This is indeed bad news for all of us who either report on municipal politics, follow them or are active in local government.

Frances Bula has done an outstanding job for many years and amazingly maintained her sense of humour despite sitting through endless rounds of pointless Vancouver city council meetings and much more.

Good luck to Frances wherever she goes - she will have many fans who will follow.

I too will miss Frances' coverage of the municipal beat for the Sun. I have appreciated her thoroughness, even-handedness and humour. Her coverage of the mayoral nominations in her blog was superb. Best of luck in your next adventure.

Frances' first-rate coverage of civic issues will be a huge but expected loss for the once venerable Sun.

They promote the politically correct over real reporting. Frances never sold out another colleague in the press to get a story, like one or two of her former Sun columnists consistently do to appear in the know municipally. They got plum spots while she was relegated to covering brie and crackers last Christmas. Ridiculous. The Sun gets what they deserve.

Other than reading Vaughn Palmer, there is no reason left to put four quarters in the slot every morning.

And it wasn't just Frances' keen grasp on what she was covering, but the unique perspective she brought (when she wasn't placed on B5 while some obliviot got front page for a puff piece that took ten minutes to write). Other than Allen Garr and Stephen Quinn, I don't know of anyone else, who understands the civic issues as well as she does.

Vancouver Magazine are blessed to have her, as we are to be able to continue to read her material.

Wind at your back Frances. Congratulations on freeing yourself. Finally.