Gothamist: Johnny Liu at the Ready

Vito

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 22:09:43 -0500

Avella is either completely clueless or plain evil. In the NY Times, as white chick wrote, Avella basically said that the Asians deserved to be attacked because they put up Asian signs and Asian developers are overdeveloping "his" community. I think that any developer, whether Asian or Latino or Greek or Italian, will try to build the most expensive house that the zoning will allow. But, Avella wearing his blinders and echoing the racists in his community, only sees Asian developers committing wrongs. His news conference wasn't well attended because in 2006, we don't want to hear what bigots have to say.

white chick

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 23:35:49 -0500

All this talk of racism and bigotry...I hope people out there realize that one racial incident does not represent the entire white race. What Councilman Avella did with his press conference was to insinuate the fact that the Asians had it coming, cuz we were left out and alienated by Asians thru Asian signages by store owners. He is to me the very essence of a racial bigot. I live in Little Neck and believe me, he does not represent all our sentiments. I have college buddies of Korean decent and they've told me that businesses do what they can to attract business. They agree that businesses should try and be more inclusive but they know that theres only a small handful of businesses who don't have english signage. Its great that Avella is addressing the issue, but to introduce legislation to make it mandatory is to me, racist. If I was the Council person of that district, I'd try and reach out to the Korean community and understand the problem than try to exclude them. This is supposely coming from someone who wants to run for mayor. If there is a rivalry going on between Avella and Liu, all I can say is, Avella does not represent all of us. And, Avella is not going to make it in any city-wide election.

pro-asian caucasian liu fan

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 22:51:24 -0500

i am a firm believer that all human beings regardless of race, should be respected for their cultural diversity. Especially in a city like new york. i have a hard time fathoming the fact that racial incidents continues to occur in the greatest melting pot in the world! Asians are by the far the greatest contributors to the American society. their hard work and ethics should be something that other races should admire and not be jealous of. Coming from a staunch italian (republican i mite add) background, i know of the hardship that my people endured in their fight to be included in this great american nation. its about time the Asians stood up and did something! John Liu is simply fighting for his people to be included in the fabric of our society. He IS a hero in my opinion. he's fearless and always thinks of ways to get people's attention at issues that many (yes, including white folks like me) might not comprehend or realize is important. Regardless of how other elect officials view him, i admire someone who fights hard for his people. But he not only speaks out against issues regarding his people. he fights for all of us. his opinions and stance on transportation issues has us all applauding and asking for more. he's certainly made a believer out of me. So, john liu, i hope you realise that you have a fan in me, and that there are many more like me out here rooting for you!

the other asian

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 13:09:40 -0500

Though most people won't admit it, they're racist bigots - the thought of a famous Asian man doing anything but kung fu is ridiculous. The thought of him having ruling power over the masses, especially non-asians, is unacceptable. Again, it's our fukd up societal emphasis on appearances and the superficial while ignoring or seeing only the bad in everything else about them.

up da lader

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:22:26 -0500

It's probably the latter.

Dieselboy

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 10:15:31 -0500

I don't understand all the John Liu hate. He's the only councilman I see really pushing issues for all citizens, not just those who live in Flushing and Asian-American. He's also fearless and gutsy. As an independent observer, it looks like alot of the detractors, on this board and others, are simply rival politicians and/or racists. I would say all the publicity grandstnading, press releases and public appearances aren't without precedence, as other posters have mentioned. So he doesn't deserve to be singled out. I think he'd be a wonderful mayor if he does eventually choose to run, or just about any other public office.

jimmy

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:44:11 -0500

A few years ago I attended a funeral of a young woman who was a childhood friend of John Liu. He was invited to speak, and it was intense. He may be inauthentic in his press releases, but that day he was authentic as hell. Really moving.

iz dat bad

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 09:12:36 -0500

I dunno but I think dominic carter likes john liu. He sure gave it to dj star the other week.

James Frey

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:48:57 -0500

I'll post this video on YouTube one day -- John Lou, being interviewed by Dominic Carter on NY1, responds to a question from Dominic about the growing influence of Asian-Americans on the City's electoral process: "Well Dominic, you know, I've been Asian all my life."

Dragon Fire

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:26:57 -0500

Avella doesn't come out very well in comparison to Liu. Avella seems whiny. Pathetic even.

anonymous

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 23:07:31 -0500

John Liu for Mayor 2009!

Brightliner

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:58:49 -0500

Wow, Mamba, where did all that anger come from? I assume it's aimed at cb (post #3) since Jen didn't try to spell "loo." Don't you know what a loo is? I'm not sure you should be going around pointing fingers about factual accuracy, laziness or sheer stupidity when your own post is full of misspellings, bad capitalization and grammatical errors.

Toby

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 21:20:22 -0500

I have been saying for some time that Liu wants to be mayor. It is just becoming more obvious. Hell, Liu is on TV more than Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

ShrimpCrackers

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 20:46:33 -0500

There is a huge difference; unlike Al Sharpton's wild claims, DJ Star indeed make racist remarks against Asian people. Hot 97's Tsunami Song was indeed appalling and everyone heard it. John Liu is right to come out and speak against it. In addition, John, and Liu (Loo) is slang for Toilet, not the Chinese versions. Finally, yes John Liu may suck at trying to speak at Mandarin, and even his Taiwanese is accented too. But at least he's trying his run at it. Something better than nothing for the Asian communities, his fathers bank fraud has little to do with him. Besides this is very far from the Meng Family we are talking about here, which is not only known for corruption in NYC, but also back in Taiwan under the notorious KuoMinTang.

Bob A Booey

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:59:06 -0500

I thought "the filthy, smelly streets of Chinatown" was how you said toilet in Chinese.

?

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:50:49 -0500

Chun is Chinese slang for toilet?

1-800-ABC-DEFG

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:47:48 -0500

“Except for the spelling, both my names are slang for toilet" "his Chinese name is slang for toilet" No you Twinkie! He's talking about his ENGLISH name. He may not speak Chinese but Jen Chung, you can't even read English!

5w40

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:35:42 -0500

John Liu. Queens' answer to Anthony Weiner. AKA Schumer, junior. Quick, what's the most dangerous place in the world? The space between a TV camera's lens and (Liu, Weiner, Schumer)

just saying

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 19:19:25 -0500

Is Gothamist going down the loo?

mamba

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:57:39 -0500

I worry about your factual accuracy when you can't even spell "Loo" - the only thing that holts me from calling this post racist is the fact that you're Chinese - therefore, I can only attribute your fuckup to laziness or sheer stupidity. Moreover, it's not sensible for you or the concil to criticize (even quietly) Liu for extending beyond his district when almost every other local pol from marty markowitz to liz kruger opens their mouth on any NYC subject that they want. It's called a bully pulpit - you Ivy Leaguers and should know that. Frankly, why we don't like Liu is because he lacks any style, grace or gravitas. p.s. - all would have been forgiven if it was a funny joke. Next time, try working something like "Concilman Liu is also polling his constituents if they would prefer folded or on hangers." See - racist and funny!

ten fourteen words

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 18:04:57 -0500

It irks you that an Asian is rocking the boat, don't it? He was elected by the people unlike sharpton who lost in his tries. More power to you Mr. Liu, Flushing is behind you 100 percent.

hr

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:22:56 -0500

opportunist, reactionary media whore. the asian al sharpton.

cdjames

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 17:03:27 -0500

Flushing Resident... actually don't have anything against Liu. He follows Bloomberg's policy of media accessibility... and he will win his next public election... what's wrong w/that? If the writer was trying to be clever he could have thrown in the fact that he rep's FLUSHING. Hardy har.

Glenn

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:52:33 -0500

Gotbaum is a total no-show for almost every major cause I can think of that Mark Green would have been all over. For instance, she made no public comments about the new police rules that would have destroyed our rights to free assembly and speech. Green would have been in the press daily about that. Siegel would be a much better Public Advocate.

slimey

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:44:59 -0500

the guy has used car salesman written all over him.

cb

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:36:02 -0500

It's not that his Chinese name is slang for toilet, he was talking about his last name being a homonym for Loo.

Papercutninja

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:29:03 -0500

And Charles Rangel doesn't grandstand? At least Liu is AGAINST criminals.

drewo

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 16:24:46 -0500

Public advocate: a waste of taxpayers money. Eliminate the position.