Carol Williams, Patch Staff

Hi. My name is Carol Gorga Williams and I am the editor of the remade Asbury Park Patch, part of a nationwide journalism endeavor that strives to bring hyper-local news back to your living rooms , vehicles or anywhere you take your smart phones and other devices. All my adult life, I have lived along the Shore. I came most 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 centering on minority and urban affairs, preferring the issues that arose in metro communities such as 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 make redevelopment more fair, not just of benefit to the rich and powerful. Asbury Park is dealing with such questions, about how redevelopment that begins with prime oceanfront land can spread westwood so the entire city will reap the rewards that come with ratables and jobs. I look forward to covering such topics with the same gusto in which I pursued courts and crime and the quality of life issues that go along with attempts to reduce the epidemic of opiate addiction in New Jersey and elsewhere. But my professional bread and butter has been and always will be community journalism. I strive to respond to every telephone call, email and text about the communities I cover. I simply want to provide relevant information to people who can use it to make decisions about the quality of their own lives and neighborhoods. That means anything from issues to events to interesting people and achievements is on the list as is politics, taxes, public safety, development, transportation, jobs, education, coastal issues, affordable housing and infrastructure improvements and the cultural life of the city. This is your virtual public square so you will inform what is written here. I know something already: with all the marketplaces in the city, none seems more vital than the marketplace of ideas and I look forward to covering the debates that arise there. I hope you will share with me the concerns and cares that develop in this iconic city by the sea. I am very excited to be here. I currently live next door in Neptune with my wonder dog, Baxter. I came here after college, earning a bachelor's degree in English from Barry University with minors in journalism and economics and proceeded to Syracuse University where I earned my master's degree in journalism. And may I say - with apologies to better writers than me - Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey. Let's talk.