Email: nick.gestido@patch.com
Phone: 443-846-8678 Hometown: Currently Perry Hall, MD Birthday: 9/7/1985 Bio: Local Editor Nick Gestido was born and raised in Carney, MD, before his family moved to Fallston, MD in 1995.  He graduated from Fallston High School in 2003, and went to UMBC for college where he earned a degree in English with a minor in Journalism. During college, Nick worked for The Aegis, a local newspaper in Harford County and served as an intern at baltimoresun.com.  Upon graduation, he came to work for Patuxent Publishing in their now-closed Towson office, as an editorial assistant and sometimes-reporter for the Baltimore Messenger.  When the Tribune company was bought out, Nick left the world of journalism - working for 2 years as a grant writer for a non-profit agency in Columbia, MD before finding his ideal job with Patch.  He hopes to put his experience to use to serve the communities in Parkville, Carney, Overlea and Fullerton (and all their surrounding areas - looking at you Cub Hill, Linover, etc.) In his free time, Nick likes to read (mostly creative non-fiction & comic books - yes, they count), play video games, and watch movies (Netflix is probably the best thing ever to happen to him).  He lives with his wife, Cory (another Parkville native, and Loch Raven High School grad) and cat, Flops, in Perry Hall (despite his best efforts to move back "home" to Parkville).  Your 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 I'm a registered Democrat (so I can participate in primary elections) but I would say that I'm sort of politically agnostic - there is a great deal of good and bad to be had on either side of the "party line".  Religion Despite being raised Roman Catholic, I'm a pretty non-relgious individual.  Although, I am very interested in the religious beliefs of others - if you want to talk more about your beliefs or mine, just ask. Local Hot-Button Issues Streetscape redevelopment along the Bel Air & Harford Road corridors - this is a process that has been ongoing for several years at this point, and I'm very excited to see new life being breathed into our neighborhoods. Failing intersections and other issues related to traffic - I think this is a pretty serious issue throughout the Patch, some intersections (like that at Harford and Joppa) are out-of-control; I also know that many of the community leaders from both Parkville and Overlea have issues in their neighborhoods related to traffic calming (something I plan to keep an eye on).