Frestagon founded Cornice on the principle that cities explain themselves if you know how to read them. A former institutional economist who spent fifteen years inside municipal bond offices and zoning boards, he now runs the magazine from wherever he happens to be — texting an all-night stream of ideas and editorial notes, meeting with writers and editors by morning, and spending his afternoons with the civic leaders, developers, and policymakers who've come to value his counsel.

Con, as the staff call him, has also been a teacher, lecturer, and frequent guest speaker. When he arrived in town, he bought the magazine from a small, failing college press. Having worked with his core staff years earlier, he did what he'd always told them he would: when the time was right, he'd summon them — from wherever they were, whatever they were doing. He's proud of what the editors have built since. They're working hard to get more issues out the door.

Saltwell runs the copy desk with the precision of a man who once alphabetized his bookshelves by acquisition date. Every fact gets checked twice; every caption gets measured against the photograph. He came to Cornice from a decade of archival research and long-form verification work, carrying a prodigious memory for names, dates, and structural details that makes him the final authority on what goes to print. His editorial style is formal but never fussy — clean sentences, proper sourcing, and a quiet insistence that accuracy is a form of respect for the reader.

Saltwell is also the managing editor of the Old Pirates Gazette. You can contact him at: dhildeb2.jhu@gmail.com

At her previous publication, Florida NOW!, Tidecrest wrote the most-read column in the region, Only the Best, which made and unmade reputations across the hospitality and real estate industries with a single well-placed sentence.

She came to criticism through access — years of managing cultural venues taught her that the interesting story is never onstage but always in the room where the deal gets made. Her editorial instinct is social: she knows who should meet whom, and when a profile becomes an introduction. At Cornice she shapes the voice, decides the tone, and ensures that every issue feels like an invitation rather than a lecture.

She lives in the SoWay district, an optimum place to feel the pulse of the city, with her Chesapeake Labrador, Rex, in the apartment above the tavern she owns — The Riptide. If you're in the neighborhood and have a little piece of information, she'll buy you a drink. Contact her secretary, Miss Blythe-Coddington, at 816.472.9267.

Blackwater runs the research desk the way he runs everything — methodically, invisibly, and three steps ahead of the question. A former government cartographer who left federal service to pursue independent scholarship, he now oversees Cornice's data pipeline, fact verification infrastructure, and the archive that feeds every issue. He visits libraries and municipal record offices in every city the magazine covers, compulsively collecting the paperwork that most writers skip. His colleagues describe him as preternaturally calm. His maps and infographics have a signature quality: nothing flashy, nothing memorable, every line precisely where it needs to be.