West Village Local Newspaper Staff Quits, Starts News Paper: Report

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Staffers left in a mass exodus from a longtime West Village newspaper and started a competing paper, according to a news report.

WestView News, which was founded over 20 years ago by now 95-year-old George Capsis, recently had the majority of its staffers depart to create a new West Village publication called New WestView News, first reported by the Village Sun.

The new name is just a bit similar to the original.

The first issue of the new newspaper was published on Dec. 2, and is under the leadership of Arthur Schwartz, reported the Village Sun.

Schwartz is a lawyer, Community Board 2 member, and District leader who ran against now Council Member Erik Bottcher in the race to replace Corey Johnson in the summer of 2021.

“The last issue of WestView News was disconnected, for the most part, from Greenwich Village (except for some excellent pieces by Brian Pape, who will be joining us),” a note on the new publication's first issue read. “We continue to respect George, who, we hope, will join his old staff once again, absent the distractions.”

Schwartz told the Village Sun that the "WestView" name is not copyrighted by Capsis, and thus the new publication can use it.

The original WestView has not published an issue since early November.

You can read the full story on the Village Sun's website.