Andre L. Taylor, Patch Staff

Email: andre.taylor@patch.com

Phone: 703-439-4933

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA

Birthday: May 3

Bio: I was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa. and recently moved to Virginia in October. I received my BA in Mass Communications from Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the nation's first Historically Black College and University. Before attending Cheyney, I attended Temple University in Philadelphia where I was a member of the Owls football team as a scholar-athlete. After a little more than a season of football at Cheyney, I left the game because of an injury. I then focused my attention solely on journalism and quickly rose from a sports reporter to editor-in-chief of our campus newspaper, The Record.

I love to cook and you will get a chance to follow my recipes on this website in my Andre Taylor's Tasty Tidbits column.

Your Beliefs: I live by the old journalistic rule of get it first, but get it right. I believe great, solid journalism is a lost art form. I promise to be fair in all of my reporting and I welcome criticism, good and bad, as that is the only way I feel we can preserve one of our most precious freedoms as Americans: freedom of press. I believe input from the public is needed to make sure the real news is being reported on. I promise to always keep an open ear to anyone willing to speak.

Politics:  I have been a registered voter since I turned 18. Since becoming eligible to vote, I have moved around a lot and I have been registered to vote in: Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Delaware, Texas, Maryland and now Virginia. Voting is something I take very serious and a privilege I partake in whenever I can.

Religion: I was raised in a mostly African Methodist Episcopal family. My wife and I are currently looking for a church home.

Local Hot-Button Issues: As a new resident of Fairfax County, I can't say enough how much I dislike the heavy traffic surrounding Interstate-495 near and around Tyson's Corner. As a person who has lived in Philadelphia and New York, I understand traffic, but never have I seen such massive traffic jams during the weekends, late evenings and during the times of day when people should be at work and school and not in a three mile backup.