Remarks at Gowanus Canal Conservancy Gala May 16, 2023 at Brooklyn’s Bell House Photo credit: Wendel White On my first night in Brooklyn in 1985, I discovered the Gowanus Canal. I didn’t know of its unsavory reputation as a mafia dumping ground. I didn’t know that 13 million gallons of…

I adapted this essay from my closing remarks at CACF’s Legislative Briefing for City and State elected officials on December 6, 2022 and CACF’s Top 10 Accomplishments of 2022. I learned about CACF early last year when invited to participate in their Mayoral Forum. After doing some research, I couldn’t…

This week, in a small and relatively obscure NYC agency, a giant is retiring. Amy Loprest leaves behind a legacy of lasting improvements in a cornerstone of New York City’s democracy, our vaunted campaign finance system. — Amy Loprest spent 16 years as Executive Director of the NYC Campaign Finance Board. I had the privilege of working with Amy as a Board Member from 2009 to 2018. The work I did with Amy counts among the greatest accomplishments of the careers of many who worked with her…

Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio May 29, 2022 Good morning! Thank you Headmaster Buck for inviting me to speak. Thank you to the Board, Faculty, Parents and especially the students, the Class of 2022. Congratulations to Arthur Johnson for a truly impressive speech that has wisdom beyond your years. It’s…

Asian-American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) are fighting two pandemics: COVID and violent anti-Asian hate. While COVID is subsiding, hate is growing. Among my AAPI friends, safety and fear are at the top of every conversation. When my teenage son leaves the house, I now have a new fear: the killings of…

NYC can’t elect a Mayor who blames the school reopening mess on the UFT. We need a Mayor who understands that the buck stops on their desk. — “I will confess to being a parent that has been frustrated by how slow our schools have been to open, and I do believe that the UFT has been a significant reason why our schools have been slow to open,” Andrew Yang told Politico last week. Coming in the midst…

This story was first published on the Art Chang for NYC Mayor website. “Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction … The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall…

I issued this statement after the right-wing mob assault on the Capitol. Today, January 6, 2021 is a date which will live in infamy. This should have been a day to celebrate American democratic values by consummating a peaceful transfer of power. This should have been a day to…

I arrived in New York City in 1985 with $400 in my pocket and a belief that in this city anything was possible. I never stopped believing in a New York City that embraces and serves us all: people of every color, of every origin, of every gender. We are…