Meet Your New Astoria/Long Island City Reporter

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Hello, neighbors!

My name is Nick Garber and I'm your new local reporter at Patch, where I'll be covering all things Astoria and Long Island City.

I'm easy to reach and looking forward to hearing from readers about neighborhood news, big and small. Send me an email at nick.garber@patch.com or follow me on Twitter if there's an issue or event that you'd like to bring to my attention.

If I look familiar, perhaps it's because you've seen me around the neighborhood: I've lived in Astoria since last spring, while reporting on my previous beat of Harlem and the Upper East Side. I'll keep covering those neighborhoods in addition to Western Queens.

Over the past year, I've reported on a church eviction, holdout tenants, development battles, a gated-off Midtown garden and much more. And in my first week covering Queens, I've already written about a new Astoria food hall, a planned tower in Long Island City and political shakeups in the neighborhood.

A little about me: I grew up in Upper Manhattan and went to high school in the Bronx before graduating from Middlebury College, a small liberal arts school in Vermont. I got my start in journalism there, reporting for several local newspapers before spending a summer in Pittsburgh working for the Post-Gazette.

After that, I spent a year in Seattle as Patch's West Coast breaking news editor before joining the NYC team in 2020, which brought me back to my hometown. I'm thrilled about my new beat, which gives me the chance to cover a pair of Queens neighborhoods that have rich histories and are rapidly changing as the city grows. (My Astoria predecessor, Kayla Levy, will continue to cover Forest Hills and Bayside-Douglaston, in addition to Park Slope and Fort Greene, Brooklyn.)

I want to hear from Astoria and Long Island City readers about the issues that matter most to them, from housing to safety to schools, and anything in between. Have a neighborhood tip? Odd question? Restaurant recommendation? Please, get in touch!

-Nick