Became part of the mainstream and active in community service - 6 Decade in a Glimpse (Pius Lee Autobiography 5)

Chapter 8: Became part of the mainstream and active in community service

In the past 45 years, I was appointed to various positions by five mayors of San Francisco and two governors of California.

In 1981, San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein appointed me as the Chair of the San Francisco and Taipei Sister City Committee. During that time, Taipei Mayor Lee Teng-Hui donated the Golden Gate Pavilion to San Francisco.

There was a suggestion that the pavilion should be located downtown, but Taipei Mayor Lee believed that the structure had a Chinese design that should take "Feng Shui'' component into consideration. Matching with the natural element of mountain and water would bring luck to San Francisco.

Three former Mayors of Taipei, Lee Tung-Hui, Chen Shui-Bian, and Ma Ying-Jeou, had visited the pavilion which has been located in Golden Gate Park since 1981. Since then, they all had a smooth political career and became Presidents of Taiwan. Mayor Dianne Feinstein also later became our U.S. Senator.

In returning a favor, Mayor Feinstein asked that San Francisco should have a gift for Taipei, which would be a children's playground. But the City had no budget for that. She asked me to raise money to pay for this project. I did and raised $35,000 to complete the project.

The playground was located in the Youth Park in Taipei (near the Presidential Office Building). To this day, it continues to serve the community in Taipei. If you have a chance to go to Taipei, I welcome you to visit this park and check out the children's playground which is a gift from San Francisco to Taipei.

In 1981, Governor Jerry Brown appointed me to a very significant position as a member of the State Industrial Welfare Commission.

In that capacity I worked hard to raise the minimum wage and workers welfare. I voted to approve a scheduling system whereby police and medical staff would be entitled to a 10-hour and four-day work with 3-day off per week. It was compatible with my idea of fighting for workers' well-being going back to the days when I was a union representative.

In 1981, Mayor Dianne Feinstein appointed me to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission.

In 1981, I was instrumental in setting up the Chinatown police koban greatly improving community safety.

That year Mayor Feinstein visited sister city Tokyo. She noticed that a police koban was everywhere she went in Tokyo and it would improve public safety.

When she returned, she planned to have it set up in Japantown. But the businesses and merchants were not responsive to the idea. Mayor Feinstein wanted me to build the first koban in Chinatown. The City had no funding on the project, so she asked me to raise funds.

I immediately accepted the challenge and raised $10,000 in Chinatown for the construction cost. I donated the koban to the Police Department in the name of Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

As a result, the City's first police koban was opened at Grant Avenue and Jackson Street serving the community for over 15 years until it was removed.

The facts spoke for itself. The police koban improved Chinatown's public safety. Many police cadets were assigned to the koban in Chinatown. It served Chinatown for about 15 years and served as a deterrence to gang violence. It was also a visible statue in Chinatown. Retired Deputy Police Chief Garret Tom and Assistant Police Chief David Lazar both had served at the koban.

In 1989, the California Department of Public Health issued a health code citation to some businesses in Chinatown for selling packaged food outside storefront without state permits. Upon learning that, I contacted then Assemblymember John Burton's assistant Fiona Ma and explained to her about what had happened and suggested that the state law should be amended so that merchants could sell vegetables, fruits and package food two feet extended from their storefronts.

Assemblymember Burton made an amendment to the existing law and was approved by the legislature. Since then, not only Chinatown benefited but storefront merchants throughout the state had more revenues while customers found it very convenient. The amendment works to this day.

Back then, the young and promising Fiona Ma set her sights on politics and we supported her. She was then elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, State Assembly, and now State Treasurer. We hope that she will continue to move up and run for governor soon.

In 1984, due to the proliferation of guns and the endless incidents of firearm shootings, as a member of the City's Human Rights Commission, I proposed to Mayor Art Agnos (formerly State Assemblymember) that gun owners should be required to take out $1 million insurance coverage so that they would be careful with firearm use.

He agreed but the state legislature did not go along because of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. I will never forget what my good friend Art Agnos did for me.

Now I am glad that 36 years later, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo proposed to the City Council and passed a law that beginning January 2021, gun owners were required to buy gun liability insurance. It would help to reduce gun proliferation and protect public safety.

Other cities should adopt similar ordinances. I hope that the state and the Congress would also change gun laws and require gun owners to buy $1 million liability insurance. In case an accident occurs, innocent victims could be compensated.

There have been so many people being killed by guns in recent years. President Joe Biden should propose to amend the Second Amendment, the rights to bear arms, in Congress.

In 1988, Mayor Art Agnos appointed me to the Police Commission. I proposed police foot patrols in Chinatown to enhance their contacts with merchants. The idea of having each other's phone numbers between the officers and merchants would improve response time. I encouraged citizens to resolve differences through police without resorting to violence.

( To be continued in Issue 191 )

Editor's Note: Community leader Pius Lee retires in 2024 after advocating for the community in many ways for 60 years. He has recently released his autobiography book, 6 Decades in a Glimpse, as his personal memoirs for his friends and families, not for sale. Mr. Lee shares his book with community members to be reprinted in Wind Newspaper's weekly issues starting #186 in April 2024.