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
An outgoing city council member of the Gardena has been censured twice. Not only is that historic, as no city council member has ever previously been censured before but to have it happen twice to the same city council member. Censuring is a big deal!
While California general code, section 1090 prohibits a public official from being financially interested in a contract made by the agency they serve. I won’t have such a conflict, whether that’s votes with the city’s police (a candidate’s business provides products to and is on the board of the police foundation) or any member businesses (another candidate is the president and executive director of the chamber of commerce) that council members might vote on. As far as I know, neither candidate has promised to recuse themselves from conflicts of interest, should the situation(s) arise.
While it’s not illegal for either candidate to run for office based on the CA general code, it doesn’t look good based on the intent of what the law is supposed to prevent. This is similar to the way that a previously running candidate was the boyfriend of an existing elected official.
Serving the People
Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independance and founding father of our country, believed in the egalitarian society. What that means is that you didn’t have to be an elite to serve and represent the people in public office. That we would be better off by having many voices contribute to our government. Currently, majority of US legislators’ professions are 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 with the county, state and the nation.
Building the Future
AI is upon us but in order to keep up with technology, we need to be able to access it. About half of Gardena residents don’t have access to upload speeds over 100Mbps. That hurts residents and businesses alike and prevents them from participating in the information age.
Several other municipalities have deployed Internet services on their own when business hasn’t provided such critical services at the service level that we need. Internet Access in the information age is like electrical access in the industrial era. Everyone should have access to it!
While Gardena is pretty progressive around housing, we should continue to make sure that Gardena leads in other areas like technology, as well.