Dec 27, 2022Expanding CACF’s Virtuous Cycle for Asian American PowerI 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…Asian American4 min readAsian American4 min read
Oct 28, 2022How to improve democracy? Here’s the amazing story of how one leader in one small agency brought lasting change to the system of democracy in America’s largest city.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…Voting4 min readVoting4 min read
May 28, 20222022 WRA Commencement SpeechWestern 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…Commencement Speech13 min readCommencement Speech13 min read
Mar 22, 2021Anti-AAPI Hate and Our Long COVID Recovery AheadAsian-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…Stopasianhate4 min readStopasianhate4 min read
Mar 21, 2021Teachers have stepped up during the pandemic. They deserve a Mayor who steps up, too.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…Andrew Yang5 min readAndrew Yang5 min read
Jan 18, 2021Member-onlyWe Must Break the Chain Reaction of HateThis 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…Policing The Police4 min readPolicing The Police4 min read
Jan 18, 2021Today is a Day That Will Live in InfamyI 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…January 6 20211 min readJanuary 6 20211 min read
Dec 29, 2020I’m Running For Mayor So That We Can Change This City Together.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…New York City4 min readNew York City4 min read
Jun 29, 2020$1 billion is far from enough.We have a crisis of historic proportions. The largest epidemic in 100 years. The largest economic crisis in 100 years. The largest protests in 50 years. The police as the face of systemic racism, now more than ever. Hundreds of protesters are encamped in New York City’s City Hall Park…Defundthepolice10 min readDefundthepolice10 min read
Nov 16, 2019Why the Parent Leadership of Brooklyn Technical High School Walked Out of the Interview for a New PrincipalThe Brooklyn Tech community was “deprived of their right to have the best possible Principal” by a process that stacked the deck in favor of a single candidate. In this letter, we call for a new, fair Principal selection process. Click here for the Chalkbeat story. — We also hope to shed needed light on the obscure process used to select the Principals and Assistant Principals in the 1,300 NYC public schools.Education2 min readEducation2 min read
