Monterey Park

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March 9, 2011 | 1:21 PM | By

Monterey Park: In a majority Asian city, a Latina wins a council seat

Photo by debbychen/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A Monterey Park mini-mall, January 2007

Monterey Park did not become the first city in the continental United States to have an all-Asian city council yesterday, as some had anticipated, but it did get an all-minority council that’s representative of the majority-minority city’s ethnic makeup.

Five of the eight candidates vying yesterday for the city’s three open council seats were Asian American. Among the seats open was one vacated by Benjamin “Frank” Venti, the sole non-Asian city council member. After yesterday’s votes were counted, Latina newcomer Teresa Real Sebastian – whose campaign website proffered greetings in multiple languages – joined incumbents Mitchell Ing and Anthony Wong as one of the three winners.

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FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Politics/Justice, 2010 Census, Monterey Park
March 8, 2011 | 3:57 PM | By

Dispatch from Monterey Park: An all-Asian city council?

Photo by debbychen/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A Monterey Park mini-mall, January 2007

A story I linked to in an earlier post today is worth highlighting because, depending on today’s municipal voting results, a city in the San Gabriel Valley could make some history.

The Alhambra Source, a local news website, published a story today about how five of the eight candidates competing for Monterey Park’s open council seats are Asian American. It’s possible that Monterey Park could become the first city with an all-Asian city council in the continental United States. From the piece:

If three of them win the at-large election, Monterey Park, recognized as the first American suburban Chinatown, would make history once again. Even if they do not — with some strong Hispanic candidates also vying for the open seats — the city offers a glimpse at transitions in ethnic politics from a city that has been a leading edge in Asian American civic participation.

In the 1980s Monterey Park became home to the first predominantly Asian population on the mainland United States and was the first to elect a Chinese mayor. But it took more than a decade for the City Council to resemble the demographics of the city of 60,000. Now, another decade later, Asian Americans dominate the council with a presence greater than their actual numbers.

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FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Politics/Justice, 2010 Census, Los Angeles municipal election, Monterey Park
March 8, 2011 | 12:41 PM | By

City candidates reveal increasingly diverse L.A.

Art by Eric Fischer/Flickr (Creative Commons)

A color-coded ethnicity map of the Los Angeles area, based on older census data

Today’s municipal elections in Los Angeles and other local cities happen to coincide with the scheduled release this afternoon of 2010 Census data for California, which will show us the racial and ethnic breakdown of the state and how it has changed since ten years ago.

The census data is just beginning to roll out, but the roster of candidates for Los Angeles City Council, and for council seats in surrounding cities, is a good indication of what the face of Southern California looks like. On the L.A. ballot alone are eight immigrants, along with others who are the children and grandchildren of immigrants.

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FILED UNDER: Culture/Identity, Politics/Justice, 2010 Census, Bell, Los Angeles City Council, Los Angeles municipal election, Monterey Park