In the early 1980s, a substitute teacher and part-time radio host
offered to write for the Noe Valley Voice, then in its formative
stages. Steve Steinberg soon saw an additional opportunity and
offered to give selling ad space a try. Working with Co-Publisher
Jack Tipple, Steve wrote the book on community newspaper
advertising in San Francisco, gathering support from an
ever-increasing number of local small businesses, professionals,
and non-profits. While similar publications were born and soon
died, the Voice grew from 16 to 64 pages under Steve’s care.
Now New in Noe Valley
Steve was tenacious in collecting receipts, but won many friends
among the business community in Noe Valley. His “bosses”—Tipple
and Co-Publisher and Editor Sally Smith—found his dependability to
be rock solid, freeing them to craft layouts, edit stories, and
pay writers and photographers a respectable sum for their work,
which in turn attracted more advertisers.
Setting the Schedule
Steve never missed a deadline. Briefly hospitalized after his car
was totaled by a driver running a stop sign on Duncan Street,
Steve passed the word that the issue’s bank deposit would be made
as planned. A serious surgery sometime later likewise had no
effect on his schedule. Once he was even robbed at gunpoint of a
sizable pile of checks, but he meticulously shepherded their
re-issue and again enabled the Voice to pay its bills in a timely
manner.
Mr. Steinberg Has Left the
Building
After 30 years of observing this steadfast behavior, we were
stunned when Steve announced he intended to retire in the spring
of 2012. Shock, grief, panic, and denial turned to acceptance and
finally relief, when public relations professional and longtime
Voice writer Pat Rose offered to take over the ad reins. Her
enthusiasm and the support of many neighborhood friends will
enable the Voice to keep sailing. Steve and his wife Paula and
their two dogs, Chelsea and Spicy, continue to live in Glen Park.
We thank him and wish him well.
