Sam Yoon announces mayoral run

City Councilor Sam Yoon announced Sunday his intentions to run against incumbent mayor Thomas Menino in the upcoming election. Yoon, the first Asian-American to run for elected office in Boston, made his announcement as voting numbers in Chinatown are on the rise, according to a report by the Civic Engagement Initiative.

Before his first run for City Council in 2005, Yoon worked within Chinatown as a community organizer on a land issue stemming from the Big Dig. "We all have a stake in what happens in our neighborhoods, and it's always a good thing when more people take an active role in their community,” Yoon said.

The Civic Engagement Initiative (CEI) has been working with existing community organizations in largely minority neighborhoods since its founding in 2002. In a report published last week, the CEI claims a 24.6 percent increase in voter turnout in Chinatown from the 2004 to 2008 presidential elections. According to their recent report, CEI used the most powerful get-out-the-vote methods, specifically a non-partisan door to door campaign to encourage residents to vote. The CEI works closely with the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), a grassroots organization that empowers Asian-Americans in the Boston area in matters relevant to their communities.

According to the CEI’s report, a strong turn out in Chinatown helped put Sam Yoon on Boston’s political map in 2005 and could help to put him into the mayor’s office. Since his election, Yoon has supported Mass. Senator Sonia Chang-Diaz’s bill to re-authorize transliterated ballots in Chinese and Vietnamese. Transliterated ballots have been printed in Boston since 2005 but the bill permitting them expired at the end of 2008.

Yoon has also been active in the bone marrow drive for 4-year-old Alex Phan of Dorchester. Phan was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a very rare disorder, in June. Many members of the Asian-American community have been screened as potential donors. Yoon told the Boston Globe in December that he plans to organize bone marrow drives in Chinatown early this year.

According to a spokesperson for the CPA, Chinatown will likely continue to support Yoon. “Chinatown has supported him in the past. Voter turn out has been very high and I think it’ll continue to be that way.”

Still, many in Chinatown do not feel their community is truly entering the world of Boston’s powerful political communities, historically the neighborhoods of West Roxbury and South Boston. Richard Chin, the Community Development Director at the Wang YMCA of Chinatown and a long time community activist said that he does not feel Chinatown residents are necessarily voting in larger numbers or that Sam Yoon’s bid in the mayoral race will be supported by the community.

“I don’t think his candidacy was necessarily supported by Chinatown. A lot of people felt he didn’t do enough for Chinatown and won’t give him the vote,” Chin said. He went on to say that he does not believe Chinatown residents are using the vote to further any community interests. “I don’t think they’re using the vote to support anything. They [politicians] always say they’ll support the neighborhood but for a thousand votes no politician has to worry,” Chin said.

“I’ll give you one example: no politician would dare and step forward and say that the combat zone would be allowed anywhere but Chinatown. It was done so no other neighborhood would ever have to deal with it. The negative repercussions of such an industry have left its mark on Chinatown,” Chin said.