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Margaret Chin Gets Mixed Reviews in First Year on City Council

By Julie Shapiro | December 28, 2010 1:44pm

By Julie Shapiro

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

LOWER MANHATTAN — Margaret Chin is not a stereotypical politician.

One year into her first term in the City Council, Chin does not have a memorized list of accomplishments to recite to the press, nor does she have a laundry list of goals for her next three years.

"I’m not setting a goal of this or that," Chin, 57, said during an extensive interview in her Park Row office last week. "It’s about what you do every day."

What Chin, the first Asian-American elected official in Chinatown, mostly does every day is help her consituents on a case-by-case basis.

Her cases range from helping tenants facing eviction to advising small business owners caught in the city’s red tape. Chin's success at providing constituent services, particularly for those who do not speak English, has become so well known that she regularly fields requests from people living in Queens or Brooklyn, well outside her district.

Margaret Chin in her campaign office just before election day in November 2009.
Margaret Chin in her campaign office just before election day in November 2009.
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Suzanne Ma/DNAinfo

"We help them," Chin said with a laugh, "and then we tactfully say, 'Your representative is so-and-so.'"

A Hong Kong immigrant and longtime Financial District resident who speaks three Chinese dialects, Chin made history a year ago when she unseated a two-term incumbent and became the first Chinese-American person to represent Chinatown in the City Council.

It was an exciting distinction, but it also came with a double burden: The Chinese community had high expectations, while the surrounding neighborhoods worried that they would not be Chin’s top priority.

Chin has not managed to please everyone in her first year in office, and a handful of community members, both in Chinatown and around the district, criticized her in recent interviews with DNAinfo for not being as active and forceful as they had hoped.

"I do not see anything better for us," said Paul Lee, 60, a lifelong Chinatown resident who opposes the Chinatown business improvement district plan which Chin has been spearheading. "There is a tremendous amount of regret in the community."

But Chin has also won strong supporters, in particular from those who support the business improvement district and praise her for her quieter approach of consensus building on many other issues.

"She’s done a tremendous job," said David Louie, chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce. "She’s out here. She’s a tireless worker."

In addition to working with Chin on the Chinatown BID, which is poised to win city approval early next year, Louie also praised Chin for organizing forums on Chinatown’s rat problem and the city’s new restaurant grades.

"The fact that she’s the first Chinese person is not so important to me," Louie said, "as the fact that she’s the first person to understand what’s happening in Chinatown and to help get things done."

Chin unsuccessfully ran for the First District City Council seat three times before toppling incumbent Alan Gerson in a five-way primary last fall. She captured 39 percent of the primary vote, easily carrying Chinatown but also beating Gerson in some wealthier areas, including parts of TriBeCa.

Since then, Chin has spent much of her energy focusing on the needs of her lower-income constituents, partly because they are the ones who more often come to her for help, she said.

But the district also includes Battery Park City, TriBeCa, SoHo and the South Village, and half a dozen residents of those neighborhoods said they wished Chin devoted more energy to them. The residents said they want Chin to advocate more aggressively on issues like traffic safety, school overcrowding and New York University’s expansion plan.

"We would love it if she was manning the barricades along with us," one Village leader said, referring to opposition to NYU’s plan. "But it’s still early. The real test has not come yet."

Chin said she intends to do more outreach to all the neighborhoods in her district in the next year, so she can better understand their needs.

Councilwoman Margaret Chin spoke enthusiastically in favor of the Chinatown BID at a recent community board meeting downtown.
Councilwoman Margaret Chin spoke enthusiastically in favor of the Chinatown BID at a recent community board meeting downtown.
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DNAinfo/Patrick Hedlund

But on the issue of NYU, for example, Chin said she does not want to take sides and denounce the university’s plans, because that would make her less effective as a councilwoman.

"I don’t want [NYU] to write me off from the beginning," Chin said. "It’s very easy for me to be front and center, rallying people, but now I’m the councilmember and my job is to be behind the scenes, facilitating meetings."

Chin has taken a similar approach in the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Committee hearings she chairs, greeting speakers from government agencies with smiles, rather than tough questions.

So far, Chin has introduced two pieces of legislation — one that would require the city to plant trees that don’t aggravate people’s allergies, and another that would require developers to hire pedestrian safety managers to make their construction sites safer — and both are still in committee. She also co-sponsored a new law empowering the city to act against landlords who do not maintain their buildings.

Looking forward, Chin is most concerned about the mayor’s budget, which will likely slash key services like education, senior programs and firehouses. Chin helped rescue I.S. 289’s after-school program in Battery Park City this year and hopes to ward off similar cuts in the spring.

She is also keeping a close eye on the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area on the Lower East Side, a long-stalled public development project. Chin opposes any market-rate housing on the site, a position that could become contentious if the plans begin to move forward.

Still, Chin’s uncompromising support for affordable housing is one thing that has drawn supporters across her diverse district.

"A number of people feel she is too radical, but I admire that about her," said Bruce Ehrmann, a TriBeCa resident and Community Board 1 member. "For one year, all in all, I think she’s done a pretty good job."