinberg, "ended up making offers to five of our guys, and three of them accepted." In  his memo, Feinberg said that while no deadline changes were expected, "this new, modern facility will enable us to improve the quality and consistency of our printing and packaging, and still have our publications here in Salinas for delivery within our normal distribution time windows." News, advertising, circulation and business operations will remain in Salinas, according to Feinberg.