We’re all on the road of life. I hope you’re traveling on it with a great, big tribe.
Growing my tribe means many things for me but mostly for Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations (IDIC from the foundational philosophy of the Vulcan culture in Star Trek).
This is my personal website.
I’m purposely not making a separate website for my 2026 run for Gardena City Council because of what’s broken in our political system. People can tell when things aren’t being genuine and you’re just buying some pretty PR or the bigger problem we now face is left-brained thinking and confabulation that NIMBY’ism and/or self-dealing will get you to where you want to go.
So you now get to know a little about me. I’m a native Angelino (born and raised in Los Angeles, for you non-Californians). I grew up in the city of Arcadia. It’s one of two districts in the entirety of the contiguous United States with a majority Asian population (kudos for you if you already knew which state has a majority Asian population at 58%. Hint – it’s not within the contiguous US.) This enclave on the east side of Los Angeles county is locally referred to to as the San Gabriel Valley (the SGV or 626, referring to the area code). Growing up there, I’ve had the unique perspective of being raised in the “Joy Luck Club” experience, being of two “suns”, the East and the West. On top of being a person of color (POC), I additionally get the joy of being of a third “sun” by being a gay man. My pronouns are he/him/his.
Being of my three “suns”, I’ve never really felt completely a part of each one but at the same time, each one has felt so familiar and at home in, like I belonged. My parents are immigrants from Hong Kong. I was born in east Los Angeles. In Chinese culture, they call me a “Jook-Sing”. It’s a matter of fact way of calling me a “banana”. Yellow on the outside but White on the inside.
With the LGBTQ community, an unwitting chosen family, it’s been an interesting journey diving into all the activism because it’s such a struggle to be recognized, whether that’s in either in the broader society or within my family’s own beliefs. I guess that makes me more rainbow than White on the inside.
It hasn’t been easy exploring what it means to be Asian-American, LGBTQ but also nerdy (I work in IT and love science fiction). Parts of me are into the fun, nerdy details yet also the bigger picture of what humanity could look like in the future, whether it’s that shiny, sterile Star Trek: The Next Generation future or something closer to home like solarpunk. Anyway, I’m a nerdy Asian, who’d a thunk?
Despite proudly being different in so many ways, I’m a connected, passionate, loving leader. As the slogan on this website alludes to, I care for my fellow homo sapiens want to solve for a “more perfect union.” My hope for the optimistic sci-fi future of tomorrow (not Mad Max. I mean Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek) means that I spend my spare time being an activist (growing my tribe of do-gooders), creating the future I wish to see for all of us.
To find out about more about me, what I’m up to and where I think we’re going, if you’ll join me, feel free to browse the rest of my personal website starting with the My Life section and/or my social media links to see recent posts.
Fixing the System
While Gardena has progressed immensely from where it was a decade ago, the current city council is broken. Stuck dealing with censuring it’s own members twice in the past year. Not only is that historic for the city, as no city council member has ever previously been censured before, it leads us down the wrong path.
Gardena city council is not making any statement during this municipal election because the censures are public record but few know where to look, let alone the average voter being informed since there hasn’t been any news coverage of the candidates so far.
While California’s general code, section 1090 prohibits a public official from being financially interested in a contract made by the agency they would be representing, I won’t have such a conflict. While it’s not illegal for either candidate to run for office since violation of CA general code would be in the future, it doesn’t look good based on the intent of what the law is supposed to prevent (or didn’t prevent in the case of past censures). This is similar to the way that a previously year’s city council candidate was the boyfriend of an existing council member. The voters of Gardena elected not to vote that candidate into city council.
Serving the People
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence and a founding father of our country, believed in the egalitarian society. He didn’t believe that you had to be an elite to serve and represent the people in public office. He believed we would be better off by having more diverse voices that represent the people contribute to our government. The professions of existing legislators are currently made up of lawyers, businessmen and career politicians. That’s a problem!
As an information systems engineer, I have the background to bring a smart, fact-based approach to the “business” of the city, to provide equal services and ensure the continued growth of the city while respecting/understanding the big picture view of the county, state and the nation, as it evolves.
Not Special Interests
Whether it’s votes with the city’s police or with any Gardena Chamber of Commerce member businesses that council members might potentially vote on, I urge both candidates to promise to recuse themselves from conflicts of interest, should the situation(s) arise:
Building the Future
The world is changing. AI is here but in order not to be left behind, Gardena needs to make sure we’re all able to access it. About half of Gardena doesn’t have access to upload speeds over 100Mbps. That holds back Gardena from bringing in new businesses and participating in the information/AI age.
Many other neighboring municipalities have deployed their own Internet services through public/private partnerships. Internet Access in the information age is like electrical access from the industrial era. Everyone should have access to fast Internet speeds!
While Gardena has been pretty progressive, we should continue to make sure that Gardena leads in all areas where the city provides services including technology, housing, transportation/mobility and energy/climate change.
Thank you for your consideration.