So we noted earlier today that everyone's favorite new Twitter stream was reporting that the west coast offices of Curbed had suffered some layoffs. We caught up with founder Lockhart Steele who confirmed there had been changes:

We're transitioning most of our West Coast sites to a freelance model instead of a full-timer model; the exception to the change is Curbed LA. It's also true that we offered the freelance positions to the current full-time editors, most of whom have indicated they'll stay with us. This all went down about a week ago.

Of course, it sucks, and of course it's about focusing resources on our most-trafficked (and most lucrative) sites for 2009.