PROFILE: CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATE MARGARET CHIN.

How long have you been politically active?

I have been politically active for more than 30 years, since the early 70’s when I was in college. 

Why?  What drives you?

I took my first Asian Studies course at City College. It was called ‘Chinese in America.’ I learned about the struggles and discriminations faced by my ancestors. I also learned that my roots are here in the United States because my ancestors contributed to its building. I learned about the civil rights movement in College and the importance of working together in coalitions.   

I am an immigrant. I saw firsthand the suffering and injustice in my community, such as workers not getting hired because they did not speak English well, overcrowded housing conditions, workers not getting fair pay and children playing in the factories because there were no recreation programs for them. I wanted to do something to help. I committed myself to public service to help my community and other low income communities to fight for justice and equality.   

What were your biggest political fights?

In the early ‘80s I helped organize a group of tenants that were displaced from a building in Chinatown because the City passed a zoning plan that created a Special District that allowed for market rate developments, and kicked them out. We were able to get the local community board to overturn its original position to support the special district. The tenants also won a lawsuit to mandate bilingual notices, but later it was overturned. In the end the landlord was not allowed to build on the site because we were able to prove that there was tenant harassment. 

Another was in 1990, after the Charter Change in 1989 to eliminate the Board of Estimate and increase the size of the City Council from 35 to 51 seats. I fought for a new city council district that would keep Chinatown together and give an opportunity to elect an Asian council member. 
 

Which were most successful?

The aforementioned creation of District 1 to keep Chinatown together and the protection of tenants affected by rezoning were two major ones. Another one was in the late 90's I helped a family that was harassed by their landlord to win their case. At the end the landlord had to relocate the family temporarily to another apartment in Chinatown. The family moved back to their newly renovated apartment with no rent increase. 

In the last few years I worked with coalitions to get laws passed to protect tenants, such as the Tenant Protect Act, and to get the Battery Park City surplus to be designated for affordable housing.   

I also worked on getting language access in city agencies with the New York Immigration Coalition. The executive order that Mayor Bloomberg signed last year to provide language access in city agencies was a great success. 
 

What was your biggest defeat?

My biggest defeat was losing the 1991 City Council election by 900 votes. Many voters were turned away at the poll and had problems at the poll. I filed a lawsuit against the Board of Election. Bilingual ballots and assistance were mandated and was later institutionalized when the Voting Rights Act was reauthorized. 

What does your neighborhood mean to you and why is it important to fight for it?

I grew up in Chinatown and Little Italy and I raised my son in the Financial District. I have worked in Chinatown and the Lower East Side for more than 30 years. Lower Manhattan is my home and my connection. It is a wonderful part of the city and too often neglected. I want to improve my community so it can be prosperous and to save and protect our affordable housing. 

You are running for City Council in District 1—why?

I want to represent this district to make sure that we are getting our fair share of resources and that our voices are heard and respected. I want to make sure that government agencies work together with the communities to improve our quality of life. I am also helping to organize our community residents to get the city to be more responsive to our concerns on transportation issues. I am working on strengthening our rent laws so that affordable housing in our neighborhoods are preserved and protected. 

Please comment on what you believe are the public’s current views and attitudes towards community boards and downtown's elected public officials.

In most cases local residents do not have contacts with the community boards or local elected officials. It is important for our elected officials to do more community outreach. It would be helpful to connect the local leaders—tenant associations, community organizations, churches, senior centers, etc—to have more regular town hall meetings and bring in different city agencies to meet with residents to work on solving problems. 

Margaret Chin, who is running for the New York City Council in the 1st district,filed almost 5,000 signatures on nominating petitions for the September Primary ballot, over 5 times the 900 required for City Council candidates. The campaign, which did not coordinate petitions with any other city-wide campaign and only collected signatures for Margaret, brought in almost 1,000 signatures in the first 48 hours of petitioning alone. While some other campaigns had to pay by the hour for signatures, Margaret’s campaign had dozens of volunteers out collecting signatures to get her on the ballot.

With Election Day exactly 9 weeks away, Margaret’s campaign is well under way. “The amount of support from volunteers in the district has been amazing” Margaret said. “Now that the weather is finally nice and we have qualified for the ballot, I look forward to talking with the voters of district 1, and to victory on September 15th.”