Let’s get small business owners using technology: State Sen. Anthony H. Williams

State Senator Anthony H. Williams wants small business owners to know that mobile apps aren’t just for big corporations.

“There are a number of small business owners in my district that sit on the sidelines and think that technology is only for the big guys,” said Williams, who represents parts of South Philadelphia, Southwest Philadelphia, West Philadelphia and Delaware County.

So he’s hosting a free event Saturday morning at University of the Sciences to get small business acquainted with mobile apps and how they can use them to run their business more effectively. Forty people have already signed up, Williams said.

To RSVP, call El Ali at 610-284-7335 or email him at eali AT pasenate.com

The senator, who’s been rumored to be mounting a mayoral bid, said his interest in technology doesn’t stop at mobile apps. When he was first elected to the Senate in 1998, he asked that an electronic database be created to log city service complaints so his office could track patterns.

“When I first got here,” he said, “they were using pen and paper” to record constituent complaints. Fielding these complaints is one of the tasks that his office regularly.performs.

When asked if his office would be open to releasing that data, Williams said he’d be open to releasing any data that could help constituents.

Williams also has an active interest in STEM education, cosponsoring a bill that would develop a STEM commission in the Department of Education in order to increase the amount of STEM programs in the region. The bill is currently waiting to be heard in the education committee.

Williams said it’s still to early to say if he’ll be running for mayor, but he did tell us that sometimes, he’s the one behind the tweets on his Twitter account — and that makes his staffers, who often do the tweeting, nervous, he joked.

“I’m 56 years old, which means I didn’t grow up with this stuff,” he said.

Though he uses and appreciates his iPhone and iPad, he said that sometimes it gets on his nervous.

“Everything is chiming and pinging,” he said. “People can get to you 24/7.”