Elizabeth.giegerich@patch.com
914-486-0542 twitter.com/peekskillpatch Originally from: Yorktown, NY Bio: Liz was born and raised in Yorktown Heights, NY, where she attended Yorktown High School.  From there, she moved to New Orleans, La. to study communications at Tulane University.  Her interest in communications evolved into an interest in journalism after Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans community that she'd grown to love.  Katrina highlighted the vital role journalism plays in a community that needs accurate, trusted information and where ordinary people often perform the extraordinary.  Upon graduating from Tulane, Liz returned to New York where she earned a masters degree in community journalism from New York University.  She focused on using multi-media reporting to tell the stories of people and communities throughout the boroughs. Prior to working at Patch, Liz worked as the Director of Communications for a large, national non-profit organization in New York City, where she was the editor of its print and web publications and helped to modernize the communications department. Liz is happy to be back where her roots are in northern Westchester to report on the important news and events happening in the Town of Cortlandt and the City of Peekskill. 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 see some of the logic to both sides on various issues, and am an Independent.  I think it is important for people to make decisions based on the facts relevant to each candidate in any election, and not solely along party lines. Religion How religious would you say you are? Casual, observant, devout, non-religious? I was raised Catholic and appreciate the values of that religion.  However, I consider myself more spiritual than religious.   Local Hot Button Issues What do you think are the most important issues facing the community? School and governmental budget issues, waterfront development initiatives, education and general development and redevelopment.  In Peekskill, an important issue facing the community is increasing foot traffic downtown and bringing more residents and visitors into the community to appreciate the culture, art, music and restaurant scenes the city offers and to patronize downtown businesses.