NYTimes retail reporter joining metro desk

New York Times metro editor Wendell Jamieson sent out the following message to the staff:

Liz Harris, who broke our hearts when she left the Appraisal column last year for the retail beat in BizDay, has mended our hearts by returning to Metro for the (pre-)K-12 schools opening created by Javier’s departure. This is a big moment in a big beat: This is the school year when we should begin to see concrete results — or not — of the new administration’s policies. We are thrilled that this favorite daughter of Metro has returned to take it on.

And with that in mind, Kate Taylor will also tackle schools, leaving City Hall, where she has done great work during Bloomberg’s final term and de Blasio’s first six months. Kate has shown a real knack for policy stories, as well as drilling down on the social issues facing college students, and the change to K-12 is both natural and exciting. Both she and Liz will work with Ian Trontz.

Matt Flegenheimer, who has done extraordinary work covering transit in New York and the region — and by that I mean everything from trains and buses to green cabs and bicycles, as well as the Port Authority, as well as his own struggles leaning to ride a bike (not to mention a trip to Sweden) — will join the City Hall bureau. Matt is a gorgeous writer with a sharp mind, and it’ll be great to see him unleash those talents on the administration. Again, a big moment: Will the vision match the reality now that de Blasio and his team have been in City Hall for a while?