DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Once again the Downtown News is too kind, naming me one of its "Leaders of the Pack" for 2006.

Eric Richardson: Via his blogdowntown.com forum, this resident and DLANC member has carved out a high-profile niche in Downtown. His blog is read not only by Central City denizens but also City Hall insiders, business groups and media. When he blogs about a Downtown issue, people read.

blogdowntown actually grew out of a Downtown News mention of my blog in the 2005 look-ahead issue. At that point everything I wrote was still at blog.ericrichardson.com, but I was starting to realize that the Downtown bits deserved their own space. On January 13th, 2005, blogdowntown launched. I think there's some fun stuff to come for the site in 2006.

Personally, My fun news for 2006 is that I've finally found a Downtown job. Tuesday I start work at Cartifact, the mapping company responsible for (among many other things) the Downtown LA Walks maps and the Downtown Center BID's Interactive Map. To say I'm excited about having just a few short blocks to walk to work would be a grave understatement.