GenerAsian at NYU

First Asian Council Member Looms in Future:
Numerous Asian Candidates in Upcoming District Council Elections May Increase Chances of a Win
by James S. Yi, Special Contributor

Due to the advent of term limits, there will be a flood of new faces on the New York City Council next year. Thirty-six out of the fifty-one seats will be filled by new blood and among those legion of new faces may be the first Asian council member ever in New York City. With the help of the generous campaign matching law funds, a host of candidates ranging from janitors to executives will fill out the ballots.

District 1, which covers most of southern Manhattan, (Chinatown, Tribeca, Battery Park, the Village, SoHo) will have one of the most diverse and competitive races in the city. There are a total of 6 Democratic candidates, 3 of whom are Asian, vying for term limited Kathryn Freed's position. Since no run-off will be held, there is a chance that the winner will not get a majority.

The three Asian candidates are Rocky Chin, a civil rights attorney; Margaret Chin, an executive; and Kwong Hui, a labor activist.

Rocky Chin Rocky Chin, 53, an attorney for the New York City Commission for Human Rights, states his important issues are "affordable housing, education, and civil rights." He will probably get the endorsement from former Mayor, David Dinkins, on whose campaign he also worked. Chin was also the campaign manager for Sau Ngar Li and Danny Yip, two winning Asian American candidates for Community Board 2.

Margaret Chin, 47, is an executive deputy director for Asian Americans for Equality, and thus, has experience in organizing tenants. She also administered a program for Chinese immigrant students while working for La Guardia Community College. She lost to Kathryn Freed in both 1991 and 1993. Like Rocky Chin, housing and education are her major concerns.

Kwong Hui Kwong Hui, 34, currently works as vice-president for development at New York Studios, a filmed entertainment production facility, and was a former member of the Chinese Staff and Workers Association, for which he now works part-time. He has led efforts to organize workers in long running labor disputes at two of the biggest Chinatown restaurants, Jing Fong and Silver Palace, where workers were being paid less than a dollar an hour and subjected to inhumane conditions. Running on a "twenty-one point" platform that emphasizes "ensuring our youth a better life," anti-