Basics

• Phone: 215-888-7167
• E-mail: zach@patch.com
• Hometown: Potomac, MD
• Birthday: April 6

Bio

Zach was editor of Chatham Patch in Chatham, NJ, before moving to Mt. Airy, where his family members have deep roots. He got his start in journalism by writing for the Gloversville Leader-Herald in upstate New York. Before that, he graduated from New York University, where he wrote a weekly nutrition and health column for the Washington Square News. He's also written for Restaurant Business and Beverage World magazines. Zach composed his first journalistically driven articles as a young boy, when he pretended to be a food critic and penned "reviews" in his dog-eared notebook of the food he ate at restaurants or at people's homes.

He's bicycled across the country twice with a group called Bike and Build—an affordable housing nonprofit based in Philadelphia—and helped lead the second trip, which ran from Jacksonville, FL, to San Francisco. Zach has also spent some time working in a cheese shop and considers it one of the most enjoyable things he's done.

He loves the energy that seems to reverberate around Mt. Airy at all times.

Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible and human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal certain key beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable.

This disclosure is not a license for our editors to inject these beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that our beliefs are on the record will force us to be ever mindful to write, report, and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you, the user, ever think you see evidence that we failed in this mission, we wholeheartedly invite you to let us know.

Politics: How would you describe your political beliefs? 

I try not to be too critical of what people believe, because most of the time, there's a good reason why they think the way they do. I lean left on most issues but hate partisanship. Locally, I don't think party labels really mean much, and I think it's especially important in small-scale, community settings to listen to what people or politicians say instead of defining them in terms of their party.

Religion: How religious would you say you are? Casual, observant, devout, non-religious?

I am Jewish, and pretty observant.

Local Hot Button Issues: What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? 

Oh, there are new issues that are coming up all the time. Right now, the streetscape project along Germantown Avenue is a big one, and as a whole, people in Mt. Airy definitely care deeply about how their neighborhood looks and take ownership of its appearance. School issues are also big. There's a lot of debate among parents over which schools their children will attend. As a whole, Mt. Airy has changed a lot over the past 20 years, and neighborhood residents will need to make sense of its continuing evolution.

Where do you stand on each of these issues? 

I definitely need to spend a bit more time around them before jumping to conclusions. But you can bet that Mt. Airy residents will have a say in where the neighborhood goes from here, and I think it says a lot that people who live here aren't apathetic. At all.