Asbury Park Gets 'Patch' Hyperlocal News Site Always On Deadline

ASBURY PARK, NJ - Hello. I am Carol Gorga Williams, the local editor of a newly remade digital news site that is part of the Patch family, a nationwide journalism endeavor aiming to put new life into hyperlocal community news and bringing it back to your front porches or living rooms or smartphones and assorted other devices in ways protected from the weather or the family dog's retrieval instincts. Say goodbye to ink-stained fingertips and hello to news delivered to you in ways that are consistent with how we live our lives in this rapidly changing world - although our world will center on subjects you tell us are important to you. You are in the driver's seat because you will either click or like or call or email with your thumb rhetorically poised up or down.

I wanted to tell you a little about myself and the way I see the mission of the Asbury Park Patch. All my adult life, I have lived along the Shore, coming recently from the Asbury Park Press where I covered education with an emphasis on Monmouth University and Brookdale Community College and where I blogged for the school and family space. Before that, I was a contributor to a regular Sunday column dealing with minority and urban affairs and where my interests often focused on the large towns and small cities in our region including Lakewood, Toms River, the Freeholds and Long Branch. My work on eminent domain not only was award winning but also helped spark a statewide dialogue about how to assure redevelopment benefits everyone, not just the wealthy and the powerful.

While the city's progress cannot be denied, how do we inspire redevelopment that begins with prime oceanfront and get it to spread westward so everyone can reap the benefits of increased ratables and livable wages through the creation of new and permanent jobs. I hope to bring the same gusto to Asbury that helped inform my coverage of court and crime news and related quality of life issues that come with discussions about public safety. While those may be bright headline grabbers, my professional bread-and-butter has been and always will be community journalism, life literally on Main Street and beyond. I strive to respond to every telephone call, email, text or social media notification about the issues and interests that are vital and even occasionally humorous to the community I cover. I want to provide relevant information to people who can use it to make thoughtful decisions about how to improve the quality of their own lives and that of their neighborhoods.

That means anything is on my list from issues to events to interesting people and achievements. And I hope the list is largely shaped by you. I will strive with determination to cover politics, taxes, public safety, development, transportation, jobs, affordable housing, infrastructure improvements and the cultural and religious lives of this diverse and ever-changing city. I will expand that list according to what you tell me matters to you. I will learn from you, the real Asbury Park experts. I have learned .well that there are many sides to a story in this community, not just the requisite two. I hope you will share with me all the concerns and cares of this iconic city by the sea. I live right next door, in Neptune so we are true and faithful neighbors. Dare I say it now - with apologies to the fine writers who coined the phrase that will never be cliche - Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey. Let's talk.

Carol Gorga Williams on the job.

Photo by Robert S. Williams