Our friends over at Crosscut just started a cool new feature called “If I were Mayor” in which they are asking prominent members of the community for their insights on what they’d do if they were running the state’s biggest city.
The feature is especially timely given that the city will be choosing its leader this November.
The feature is kicking off today with none other than Andy Sack, the Seattle entrepreneur and co-founder of Founder’s Co-op.
Sack certainly isn’t shy about sharing his opinions, oftentimes in the blunt East Coast style in which he was reared.
So, what would Sack tackle if he took over Mayor McGinn’s job. For one, he’d institute an after-school computer science programs, an issue that certainly would resonate among the tech crowd. (Sack also is behind an effort called Code Fellows, which is designed to teach computer skills to professionals).
“Some Microsoft engineers are already volunteering time to teach computer science courses at Seattle public schools, but the scale of this program should be expanded,” he notes. “Get the kids involved early — before high school; especially kids who are coming from low-income families.”
Secondly, Sack said more needs to be done to improve the quality of life around the waterfront, a project that he believes could help attract more people to the city.
“We need to do a better job of building it up and taking advantage of that beautiful area of Seattle,” says Sack, adding that he’d also like to see the University District cleaned up.
It’s a fun feature, and we’re looking forward to what other Seattle leaders have to say.
Heck, we might even take a page out of the feature and start asking some of the prominent technology leaders what they’d do if they were at the helm of another Seattle institution: Microsoft.
