Well, we made it. What was once just the germ of an idea is officially launched. “You know what we need,” Whitney Powers asked of anyone who would listen to her a year ago. “The ability to help establish the vision for Charleston’s next 40 years of Charleston after Joe Riley leaves office.”
So a simple prompt emerged to open a web-based forum: What would YOU do . . . if you were mayor? Not a function of anyone’s campaign, but as an independent way to shape the city’s future in a positive way by documenting the wealth of ideas and projects shared and promoted by the city’s residents.
And over the last year, this website has gone from idea to actuality thanks to encouraging friends, talented people, eager individuals and willing organizations.
Today, we invite you to jump into the fray and help enliven If You Were Mayor with your ideas. It’s your space to share, create, and cross-pollinate with other members of your local community. It is a forum for finding, floating and exchanging approaches to make the city more livable, more joyful, more creative, more accessible, more just, more empathetic, more beautiful, more neighborly, more authentic, more efficient, more verdant, safer, healthier, . . . .
The list of possibilities is really boundless. Use your imagination. Jot down a thought or make something big. The key is to share it in a positive, constructive way with the thought that it might just make the city better.
