New Seattle mayor recalls his Five Towns roots

No one knows where life will take them, from the Five Towns to Seattle, internships to law school, Midgely Drive to the mayor’s office.

Growing up in Hewlett, Michael McGinn, who was elected mayor of Seattle in November, in a very tight election, was one in a family of eight.

His parents, John and Joyce McGinn, were very active in the Hewlett-Woodmere community. His mother ended her career as an educator as the principal of the Franklin Early Childhood Center and his father worked for 29 years in the Hewlett-Woodmere school district.

McGinn attended St. Joseph’s Elementary School in Hewlett and St. Agnes Cathedral High School in Rockville Centre (now closed). After graduating from Williams College in Massachusetts in 1982, McGinn returned to Long Island.

In 1983 he moved to Washington, D.C. to intern for Congressman Jim Weaver of Oregon. The internship led to a full-time job and he eventually moved out to Oregon and discovered he liked the northwest. Law school at the University of Washington led McGinn to Seattle, where he settled down, began private practice and became involved in the community.

As for sports, McGinn is a Seattle fan now, but remembers growing up in a great era of New York sports.

“I got some memories going into Madison Square Garden and seeing the Knicks in their heyday,” said McGinn. “Championship eras against the Lakers, good memories going to Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum and seeing Dr. J (Julius Erving) and Billy Paultz. Going to Shea Stadium and seeing the Mets play.”

McGinn is very happy where life has led him, but maintains fond memories of growing up in the Five Towns. “I grew up on a dead end street called Midgely Drive,” said McGinn, “where I made some lifelong friends playing stickball, street hockey and touch football.”

Some of those lifelong friends even made the trip out to Seattle to celebrate McGinn’s inauguration this past January after a tight race that saw him win by only three percentage points.

“It’s very challenging,” said McGinn. “We have a very different economy and an education system that needs improvement, significant transportation challenges facing the region and a lot of things to work on, but very challenging and, to date, very rewarding.”