Interview of Otto Lee - The Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) Perspectives Oral History Project

Otto Lee

Date: March 21, 2023
Interviewer: Yvonne Kwan and Vickie Taketa
Interviewee: Otto Lee (1967 - )

Born in Hong Kong, Otto Lee and his family made the hard decision to immigrate to California when he was 15. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather who served in the US Navy during WWII, Lee acted on the dedication to service that his family taught him and joined the U.S. Navy. For this yearlong service, he was awarded the Bronze Star. In 2018, Lee retired from the Navy and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for his 28 years of honorable service. He served on the Sunnyvale Planning Commission and was then elected to serve on the Sunnyvale City Council from 2003 to 2011, including one term as Mayor. He was elected to the Board of Supervisors for District 3 in November 2020.

Transcript of Otto Lee

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Timeframe 0:00 >> 1:40

Otto Oswald Chao Hue Lee. I was born on July 29, 1967, in Hong Kong.

I have (younger) one sister. She was born Hong Kong as well.

(Interviewer) How did your parents meet?

They actually met in Europe. My mom used to work for the former entity of British Airways called BOAC as a ground crew, doing ticketing for folks, air ticketing. My dad was actually studying law at the time. And they actually met in London. But my mom was actually from Shanghai area. That's where she was born. My grandparents from that side, from Suzhou, which is near Shanghai, of course. And my dad is really from Hong Kong, many, many generations living in Hong Kong. My dad is Kevin Walter Tee Yao Lee. He was born in 1937. And my mom is Jane. Jane Lee. She was born in Shanghai, as I mentioned. And the family actually moved around quite a bit in the younger age because my grandfather, her dad, was a U.S. Navy. And because of that, she had moved a few times during Second World War timeframe. She was born in 1941, and she actually at one point we have to move to the Philippines in the younger age.

Systems & Power Timeframe 1:40 >> 4:43

So my grandfather joined the U.S. Navy, I believe, in the thirties. If you remember the Great White Fleet all over the world. U.S. Navy traveled so many places. Of course, they need people to do stuff that nobody wants to do, like cleaning the the villages and cleaning dishes and cooking and those type of work. And I think that's the work that he was hired to do as a steward on the U.S. Navy ship that was just basically going through, by Shanghai. And that's how he joined the Navy. So my grandfather was in the smaller small boat. What we call a small ship, unlike the larger ships, which, of course, get bombed. So he always appreciate the fact there was a bit of a smaller ship and the captain was very smart and was able to evade all those attacks of being torpedoed. I actually have a picture of that. I could give you a picture of that as well for the story.

(Interviewer) And so for your mother, she was born in Shanghai. Was she educated there as well?

Yes, she took classes. She was in Shanghai. And then because of the fact that my grandfather was in the Navy, she actually was educated in many of the military schools. So because of that, there's actually a picture of her in elementary school there. She's the only Asian face. Everybody else was Caucasian. And and for that reason, her English English accent, very American accent, which is quite unusual in Hong Kong when I was growing up. So my dad actually was studying law and so he became a lawyer. We call it a solicitor, as opposed to a barrister under the English system. So he was also a solicitor lawyer for many years before coming to this country, which unfortunately, once he came here, he had to give up his the law practice because they won't let him practice law here.

Well, for a long time, my parents realized that, you know, the Hong Kong educational system is not very conducive for higher education. It's very difficult for the the high school years. But going to university also very, very difficult. So they always thought that there'll be opportunity for the kids who grow up to go to university in outside of Hong Kong and one then the second thing, of course, was the fact that the if you recall, Hong Kong used to be a British colony, which is very free in many ways, and there's not too many years after the Cultural Revolution. So the the horror of communist China was still very much alive for people who live in Hong Kong. And and when Margaret Thatcher went to the Prime Minister of England at the time, trying to negotiate regarding the return of Hong Kong and failed. Basically, China insists on taking back Hong Kong in the way. It's almost like escaping from the Communists. We decided to move to the People's Republic of Berkeley. [chuckles]

Systems & Power Timeframe 4:43 >> 7:13

Yeah, so I was 15. My first came here, and I went to Catholic schools for both, you know, kindergarten, elementary school. It was coed. But then when I went to junior high, I actually went to Catholic boys’ school, you know, suit and tie every day to class. And the transition from that to the Berkeley High School, which was a public school, no uniform. It was quite, quite an experience. It's definitely a family's decision. I mean, we're excited the fact that we're going to America. The interesting thing, though, what was surprising, actually, I remember talking to my high school counselor and she thought, oh, wow, you must be so happy that you're now in America. Everything's so advanced and, you know, modern now stretching my heads like, look, you know, when we talk about buildings in Hong Kong, 40, 50 stories here we talk about 3 to 5 stories. So in terms of how things are modern, I mean, food, for example, a big difference like Chinese food in Hong Kong is just amazing. And at the time, if you go to Chinatown, the food was like, was good, let's say. So, you know. It felt like it was less or not better in some ways in my daily life. And also, you know, I have to say, like back in Hong Kong, we were quite well-to-do with my my dad being an attorney. We had, you know, some of the the helper from the Philippines helping us out. And of course, coming here, you have to do your dishes. You have to do laundry and make your own bed. So it's a it's a good education, actually, for all of us in many ways. Mm hmm.

Well, my dad was trying to be able to practice just Hong Kong law. Right? Not just law here, but the Bar Association of California will not allow him. He tried many times, and they wouldn't let him. So at that point, you know, we have to make a living. And that's a reason why we were like, well, what should we do? I want my aunt, who's lived here a few years before us, has opened a restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, actually, funny enough. And so it was like, hey, this is good. You get cash flow every day. And so. So why not? So it's like, so many Asian immigrants. We opened the restaurant of our parents, opened restaurants. Well, which of course was we later on learned that this is this is not for amateurs and that the tremendous amount of work ethic, amount of hours of of hard work and you don't make much at the end of the day.

Timeframe 7:13 >> 9:16

Well, under British rule, I mean, Hong Kong was a colony, so it's not exactly free completely. The legislature, the time, half of it, this, quote unquote, appointed by the crown or the governor. So in other words, you really can't have a majority by people voting for them. It's very interesting system. Of course, now with the current system here in Hong Kong, you know, the current legislature, it's all only those who can run for office as be approved by mainland China. So certainly that doesn't work either in terms of freedom wise, terms of freedom. And one thing, when I first came to this country, I was actually one of the nerds that go to a bookstore and actually for the US Constitution and read it and oh my gosh, everybody can have, you know, one vote, one person, one vote, and everybody a vote for the representative group, vote for the president of the United States. So that to me was actually extremely fascinating, a place where you could actually have true, true democracy in the sense of the word and being a being elected now as a supervisor here, having served as a council member and mayor of a city, I truly get to understand the the meaning of democracy, of how this type of direct representation is so important.

I remember the days when I was serving as mayor of Sunnyvale, and at the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was the governor and he was proposing something that I completely disagree with. And I made it very clear on the dais during a bit of meeting to criticize his work of this is wrong. This is not good. And there was a visiting visiting delegation from China, and they were in shock, like how a mayor could be criticizing the governor because of the way their system is. You know, obviously pretty much top down all of his positions, as much as they're so-called elected, they are kind of appointed from above and without system, you know, a federal of state, our county, a local, we're very, very different and separate from each other and which I think makes it very different from from all the other systems I was living in.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 9:16 >> 12:00

Well, I was fortunate enough to be picked to be in the debate team in high school and junior high school back in Hong Kong. And, um, and so I do have quite a bit of, you know, ability to do some public speaking in that sense. So argues on points where first came to this country and then in in Berkeley one my dad was selecting classes when I was going through classes to look for. My dad saw public speaking is one of the classes. Here most people worry about, like acclimating to a new country, new language. He really signed me up for Latin and public speaking, which my counselor says, What are you doing? But yeah, the dad wanted so he's going to the classes. So I got stuck in public speaking, which the teacher at first thought, this is crazy. Why is this kid's like, have English issues come here to learn public speaking, which at the end of day to to be the best thing that happened. The Latin, I'm sure, has helped me on improving my SAT score [chuckles], and I can read, read signs when I go to museums, you know. But, but, but the public speaking certainly has helpful.

And then the other thing I thought was interesting was I actually ran for student Senate in high school at Berkeley High and Berkeley High is a very diverse school with a huge student body like close to 3000 students among the four years, 9 to 12 grade and I had to make a speech, you know, in front of the whole student body at one time. And during that that the race my make this my first race which I was able to win too, was making use of the analogy of the if you recall the old Wendy's commercial with the beef. Remember that? So this old lady, you know, went to a burger place, opened up this burger, and it's like, the beef is so tiny. Where's the beef? So we had a problem in Berkeley High School, and that was the fact that a lot of the doors, the stalls are removed from the boys bathroom, and we can’t figure out why people talking about rumors had that the oh, they remove it because they were thinking about afraid of people doing, you know, a illegal activity like drugs or maybe what the those crazy one was. They might be promoting homosexual activity in the bathroom. So it was so ridiculous. Anyway, so make that that part of my speech compared to where that where some beef to where the door people were laughing. And of course, that's how you get like that right in high school. But you do…The most amazing thing though is a couple of months later, those stalls, the doors came back. So I see. Wow. Hey, I made a speech. You know, I got elected, but I didn't realize that I could influence policy changes.

Timeframe 12:00 >> 14:43

[In Hong Kong,] we were in the fairly well-to-do area called the mid-level area, and my dad started as the Crown Counsel after he passed the law exam, meaning that he's like a prosecutor. It was the Hong Kong government like, but also knew of some civil matters like legal conveyancing, like real estate work on behalf of the government, Hong Kong government, for a few years before he laid on left the government work and then opened his law firm. So based on that background that I grew up with, I think I get to see some of the government work as well under the the British system and then how private practice. So I think like was able to understand the importance of some of the work he does with the government side. I remember it being very cushy. But you know, they call it the the “iron bowl,” right. Iron rice bowl. So, you know, you always get a paycheck. And so but that's also very important work for the people as well.

Yeah, I you know, in my elementary school I would say we have friends who are basically classmates. We just like kids. What do kids do? Right? I mean, they hang out and, you know, up to no good looking for trouble. But no, although I don't think we had done anything really that bad. I guess the the most thing I remember, my one thing my dad did do, I was always one of what I would never do with my kids was like buying like toy guns for them. So I loved to play toy guns, and I had toy guns and their guns and I love to shoot them. And, you know, lining up the the the coke cans and bottles and shooting those and those were kind of fun. Actually reminds me because my grandfather actually we recalling the days they went through the the Japanese occupation in the late thirties in Hong Kong and when the Japanese soldiers were leaving after they lost the war, one of the things people do is they go up, you know, like yell at the soldier or some of them go and yank their rifles from them. And they were very, very obedient. There was no struggle at all. So I think through that, I think you actually got a couple of rifles from the Japanese. And I remember going to do the balcony as a kid way back and, you know, owning a gun in Hong Kong was a huge deal. It is really forbidden. But there was one of those legacy things, and I remember he was able to line a bunch of old phonebooks, really thick ones. Right. And we're shooting like the rifle in the balcony. I thought there was some fun memories as a kid [with] my grandfather.

Timeframe 14:43 >> 17:19

So at Berkeley, first we lived of our grandparents. The reason went to Berkeley really is because the fact that my grandparents were staying in Berkeley. So of course we want to stay close to our grandparents when we moved here. The the elementary I mean, the high school. I went to, we of course, lived at home and I took the bus every day to to to class. And then eventually, after I went UC Berkeley, my parents actually moved out to, um, to Burlingame. So I was staying with my grandmother, who was at Berkeley at the time, and eventually also moved out to stay with roommates to get the college experience near near the frat road. I would say to Piedmont, I'm not the part of fraternity, but just location, which is very close to campus on Dwight and Piedmont. It's really no different from most kids experience in terms of being a college student. You know, I did have a job well while doing work study at UC Berkeley, which was funny. I was working at the Graduate Division. All I did was filing all day. And the most mundane job you can imagine they give you, given like 100 folders and you have to alphabetized them from A through Z and they get them filed away.

Very mundane work was very important because of not being properly filed. You know, people can find those files of these students. But it's also interesting looking in the graduation to get to see the type of qualification of people applying to graduate school at UC Berkeley. And, you know, the scores that you see of people scoring on their GREs. And then the and the accomplishment was very inspiring to see while these people got really accomplished, what am I doing here, you know?

So, I think, the most memorable thing. I remember my my parents in Hong Kong. We used to and my my dad likes to wake us up in the late after we go to bed, like around 10:30, 11:00, wake us up and we go surprise. And we go as you drive around and then have ice cream late night. Totally. What we will not do here, I'll never do that to my kids, but those are my most favorite memories of of being a child in Hong Kong very fortunate. He liked to drive and listen to music and so because of what he listened to, we listened to From the Beatles to Tom Jones to Engelbert Humperdinck. [chuckles] So that's like those are the music that I'm familiar with. I knew it as a kid before I even came to the States.

Timeframe 17:19 >> 18:43

(Interviewer) I'm sure managing a restaurant takes up a lot of time. Were you will ever able to still have breaks and have some fun?

Well, you know, it's funny. It reminds me of a story like my my, my mom would ask me in college like, how come you don’t have a girlfriend? So mom, I was double major in school doing the ROTC. And on weekends, Friday, Saturday, Sunday night, I'm working at restaurants, so when do I have time to anything else? So. But yeah, no, it's it's a lot of work, especially during the summer. Right? So if you want to break summer break, you'll be in the restaurants basically full time when you're on break but otherwise… So I'm very glad when the they they sold the restaurant. [chuckles]

(Interviewer) Were you in college or after college?

I was in college. Yeah.

(Interviewer) And that's when they moved to Burlingame?

Right. They moved around. I mean the one good thing of working in restaurant is we never starve, right? So every time friends working, you know, it's like lots of to go boxes. So back to the dorm room than my, my apartment and my, my roommate my roommate is always happy because he's an unintended beneficiary of all the food they bring back and food. Well, we actually it was interesting. And we really love eating Thai food. We while we live in Hong Kong, we actually travel quite a bit to Southeast Asia like Philippines and and Thailand, which one of my favorite places to go to. And the food of Thai is just amazing. We loved it. So when we opened the restaurant, we tried to self just like a lot of people from the Chinese restaurant and we decided to do let's do both half Thai and half Chinese. So we a chef that we hired from Bangkok and one from Hong Kong.

Timeframe 18:43 >> 20:19

(Interviewer) Did you were you ever exposed to much TV or radio or what was your consumption of media consumption like?

Sure. I mean, watching TV in Cantonese being my native language, there's always a English channel, the Pearl Channel, which is an English. My dad would watch it from time to time. I would have a hard time understanding it at the time, and I sort of recall that moment because I remember when I was 12 years old, we actually were traveling and end up in London when the second series of Star Wars Empire Strikes Back came out. So I told my dad, Oh my God, that's such a great movie. You should go see it. And he goes, okay, let's go see it. We can’t see in London. So why? There's no Chinese subtitles. So at the time, I wouldn't be able to stand in English, and I would rely on the Chinese subtitles, understand what's going on on the movie.

So anyways, But. But, but certainly I do watch the shows in Cantonese. And then the last two shows in the eighties, Hong Kong's heyday, in a way, some of the eighties and nineties. Yes. Um, the the Can Can, the Canton Pop that actually is still quite popular. Some of the people that you like, Michelle Yeoh, who just won the Academy Award, that was when she was like getting very famous at the time as a 20 something in the Hong Kong movies. And then you have the Andy Lau back then you have Danny Chan as a singer. So some of those Canton Pop singers or starting. And you have Chow Yun Fat So some of those really interesting times to grow up of, of those stars. And of course Jackie Chan at the time as well.

Systems & Power Timeframe 20:19 >> 22:34

No World War Two. Because if you recall, remember, the Philippines was actually a United States protectorate. So if you want to get away from this, always protected by the U.S., that's what you want. And that's where I think my, my mom went to at the time. But the same time, you also recall there was a time when, you know, MacArthur was saying, we'll be back, you know, well, so it's it's there was a time that we had to withdraw from it. And eventually we came back after the war. So I believe was after the war when my mom was actually attending schools in the Philippines at the time. Yes. Interestingly enough, I mean, there's a whole history of how the United States Navy has left Subic Bay and all that for many decades. And and guess what? We're now going back, not Subic per se, but we are looking at potentially getting to probably 8 to 10 bases of the latest, present the latest negotiation and it was that's but beyond the discussion for today.

But yeah but that's just what's happening. I thought you were to ask the question was why do so many people left Hong Kong and end up in Canada? Australia? Yes. And that's actually another interesting chapter because when people left Hong Kong in the eighties nineties, because of the Chinese take over right now, that's that's still happening today. As a matter of fact a lot of folks are selling the real estate property in Hong Kong trying to leave to UK right now. But at the time, you can't just go to the UK because the the the you know, the the the even though you have a so-called British passport that's a they called, it's like a third category, second or third category, you're not really a British citizen at the time. So in order to leave, a lot of folks would apply to go elsewhere.

United States is the hardest place to go to because of a quota per year versus Canada and Australia, if you could show that you have certain skill set professions or assets that they're very willing to allow. And so more people are able to get to. So that's why when you go to Toronto, because Vancouver, you'll see some of the best Chinese restaurants, the Asian food all over because of that that population moving in. Right. And Australia as well.

Timeframe 22:34 >> 27:11

Well as Catholic, since I think seventh day on the week I was born, I was baptized. And then I want to say I'm definitely not the I'm more of a C&E Catholic like Christmas and Easter. But you know in the Asian culture, my mom was Buddhist and my dad is Catholic, kind of so so you kind of grew up in the both you know, you have to they have all these putting incense, you know, growing up every day, one of the chores you have to do is like light incense and the like how many times a day? And, you know, so that's part of that while being Catholic.

(Interviewer) What was the name of your elementary school and your middle school?

Elementary school is called Rosary Hill. As you can tell is very Catholic name in Hong Kong. And my middle school is Reimondi, which actually is a Catholic boy's school. It turns out a lot of the graduates actually end up in the U.S., and it has a very strong alumni group on my WhatsApp. I always get their stuff every day still.

(Interviewer) Oh, and then Berkeley High? Yes.

There were many memorable teachers, but I’ll say, I would want to mention probably my the first high school counselor that I encounter, Mr. Isono, who is a Japanese American. What was so my memorable about him was that, he made a very important advice to me at the time, when I first came as an immigrant was to ask me not to just hang up with Chinese friends. Try to get out and meet different people. So even though by the time I graduated from high school, some of my best friends are all Asians as well. But I do make an effort to be more, mingling with different friends of the school because school is very cliquish, right? People could easily like click in one group. In my case, I was not at all thanks for his advice, which I think helped me improve my English language. The advice to hang out with kids who speak Chinese than my English probably won't be able to improve as fast, and I'm not sure the terms assimilate, but tried to do things that would be out of my comfort zone as much, and I think that was still very good that I got that advice.

Well, the Catholic boys school is very regimented as expected. And so and the difference of that to Berkeley High, that difference is really quite dramatic. Come in as an immigrant. I was very much, you know, supported US. Of course, that time, Ronald Reagan was the president of the US, so very much pro-Reagan in that sense. I didn’t really understand the Democrat-Republican very much, the issues other than the fact that this guy stand for strength. Right. And, you know, a strong America. And then coming here, I still remember him having giving the speech, and I was here maybe only a couple of years to give the asylum of everybody who spent at least seven years in this country would be now able to get the the the the papers to become legal as a path to citizenship in the future, which is so I still remembered a moment when that. Wow, really you could do that if you just come to this country of some years, you actually, you know become legal and you could move forward. And I think it's so important because this is a discussion that even I don't hear from Democrats. Forget Republicans ever talking about the of the our our immigrant issues. And I think that is something that is very truly memorable to me. So when people say, why would you support Ronald Reagan? No, know, I thought you Democrat. Well, back then, you know, there are some issues that I think he that was really tremendous. But moving forward of course, Berkeley, I remember I was a Republican by the time I get to Berkeley, I was a Democrat. Funny how Berkeley does that to you, right?

(Interviewer) Who knew we were going to be praising Reagan?

You're exactly right. Who knew we would? Right. And, you know, because remember Republican would be praising, you know, all those Republican most famous, of course, is Abraham Lincoln. Right. Who of course, freed slaves and this sense of civil war. And I and Reagan of these of the the the you know, ability to allow people do get documented. These are issues that you cannot possibly imagine in this new Republican Party that we're seeing today, which is frankly very unfortunate.

Timeframe 27:11 >> 29:10

I was I was I was quite active. I was I was a member. I was Model UN, representing I think one time I was representing Australia. The other year, I was representing Zambia. It was fun to just get to different conferences and make these a resolution and debates. I was, a chess club. I got there revived. So my it was funny, my chemistry teacher as one who who was to advisor chess club and the course I'm not very good chess player at all but I just like the fact that kids are coming to play chess is a good thing. Why not? And and that was involved in quite different groups. I'm not particularly good in sports necessarily. I took my in my jogging. I took tennis classes whatnot. But to me it's more like a chore to like, okay, finished a prereq to graduate from high school, but certainly the the and then I was actually become student council president for for my senior year too at the time. And it was unusual for an Asian student to to be that active in student politics. I certainly remember that. And and I think it also not a a role model for people to look up to that, like, wow, this is new, somebody of Asian descent, especially being an immigrant to I just got to the I still remember there was a student council representative. They pick it from each class. I was a sophomore just got to USC only like four months earlier. And because I was to run like not many people want to run, so I raised my hands. I sure I'll do it. And so another kid did it. So the only two of us. I would explain my new immigrant just came here to represent the class and to speak your voice and all that. And boom, I got elected. So. So, hey, this is. This is like democracy at the most bottom level, but it works.

Timeframe 29:10 >> 33:01

I applied to a few different places for school. Frankly, the first school that admittedly was University of Wisconsin-Madison, both for undergrad and law school. And I swear someday when I am both will well-to-do enough in my will, I definitely put them on the list for whatever, and they would give me that backup of a great school as a backup. So very, very sad that I wasn't able to go there. But in any case, well, Berkeley, for one thing, financially is a lot cheaper to stay at home and the tuition can’t be beat. It was 700 bucks a semester. Yes. Yeah. It was very, very affordable to go to Berkeley at the time. But also, I think, you know, having gone to Berkeley High School, having my aunt went there and my cousin that went there, there's a bit of a family peer pressure. They all wanted me to to end up in Berkeley. That would be like the place to go. So as soon as I got up to Berkeley, I think I was just very glad that they'll some way I can go to actually my family could afford it. I mean, know, coming to this country my dad took a huge financial loss. They give up all our things. His whole law practice has this how homes and order over there in Hong Kong and start start afresh. Came here when the economy wasn't doing good in Hong Kong. So he lost a lot of his properties and whatnot. So it was a it was a very tough financial challenge that we're going through. But, you know, no different from many immigrants anyways.

(Interviewer) So did you know what you were going to major in? Well, when you applied?

Yeah, I did. I was funny enough because I thought, like, chemistry and, and I found out from Berkeley going to Berkeley that one of the easiest to enter major was nuclear engineering, because nobody at the time really wanted new major nuclear engineering. I guess there was not too long after the Three-Mile Island's ends and all that so and of course there's Chernobyl afterwards. So not only people were applying to that major. So that was my I applied under the double major of nuclear and chemical engineering and got accepted. So I think I applied to a very low impact major. That’s why I got in.

Well, my on my college essay I still remember I wrote about the issue of energy. Energy meaning that, you know, we really need to, you know, move on from the use of fossil fuel to something else. Right. And what would that something else be? For example, and it is so important to to find a way. So nuclear certainly is one way because the fact that that that this issue that you can go both ways arguing. But once a plant is built, generally the operation of nuclear power plant was very clean. And then of course the idea of what other energy are we talking about? Fission of course. But the fusion was something that we've discussed as well, which of course most recently we were able to actually find a potential solution, a proof of concept.

The fusion actually is doable, like our sun. So those are the type of things I was focused on. So chemical engineering is fossil oil business. Nuclear joined forces. That's all I was thinking that I would be able to contribute to help, you know, moved energy to a different one and hopefully cleaner in the long run. Yeah, I thought I would be working for maybe some type of energy business. Where were these areas are before. So that that was what I was thinking about. But of course, then later I realized I joined the Navy, the Navy ROTC program. Of course, that means that I'll be working in the Navy for a few years. So that's the only change of path. I remember when I graduated from Berkeley, you know, the highest paid students, of course, were from chemical engineering at the time. The $38,000 a year was a lot of money. Oh, my goodness. As a Navy ensign, which is lowest officer, I make $1,440 a month. Yes. And so we didn't do it for the money.

Joy & Cultural Resistence Timeframe 33:01 >> 34:23

(Interviewer) So why did you decide to join the Navy ROTC?

You know, for the longest time, I didn't really know. I just felt like I don’t know. I’m interested in the Army or Air Force, Navy, something I always want to do. And I didn't realize until actually quite a few years later, after I was already serving. To we talk about mentoring, we talk about role modeling and all that suddenly clicked and said, Oh my God, of course. Because when I was visiting my, my, my grandparents, my maternal grandparents house on the corridor, there's this picture of the family, picture of my grandfather, my grandmother, my mom. My mom was like ten years old and her siblings and everybody's in their little Chinese clothing. After I like the forties of like, like, like that early fifties. Yeah, except my grandfather, he was in the service dressed blue as a chief [inaudible] in the U.S. Navy. And never knew what that picture does to my brain. But it's something that I looked at all these years and said, I want to be just like him. And I think that's what gave me that thing in the back of my head. Like, I want to join the Navy. It was funny because I thought the Navy, I think my mom knew about it, but, you know, she didn't she wasn't really against it. So, that always things, you know, kids do crazy things, so you just go like, whatever. It was not the worst thing he could choose.

Timeframe 34:23 >> 36:19

So, yeah, you know, getting some military training probably would, you know, straighten me up and, you know, make me grow up. So he thought that probably that couldn't be a bad thing. Because funny thing, the ROTC when I first came to the US. Lot of things that my mom didn't know I said, was the phonebooks, right? Those they were phonebook. So you took out books. You remember those thick phonebooks, the first few pages are government offices. So the first page you see is like US government offices. So I found out the U.S. Navy recruiting station called a recruiter, and I wanted to join the Navy. And then when he was all excited until he found out I was only like 16. So I said, well, call the Sea Cadets. So I did call the Sea Cadets and join the Sea Cadets for a couple of years while in high school.

Berkeley High is extremely accepting. It is very, very diverse and I think that actually was hugely influential for me as a kid from a very homogeneous society in Hong Kong and the Catholic boys school. That really was the education that I needed. I didn't know at the time, but it really was to be exposed to the different cultures, different ethnicities, different economic background of students. I was taking classes, the calculus, all you got some of the quote, the most academically successful kids there because Berkeley, how you have a lot of professors like UC Berkeley professors, kids are grown there. So you have a lot of kids that are very smart academically, but at the same time, I’m also taking auto shop. So then you have kids from the other side of the track that I get to meet. You know fixing, you know changing the drums and spark plugs and then doing a, you know, the valve jobs and whatnot. And so so learn how to fix cars, right? So through that experience, I was able to meet you know students from all walks of life. And I think that was really a tremendous experience for me as an immigrant to be able to learn about American culture and whatnot.

Timeframe 36:19 >> 39:27

Well, Cal Berkeley is certainly much more academically oriented, right? People who got admitted obviously are very studious and study. I hung out, you know, frankly, is a pretty boring years in the sense that you spent so much time studying between that like I said, the Navy ROTC, in the restaurants. I mean, my life is just so, so busy, very stressed out, very, you know, lots of deadlines and one after another. But I guess keep me out of trouble with little time because trouble. So, yeah, after my last nuclear engineering exam the very next days, I guess I wanted to be a ensign. So I we well, so here's the thing. I was hoping to be a Navy intelligence officer. That was my goal at first and actually even got the certificate of of from the official here congratulations with the naval intelligence on and then I got yanked because they said, “No no wait, Otto, listen you're born in Hong Kong, right?” And you signed a program which is called OSAM programs, which is only two years. As you are only good for two years, you're taking on a year and a half just to get your top-secret clearance. So what good is that for us? Right? So that case, you know, you got to do something else but not getting that type of clearance.

So I kind of reluctantly select something else. And at that point I select the logistics, which is a supply officer, which at the time didn't sound like something I wanted to do as hindsight is absolutely the best thing I could have picked. Because you learned a lot about people, the supply officer, somebody you learn logistics. You're the ones who are the ship's manager of the ship. I was the ship's treasurer. I have all the money, a lot of cash in my save half million dollars of cash actually, the blank checks, the U.S. Treasury checks. If you're lucky, right, you get a tax refund for federal government once a year. You get that check comes of the Lady Liberty in left, right, the U.S. Treasury.

I had two boxes of blank checks like that. I signed those, double responsibility. Right? It's like $2,000 worth of stamps in is my safe, as a custodian for the whole ship’s postage. And, you know, that's just one of many jobs I have on the ship of was in charge of, you know, 45 sailors. And so I mean, honestly, that that that that experience of being a supply and logistics officer was tremendous. And so I'm really glad that I chose that path. I was 23 years old. I got to my ship. One of the ships also came up to me as his ship after usual those who have served at least 20 years in the Navy, you know, very, very salty, very experienced. In the forties, some of the fifties came up to me and, you know, since I'm commissioned, I'm actually in terms of rank, I outrank them. I'm the lowest ranked officer, but they are all the senior enlisted. So they came up to me and said, “Sir, with all due respect, does your mother know you're here?” So yeah. So, you know, it was going to be a tough tour.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 39:27 >> 41:51

Yeah. So that's funny. I was actually doing research. I remember at the Lawrence Berkeley lab, the being nuclear engineering, engineering, nuclear chemistry, with my one of my professors. Interestingly enough, she worked under Glenn T. Seaborg. If you look back, history, Glenn T. Seaborg was the Nobel Prize winner of physics, there's extra element named after him seaborgium in the periodic table. One of those those are really way down there elements. So obviously been tremendously important for the Secretary of the department before they had the the the Department of Energy, they called the Atomic Energy Forum. He was the first secretary. And anyway, so I was doing research there. I just have side stories. I know. So I thought it's funny because one time I was scheduled to see him for lunch because I'm work in his lab, so he wants to see our students.

So here I am boning up all my nuclear chemistry expecting I will talk to him about something, you know, relating to what I was working on and all he can start talking about was the first Super Bowl when the Green Bay Packers won Super Bowl. It was hilarious. But anyway, so I still remember while I was doing the lab, but it's a form of do research and that produces a lot of downtime. You know, you get a lab set up, you would be waiting full hours for something to come up to read the data. So during that time I was doing my LSAT review. I remember my professor came in kind of disappointed like, “Oh, you're not going like going to graduate schools, and you're going to law school. Then she goes, “You know what? Actually it’s good. We need lawyers that could understand our issues and, you know, argue our viewpoints to to explain to to help policy, you know. So I guess in some ways I'm doing that. You know, it's interesting. My dad has always wanted me not to study law while college. I was thinking, oh, maybe I do econ or poli sci major. So absolutely not. Not, not, not so. The only ones he would like science or engineering. So that's one reason I picked engineering. And then later I went to law school. And then finally I say, “Hey dad, I'm a lawyer.” So it's like, gee, you told me not to do it. And he goes, reverse psychology. So I guess he was actually happy that I became a lawyer after all. So yeah, so I was in the Navy for a little bit, almost two years when I got off active duty and then started law school.

Timeframe 41:51 >> 43:45

(Interviewer) Where did you go to law school?

Formally known as Hastings, no UC UC Law of San Francisco. You know, it's interesting. So I go, except the three law schools are very fine loss of my as I mentioned, the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The other one I got accepted to was Vanderbilt in Nashville, wonderful school and Hastings at the time. So the issues I had to decide was like, well, this the weather, there's a food and there's a family—not to serve the order, but of all three of all of these important things life yeah these things by far the best thing right here in San Francisco.

You know, it's interesting. I first year of law school, we just took all the basic classes like everybody else. Didn't really have a focus. And then while everybody's trying to find a job during the summer, I wasn't able to find find a good job. But just long ago, So I decided to study. So I studied Chinese law in Shanghai for about a month through Indiana University, which is a wonderful experience. I actually get to see China in 1992. No, just few years right after the Tiananmen Square. So things were kind of starting to open up. It was a really good experience. Yeah. At the same time, I was able to approach, surprisingly by law, firm to work on a case that they needed a U.S. law students to speak Cantonese, to observe the deposition in Hong Kong. So I got that job, moved out, went to Hong Kong, where the case apparently settled. So I lost my job as soon as I get there. But the good thing was the law firm that hired me was in the field of intellectual property, books on patents, trademark copyrights, and they found that not only speak Chinese but also affect have a technical background, my engineering background. So they're very excited about me and I'm just excited I have a job. So that's how I started working in that field.

Timeframe 43:45 >> 48:20

Cantonese was not hard because it's my native language. I don't think I'll ever lose it, whether I use or not, and I don't really use that much at all. But sometimes I still listen to my Danny Chan's songs. And funny enough, actually, my daughters are really, really interested to learn Cantonese. Their Cantonese is not that good. Actually. Not good at all. They can speak a few words in dim sum ordering like ha gow, siu mai, cha siu bao. Well, that's about it.

(Interviewer) It's like you need to know. Cheung fun.

Yes, Cheung fun and lo bak go.

(Interviewer) When did you meet your wife?

Yeah, we met at the wedding actually about 20 years ago now. We went to wedding. It's funny, if I brought my parents to me to this wedding because they knew the bride groom, and then she brought her mom to the wedding because she knew the…She actually was the matchmaker of the bride and groom for that one anyway. So because the fact that we both part parents of us, the bride and groom decided to seat us together. And it's funny because my parents, I think they hit it off first before I met her. They eventually met each other. And then, yeah, we started dating and yeah, it was interesting story.

(Interviewer) After law school? Before law school?

After

(Interviewer) And so how many children do you have together?

Three daughters. 18, 15 and almost 12 years old.

(Interviewer) Did you make a point of teaching them Cantonese?

Not Cantonese so much. I think because my parents are my my in-laws tends to be at our house a lot throughout our years, helping out the family. So they speak Chinese. So because of that, my kids were exposed to Mandarin and some Chinese at a very young age. So in that sense, I would say the first language is between Mandarin and English. And because of that, I really do think that they have a very good foundation of the pronunciation, so their Mandarin pronunciations are very good. I basically took the the choice thinking that, you know what, I'm I would just be glad that they would be fluent in Mandarin. And so instead of introducing Cantonese to just make things even more difficult for them, have them focus on Mandarin. So Cantonese, something that they of course hear me speak here, my paternal grandparents speak and they are interested to learn, but I don't think they're getting this exposure. But maybe now with movies and music they will pick it up that way.

So say, for example, when you say I really do make an effort for my kids to learn Mandarin and I could see that these classes they were taking in a group were not effective. And that's when I freaked out and took them to Hong Kong for a few weeks…to just it wasn't really the right way to do it. But once we came back, we were fortunate to find a really good tutor. So now they have Chinese classes that at least 2 to 3 times a week and that really helps a lot. Unfortunately, I would say, you know, especially my oldest one, I mean, she really hated it for a long time. And she'll say, “Daddy, I really hate it learn Chinese.” I said, everything's negotiable. This is not something you’ll thank me and she is. She is appreciative how important it is. And I was just after the days like, Daddy, now I can actually read things like we used to read before. I say, good.

(Interviewer) So how do you balance your personal life and your public service?

Um, I'm not doing good at that at all. I think we. Because public service takes a lot of time on the weekends and evenings as well because of events taking place. They want elected official to be present, to pay respect, to give the award to recipients. So a lot of times, weekends and evenings are taken because of those events, fundraisers and whatnot for these different causes, which of course are all very important. So obviously my balance is not as good as I could be. I'm still trying to manage that. I'm fortunate to say I'm not one of those who serve in Sacramento or Washington, D.C., where you have to fly out there and fly back, you know, or drive 2 hours, get Sacramento. This job is far more local. And I think that was helpful. I had that kind it quote and quote easy for the first couple of years because because of COVID, most of all meetings were in Zoom so I could turn meeting from Zoom fairly easily from one to the other. But now that in-person require, I'm now on the road a lot more driving up to San Francisco or driving to other cities too. So it's been it's been hard on on the on the car and on time management.

Joy & Cultural Resistence Timeframe 48:20 >> 50:49

So, yeah, so I as I mentioned, I got the job from the firm and the IP firm. The firm was actually at the time headquartered in Pasadena. So after graduating from law school, I had a chance to actually work in Pasadena for about almost a year. So I get to live in Southern California and learn about L.A. and the surrounding area is a fascinating job because of the patent we work with know very smart people coming of different ideas and inventions and help them follow the patents or trademark. Well, trademarking a product or copyright of, you know, songs or movies or photos. And, you know, I've got some very interesting line throughout my life my daughter, my my sister I mentioned earlier, although she was gone to UC Berkeley after me and at the time had a lot of very smart friends and I will help them form new companies and one you may have heard of, Rotten Tomatoes.

So from there and and around here, if you go to restaurants, once you've heard of Alexander Steak House, I did their initial incorporation and also the trademarks and whatnot of the first started and and even some the entertainers like Prince was actually a client of mine before until he passed away on his last trip. But basically trademarking Prince Purple Rain against, you know, other infringers of names and things like that. So fascinating work with some of these very famous people or interesting businesses as well. Um, and I get a chance to because I also spoke some Spanish to Spanish in high school was able to use some of that with some of the clients I work with and I'm working on some Mexican law firm. We were introduced to some very famous magazines in in Mexico as well, and through some of the singers, one named Juan Gabriel, which most Mexican family know, and he is the song spans generations, like 50 years. Um, he recently passed away. It was a huge loss, just like Prince. But yeah, so very, very glad to have the opportunity to work with some very interesting artists. On protecting the IP.

Timeframe 50:49 >> 53:27

Yeah. So I would say the the work ethic, the learning being learning from studying hard in school plus, you know, the Navy, how things are working and you know, how to manage all the the budget of a ship making payrolls twice a month. Right And this is the days where you have to use a printer to print the checks to get it to everybody signing in the back and counting your cash every day. I mean, that type of accountability, responsibility that's really drilled into us as the Navy supply officer. I think is actually really good training to be running a law firm, for example. And in that sense also government work as well, because obviously transparency, accountability, reliability these are things is absolutely crucial. And of course, integrity at the end of day, that’s the most important thing.

(Interviewer) So what influenced your decision to join the Sunnyvale Planning Commission?

Oh, interesting. So that was actually kind of a low point of my life. I, after the law firm I worked for a while, I got recruited by my old boss at the firm was or was a partner at time behind me. Initially, she got a job at Intel, right in Santa Clara, as their number one trademark lawyer for trademark and brands, you know, in charge of all Intel's trademark around the globe at the time, over 70 countries. So it's a huge position. So she gave me an offer I couldn’t refuse practically to join her in Intel. So life was good when she was there. You know, we get sign on bonus, which of course immediately went to pay my student loans. I think put a dent in it very quickly which is nice. Then you've got stock options and all the great things, so things look really good at the time in the beginning and fortune he got she got fired and then after she left six months later than then, my life was not so good either when the new boss came in.

So I finally was let go as well. So at the time I was deciding what to do. Should I go work for another firm to work for a like law firm, or should I go for another company? And I'm like, You know what? This could happen to me again, right? I could start really good. But who knows what happens in the middle, out of my control. Sometimes things happen so maybe I should try and open my law firm and really applying those skills. I mentioned this the supply officer. You know how to balance checkbook and all that. I think that was helpful. And eventually, before I know it, you know, the firm started growing. We get more work. And so, you know, that was 20 years ago.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 53:27 >> 57:20

So in the meantime, while I was starting this firm, I was like, oh, maybe I should go and meet more people in the community, in the city and whatnot. So I got this flier in the mail that says, hey, you want to volunteer for your city, you can join the Foreign Commission. So I said, okay. A through the arts commission, they'll, you know, want me for art be bikes and pedestrian. They oh, I don't care about bikes that much but is interesting I bike, and they call it a piece of planning commission or planning commission. That's something I might be able to do not law schools took place in real estate and property and so that could be just I applied to be a planning commission. It's like I was actually the very first Asian person on the Sunnyvale Planning Commission's history.

Yeah, so commissions is actually a volunteer position that counties and cities have. And so citizens of the counties, cities who are worth the time are volunteer to time to serve on this commission, to give advice to the city council or to the county supervisors, for example. And right now, our county's advisors, we have lots of openings in the commission. So I always tell people, please look at our website, No, please apply this really good way to get yourself involved. And for me, basically by serving in planning commission for a few years, people say, Hey, with a vacancy coming up in the City council, all of you should be great. Why don't you run? So that's all I get sort of running for public office. That's right. That night when I got elected, Dean Chu, who is actually the brother of Congresswoman Judy Chu, and I were the two Asian ever elected first time in the history of Sunnyvale.

(Interviewer) It's very important to start showing others, too, that this is something that I can do, maybe something that I want to pursue in the future.

Well, it's interesting you said that, because when I first got on the planning commission, I didn't really understand the significance as much. And I was talking to Paul Fong about it, and he reminded me that, you know what a lot of people have paved that road for you to get on is not just your own merits that you got there. That's why I felt like at first. But oh yeah, I did a good job. I interviewed before I got this appointment. But the reality at the end of the day is there's a lot of folks who have paved that road to allow the folks making the vote that, gee, we really should have an Asian person to be to be appointed to be serving this position.

As far as the elected office is concerned, there was a lot of talk actually, when we were both running in different seats and different different seats in Sunnyvale at the time that, you know what, Sunnyvale was not ready for two Asians at the same time. There was rumors like that. I didn't pay much attention to it. And that night, Dean actually got the most votes of the different seats. I actually got the least votes. Surprisingly, I actually didn't realize how close I was to losing. When the result first came out that night at 8pm, it was 40-60, I was 40% against somebody who was not serve on the commission, who was practically unknown, but apparently had some lots of family roots in Sunnyvale, Caucasian men, and who we became friends afterwards.

But I was quite shocked because how could somebody who has very little endorsement support from our community got this many votes and then through the night, two votes, you know, keep my vote, keep climbing. I remember I first saw it on the on the computer. I was dead tired that they went to the shower. And then by the look of the shower was like 44%. I was like, boy, I need to take a bath. So the whole rest of night I waited until 11:30. Finally passed the 50% threshold. It was it was one of those the nail-biting evenings. Yeah. Won by I think, 52.9%, which I think was the same vote in the same night that Gavin got in San Francisco. So I thought that was funny. He I remember telling him the story. He goes, landslide, landslide.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 57:20 >> 1:08:08

As for lack of the, you know, the history of the Asian American in politics in Silicon Valley, the Japanese Americans by far have like the the leading on this. We have Norm Mineta, Mike Honda, those who were first elected and office. And eventually there are other Asian groups that, you know, kind of look up to that and move up. I would say it's interesting to see how the different Asian groups, because right now, for example, the Vietnamese groups is also very engaged and active, but also in terms of electoral officewise are not too many of them actually has move up and higher office surprisingly. And right now we have two Chinese American assembly member, both Evan Low and Alex Lee that are doing very well. And then the third we have Ash Kalra, which is South Asian as well. So I really do see that for this Silicon Valley area, we have quite a few success stories from terms Asian Americans doing work on the local cities and moving up to high office. For Board of Supervisors, it's a little bit different. I've spoken some folks like in L.A. County, for example, or in San Diego, they really don't see a path for any Asian American to be elected in the history yet in the county supervisor.

This county in Santa Clara County, the first one that was selected as policy advisor was actually it was adopted Latino Mike Honda, who of course taught Spanish in high school, fluent in Spanish, and then was able to not only get the Latino vote. Voted for him. So he was able to reach out so many group. The second Asian that was selected was Shirakawa Junior, who of course unfortunately was not very successful at this end. But I mean, his election was successful in that sense. But so I'm the third Asian American being elected in this county at this point, and I do look forward to see that there probably will have more. There are some leading candidates coming up running for Board of Supervisors for Asian descent, which I think will have a very good chance, given the fact that, look, I mean, this county's, what, close to 40% Asian American. So we have five seats. So you would see if that's the case would be at least two seats to be representative of the reflection of the populace. Right. Oh, you know, it's funny, when I was in city council, I look at it as, Oh, that's kind of like the next step. I should go to being city council and not really honestly understanding the importance of that position. And so I ran in 2008 the first time around. I came in second after Dave Cortese, who became supervisor for the past 12 years. Of course, Dave is now on the on the State Senate after he termed out. That's when I ran for the position again five years later and actually had a good chat with Dave when he announced running for state Senate, he actually reached out to me and say, “Are you going to run for this again?” The good thing is sometimes in some election people become enemy for life or that the bad blood still there. Me and Dave actually was one of those exception to that rule is that we actually became really good friends after he got elected actually got sent to Iraq.

I used to joke about telling people that I did such a poor job as mayor. Most lost elections as punishment. They sent me directly, you know. But the reality is that Dave's a very good public servant, so. So after I got back from Iraq, we actually became very close friends. And we've supported each other in so many things and various things. He actually Dave appointed me on to the Blue Ribbon Commission on Custodial Reform after the death of one of the inmates, Michael Tyree, being beat up by three jail guards. So those are the things that we worked on at the time. And then since then, I think I truly understand the importance of the Board of Supervisor. So by the time I ran again, 20, 2020, I truly understand the importance of dispositions and what we could do for our our residents.

The Board of Supervisors here for this county is really, in my view, the by far the most influential, impactful county in the entire Northern California. What I mean by that is that obviously L.A. County's largest county in L.A. and Southern California of San Diego County as well. But up here in Northern California, Santa Clara County has 2 million people. You know, my District three is about five times the size of San Francisco. So it really gives you a view of how great our size as a county is and also the size of population, the 2 million that in San Francisco, only about 200,000. For everybody knows Francisco is a world class city. But in terms of population and with what we've got here, I mean, the Silicon Valley is in solidly Santa Clara County. And if you look at the companies here between Apple, Google, Facebook and Nvidia, Intel and AMD, these are truly world class companies that makes products that affect the entire world and they're all in this county. So in addition to that, we also have defense. A lot of people forget about the fact that we have Lockheed, Northrop Grumman right here in Santa Clara County for many years. Moffett Field was naval station previously. So there's a lot of high tech, not just from the sense of of the most most recent fad, shall we say, social media. We talk about the technology from the defense industry for literally since World War Two. They've been here since before that. Even so, it's a really impactful, very important county and the ability to make sure that we we of course, need to make sure we welcome folks we are we call Sanctuary County that we do not, you know, work with ICE. And I think these are very important values and principles that we have.

Well, as the supervisor, I feel like our role as a county is to provide what we call the public safety net of the community. Frankly, the joke is that if you have not really dealt with our services, congratulations, you're doing okay, because the county usually is the one who serve all those needy issues: unhoused, drug rehabilitation, mental health and public health issues, Medi-Cal, Medicaid, housing shortage. There's all these issues Section Eight, vouchers for housing. These are all the issues that we provide. And of course, we all the basic services, like your death certificate, your your birth certificate, your marriage certificate, all of those are all county services as well. You buy a house, you need record the deed of the house right here at the county assessor's office. And you have to pay pay your your annual assessor, Larry Stone, like boo, this is a greeting. But, you know, paying your property taxes, all those are handled by the county. But but ultimately, really, the county does provide a lot of these safety net services for those who are less fortunate. And that, you know, we have a lot of resources from all the taxes. We collect it and we want to make sure that the funds are received, are being directed to what a true need it's going to be.

Yes. I didn't pick the time. It picked me, I guess. So, I got elected in November 2020. If you remember COVID started it around February, March timeframe of 2020. And the very first death recorded in the United States actually was somebody from Sunnyvale. Just so happened, it's the responsibility of the public health department of the county that protects, like, for example, what is vaccine testing where there is vaccine, but is a COVID testing with a vaccine distribution. Right. All those goes through the county. But even before that, the whole shelter in place order from public health officer Dr. Sara Cody was extremely controversial. But when you make that call, basically you have to stay at home for weeks onwards, right? Once and sometimes. And that order at the time seems very tough. But, you know, when we look at what happened in New York City, which they did the same thing, I think two weeks later, people were able to do some math afterwards and found out that had New York City imposed the same restriction, thousands of lives in New York probably would have been saved. So some of these decision we make right here truly save lives. And this is not hyperbole. I mean, it really is real. We're told public health with 2 million people here. A funny story was that when I got elected, one of the things I was reading newspapers that, oh, there's the czar on COVID appointed by Trump at the time. Look at the name. I said, wait a minute, I know this name. It's a four-star general. Being a Army general and working at the National Guard, the Health and Human Services to administer the distribution of drugs. He's a logistic general. Well, it turns out that was my last boss in Iraq. Small world, right? So since I got elected, I reach out to the I remember me, General? Otto, I worked for you in Iraq. In the post he wrote back and said, oh, by the way, we really need those vaccines now, because the way it works is they both go on federal to state, to local. And we're like, well, we're getting so little from the state, we need to find other ways to do it. And we have this thing called federally qualified health clinics, which means if you can get the vaccines directly from the federal government and through that outreach, I think we were able to get at 1.1 week, we got 300,000 doses, went like the only got 20,000 something. So people got really jealous of us and sometimes I tell people I don't think there was a special favor I did, but I think I made a good enough case why that was so needed for our county of 2 million people giving us, you know, 30,000 doses through the state is just far too slow of a pandemic like that. And once we get that 300,000 doses, we were able to get out to people very quickly. And I think also help our percentages, like why we are of counties of the highest percentage of people being vaccinated is because when needed, so much of it came on. People having before they start having say, Oh, I get it or not get it. At that point, everybody just want to get it. And I think that helped us getting our numbers up. So sometimes in life you just don't know where you cross, your path might cross in life.

Narrative & Identity Timeframe 1:08:08 >> 1:10:30

(Interviewer) Are there other ways that your military life played a role or its influences on how you operate as a board supervisor?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I think with the military, we we do logistics. And my one of my main specialty is on aircraft aviation logistics, meaning that we're the ones figuring out where all the aircraft that's flying around for the Navy on the aircraft carriers, where are the most needed parts to making sure that they get to the ship, get to the carriers so that they could be replace and repaired so that the planes can do the mission right to fly in sorties. And one of the interesting story I had was when the whole shock and awe back in 2003, we all got caught up, get caught up for active duty after 9/11, 2001-2003 timeframe, all carriers in the Persian Gulf. And we are realizing that they're running out of parts quicker, you know, pretty quickly. And then we're like, wow, every time when we run out of parts and you start going around and chasing these parts, like, where's that part? And finally find a partnership you get as a ship. And of course, it's not like, you know, FedEx or DHL, you know, Amazon delivery. I mean, you really need to find ways to get something. And sometimes it takes weeks, which of course, means that plane would be down for a long time. So I was able to be in the logistic headquarters to work on a program to find out ways to measure the logistics readiness.

So, hey, this part is running short in the warehouse. We should be ordering them, not because between zero, like when you have four years of inventory, five without down to two, you better be screaming that, hey, you're going to get the ship right over there. So it's something that's simple that we were able to do, was able to help, you know, the logistic readiness of our our, you know, most advanced carrier fleet for something that basic. And that's the type of idea I have bringing to County. Like no, let’s not wait till we truly run out of something to scream and and using he PPE for example during COVID. So those are the kind of things that I'm sure and I think the Doctor Cody and others were like fine because at the end of the day is no longer a medical issue. It's become a logistical issue. It's like do we have the PPE? Do you have in the vaccines? Do you have enough tests, right? And how are you going to get those to the community when needed?

Narrative & Identity Timeframe 1:10:30 >> 1:14:10

As you said, this Yellow Peril has been around for over a hundred years, right after the Chinese immigrants that came from the Canton Province to dig gold right. The old Gold Mountain here in San Francisco and all that and Eldorado, whatnot. Obviously, there's a lot of, you know, anti-Chinese. That is the Chinese Exclusion Act in the late 1800s. Right. Even back then. So the and then, of course, very dramatically, we have the internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor. Right. So the anti-Asian sentiment has always been ebb and flow, but it's never gone away. And with the latest COVID virus, some time when Trump called the Wuhan virus, the Chinese virus, I think certainly has really motivated much, much of that hatred come out all over again.

And it's very, very disconcerting. People getting yelled at, being spit at being slapped or being injured or being robbed. So those are the type of stories that we we hear so much in the past few years. It is truly enough white people being killed. Right. One of the Atlanta spas, where I think six woman were killed. So it's just horrifying. It's just horrifying. And for us here, I think we learned that to fight these type of stereotypes and hatred, it's really education at the end of the day. People need to learn. And so I think our schools not doing enough job, so we're not on as many of these anti-hate rally throughout. And and this rally really should not just be attended by Asians. It's like Black Lives Matter. You look at it, Black Lives Matter will not be successful, only Black people marching. Black Lives Matter is successful because it was joined by so many different groups, everybody coming together. And we have the same idea of all the anti-Asian hate is that we really need to understand that hit against one against all. Simple as that.

We really want to have, not just Chinese or Japanese or Asians. In addition to the the before of Asian communities. We really need all the different communities to join us. And I think that's one of the things that we're able to do the past couple of years to many of Jewish community. Like, for example, I was at the at one of these anti-hate incidents, one when synagogue was shot up by somebody in the Jewish synagogue.

And of course I was there with my current president Susan Ellenberg on on that one on the on this one synagogue that she grew up, you know, a block away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. So is education is about funding. We need to put the money where our mouth is. But there is safety devices that make very loud noises so people could feel better when they go to public or what is funding education to make sure that these are things that are being taught in schools so people understand where we came from and where this type of awful stuff happened. Look, the Fairmont Hotel over now, it's called the it's a Hilton Hotel. Now, Insignia. Right at that site was one of the old Chinatown that got burned down in San Jose, which a lot of people don't know. So you look for the plaque. There's a big plaque there now by the wall. There's a lot of history here. And these type of sentiments obviously not as violent at that point, that violence is. I mean, they literally burned downtown and got away with it. And certainly we don't want that to ever happen again.

Systems & Power Timeframe 1:14:10 >> 1:15:35

(Interviewer) So U.S. Senator Alex Lee has the U.S. Citizenship for Essential Workers Act. What inspired the strategy and what impact it has to have this kind of local but also state level collaboration?

You know, we we always see think globally, but act locally. And the issue of immigration, this much immigration itself is a federal law issue that affects us locally every day when farmers cannot get the workers to pick their fruit because of these draconian immigration policies and federal law that Mexican workers cannot come in or didn't get the paperwork in time to be a guest for a guest worker permit, for example, our farmers lose millions of dollars a year. So this not really a Republican, Democrat issue. It's not a business labor issue. This is really an issue that is what makes America where we are. We are strong because of diversity, but at the same time, we have so many people working in this country who keep this country for really good work ethic that contribute to our community. But this is one of those things that, you know, when when when Trump talks about, you know, these criminals coming across the border and all that, the number that he's talked about was minuscule compared to those who are productive. And lumping everybody together is what generates these type of discriminate and hate. That is absolutely uncalled for. And these are the policies that you mentioned are ways that we're trying to fix a problem. Like, for example, DACA, what does most, most most ridiculous rule? I mean, on my own staff we have one employee who is a DACA recipient, and he his family's from Korea. He's not been released his country of his a Korea for decades because he could never come back if I were to return. He cannot leave the country for Mexico or Canada, for that matter. And he grew up here. He was a UC Berkeley graduate. So I think it is so unfortunate that these these rules are not being fixed. And I really hope that through the leadership of our own councilman, Zoe Lofgren, who is on the head of the immigration subcommittee, that these long overdue policies and rules need to be fixed.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 1:15:35 >> 1:20:45

Oh, I think as I said earlier, you know, when we talk about anti-Asian hate, we need not only Asian, but we need everybody to be working with us. And I think this is the same reason why we want to work for so many different community groups, because I know when they say it takes a village to raise a kid, it really takes everybody working together because, our cause is not just our cause; our cause everybody's cause. I think it's so important that these network and these bridges are built early on so that when problem arises down the road, whatever that may be, is there is a problem against another group that we are partners that they know that they can call us for our support and vice versa. And I think this is the thing about democracy.

It's a number game, right? And they until you have the majority, you really don't have much of a voice in that sense. Right. So I think having the coalition building done early on, we're able to pass these important policies. And I think honestly, there's so much more work we need and the policy building so that these type of laws regarding immigration, DACA, guest worker permit programs, these are things I believe when we get all the group together, this is how we can make the law change or even gun control for that matter.

(Interviewer) What do you see as the most important, important and pressing issues in our community today?

There are so many. I would say the one that people always hear about is the issue of unhoused being in the Bay Area right here. We see so many folks living in tents or living in RVs, living in cars. You know, the fact that they are couch surfing, the fact that they're living the cars, they are still in house, these are still homeless. And we really need to find ways and then do the need. The reason behind this, besides money, besides a high cost of living, is many. Some has to do with family issues on that has to do with mental issues. Some may have involved with some of the substance abuse. And this is where we need to not just throw money at the problem.

We're really come off solutions that could really help people directly. Having enough beds for substance abuse treatment, for example, those who need it. And right now. Well, speaking of substance abuse, the proliferation of fentanyl and so many different drugs being laced, the not just the drug by itself, at least two other drugs are not only causing addiction issues. We're talking about death. People die the very first time they get exposed to fentanyl because the amount it's required to kill somebody on fentanyl is so little and everybody reacts differently. And so one of the things that we're pushing really hard right now, the county is getting Narcan, which is like an antidote of of of fentanyl to be available not just in schools, high schools we're talking about even potentially middle school and also libraries, county libraries.

And they put push forward that proposal. And hopefully by the time you hear this program that this be there will be a program does now available they'll county and hopefully even city libraries as well. Oh, I think it's for [the youth] to participate. There's a public comment period. Anybody could speak, as a matter of fact, and I really do encourage young students to take advantage of it. If there's an issue, let's say if it is climate change is the issue, come speak with us about that. During a public comment period, we are also forming, in addition, County does a youth commission that youth can join. In addition to that, we are in the process of forming a new county sustainability Commission addressing climate change, and on there we will have at least two spots reserved for youth so that more young people will be able to participate. And we really welcome the voices because young people get it on climate change especially, and their ideas to action. There's their passion is what exactly we need it to help move this policy forward.

Timeframe 1:20:45 >> 1:22:01

(Interviewer) were there any mentors you had as you're going through this process of becoming a change maker in your community?

Well, I think there are so many mentors in my life. You know, most recently, I would say are from two to get here, I'll say Norm Mineta, Mike Honda, Paul Fong, just to name three I could think of that has given me ideas, mentorship and the political life of what it means to to run for office and how to serve. And and throughout my life, whether it's in the military, whether it's in my legal career, I’ve been blessed with so many good mentors throughout. And, you know, it is quite fascinating. I do tell people that take the time to talk to the young people, take the time to do your mentorship, because your 5 minutes of mentorship, you have no idea sometimes could be life changing for a young child like Mr. Isono, who was speaking with me for only about maybe 50 minutes. But he said truly was very life changing for me of how I behave. So I think it's just so important that we might do things throughout life. We're very busy, but take the time to talk to young people and give them the guidance I think is so important.

Timeframe 1:22:01 >> 1:23:26

Well, a lot of these groups I was belonging to all have their specialty, like mental health is really about getting the resources to folks because of mental health issues. Peer counseling is very important for mental health is actually a really good gateway of providing very low-cost subsidized counseling to people who need that service. So it's a very worthwhile organization. I belong to it for over a decade and there's a just tremendous amount of work that's been provided to the mental health community. That's that's that's what that organization does. And at the end of the day, you know all of these organizations and we do it. I tell people you don't do it for the money because otherwise, you’re really bad at math. There's no money to it. But you do it because you believe that you might be able to contribute to driving a policy for them to do something better in the long run. And since I think I have a pretty rich experience in life and have gone through so much, I'm hoping that maybe I have $0.02 to provide from time to time to design education. And, you know, not every transition you join in is all happy. Sometimes they're in some dire financial situation or personnel changes and whatnot. And then by being there, you'll be able to help guide them to hire the right people, know, clear up the books and things like that, which I've done.

Transformation & Change Timeframe 1:23:26 >> 1:27:49

I would say activism is living your life to move the policy, to create some type of a movement. And ultimately, as we say, like, are you making a change to your surroundings? Different people have different way of doing by being elected official. One of the things we have to voice and we have the power of gathering, of convening people come when we see something, people actually come together and hopefully through that things might, ideas evolve, emerge and then things could change. And I do think that, you know, have you make any change in like, well, guess what? The good thing about this position as kind of advisor is we have the resources, we have the voice we really could bring change to someone. So for example, earlier today, I'm still working on it, but just what we're seeing out here, some of our in-house folks in Sunnyvale needs a place to stay.

They can just feel like this is very dangerous for them and there is some sweeping action from the city. And so I'm here trying to scrounge up some funding to put them in motels by tonight. And it's a small thing. So most people we're dealing with a dozen folks, but this is completely life changing for them. And so activism could be for millions of people in this case, mainly for only a dozen people, but for them, for each of them, that change would be very impactful and potentially life changing for them. But they might save their life or given the warm shelter for a short period of time because of that, that letter we're facing. And, you know, and we do it we do make changes in different ways, right. When I'm not in public office, I could be in the Navy. I can make that type of change while I'm serving in Iraq, for example, with my Army buddies of trying to help them out on specific project or delivering certain things like, for example, after the the the buildings of the Foreign Ministry of of Baghdad got bombed, the windows all shot that the Iraqi ministry still need to operate on electricity.

So I was assigned to find, you know, generators and the giants like generators the size of a container to truck in. And we're able to fix the old things that we have get them running and then find a time that the insurgents won't like kill me in the middle of the tour and lead a convoy to bring it there. I mean, that's one of those experience. I would be able to go back, say, wow, that was impactful because the whole Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Ministry is now operating because of our efforts of getting these generators to keep them, keep supplying electricity to run the show. So there are many ways. So we have many different jobs in my life. But, you know, the thing where you're you can make changes on everything everyday thing that you do.

Well, the thing is we we have to term for succession planning, right? I there's only so much I could do at a certain time and we all have our stage in life and we need to make sure we have the next generation to come continue doing not so exactly what I did, but we know that the same values we can in the only thing we could give our kids really are the values of integrity, of work ethic. Right? And With that, we hope that they will make the right decision going forward. What is for climate change? What is for our social services issues? Are we talking about my own house or what is an environment, whatever it might be that that that they would choose to do? But if you don't give them enough tools to do it, I think you're not doing anybody justice, because when we finish, where we are is where we are kind of in the, you know, the certain time that we'll have to slow down and not be able to do that work anymore. If nobody else is continuing to do the work, and so in some ways, whatever we've accomplished is lost and that's a losing. I tell you, I love this job. This is really a good place to be. I've been here what is my third year now in the position? And we if you could serve up to 12 years. So by the time that happens, I'll be in mid-64. So we'll see at that point. But right now I'm loving it here.

Timeframe 1:27:49 >> end

(Interviewer) Where did she decide to go?

Now we don't know. Yeah we have a few places to choose from. You know, right now between Davis and Irvine. We haven't heard from Berkeley yet. So we’ll see. Um, I would say at the end of the day, integrity is always the number one thing. You can surround it, but that you cannot get away from that There's no, no, no ifs, no buts when it comes to that. And I don't mean you cannot lie at all in life. There's some white lie you have to do in life. The times. But what I'm talking about the of basic value issues that they really, really need to stick with. You know, money is not the goal. And it's so easy that people forget what money is for is really a tool to get something. And as an elected official, when we have the responsibility of, you know, dealing with $11 billion budget every year, right. How to spend the money properly, not just transparently but properly to the right issues so important. And you know, you can see people wasting money, right? And government can waste money just like anybody else and making sure that funds are being not not wasted and, you know, planned properly as well is so important. Some some are short term, but some are long term as well as preparedness, for example, something that's not the more sexy, but there's really, really potential life and death. Look what happens in Turkey, right? These are the things that, you know, we might not be meeting today or the or updating the sewage. Sewage plant, right? Yeah, not exactly very fun stuff, but these are things that we really need to plan out. So I think as a as official, we need to make sure that we know how to use our resources and don't be wasteful. Sure. So recently with the Homekey project, we have quite a few places that we're converting the rundown motels to get at, rehabilitate it, and so that we could use it for unhoused people. And those type of projects tend to be extremely controversial due to the fact that the word on unhoused homeless people equate that oftentimes incorrectly to security, unsafe drugs and all this other potential problems.

And so I think it is important sometimes to be able to not make the project successful, but to make sure that we'll be able to provide the stories of the success, stories that the fear out there. I understand why you're fearful this is logical, but actually is not true. And to be able to tell the story is very difficult because sometimes some people persuadable and sometimes it'll take time. And the best stories are the ones where you have people who oppose the project. But then two years later, after project became successful, they should give. I said, Oh yeah, I was all scared two years ago, but it turns out it wasn't what I thought it's going to be because it was well-run. Folks who are dear are just like neighbors like us. Our families have really enjoyed. So it turned out it was a non-issue. But sometimes some of those difficult decisions, it's hard to ah to make at the time people's temper, emotions gets in the way. And but yes, a public official, we sometimes have to take those difficult decisions to find the right balance.

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