Dear San Mateo Patch readers,

I'm delighted to share with you that I am now the full-time editor of San Mateo Patch.

You may be wondering who I am. Well, here's who:

I was the editor of Belmont Patch until this weekend, which I launched on Oct. 6 and prior to that spent months getting to know the city of Belmont. I know more about Belmont now than I do even about my hometown! I hope that soon I can say the same for San Mateo.

Before I was the editor of Belmont Patch, I worked as the San Mateo County Bureau Reporter for the local news wire Bay City News Service, covering all the cities in San Mateo County on a daily basis.

I am familiar with San Mateo but I expect you, the readers, know much more than I do, and therefore I'm appealing to you to introduce yourselves to me, and share some story ideas or news tips. Belmont residents frequently called, texted or e-mailed me story ideas, and it helped the site blossom into the interactive news tool you see today.

Under my leadership, San Mateo Patch will produce hard news articles, as well as enhance the feature stories that already make San Mateo Patch the spot for residents to find out unique and interesting things about town.

You can expect me to stay until the end of City Council or school board meetings and report the stories quickly. You can expect me to show up at the scene of a breaking news incident and provide detailed information accurately and immediately. And you can expect me to answer your e-mails -- all of them.

Please feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment here with a story idea of something you'd like to see covered on San Mateo Patch, and I promise that I and my team of dedicated freelancers will do everything we can to track down the story!

You can also stay up-to-date with San Mateo Patch on our Facebook and Twitter pages.

I look forward to seeing you around town!

Thanks,

Laura

laura.dudnick@patch.com