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On January 11, 2011, Edwin Lee was sworn in as interim mayor of San Francisco before a crowd of hundreds in the town hall of the city in California, USA. The Board of Supervisors had voted unanimously to appoint Lee, the city’s administrator, to fill the remainder of the Mayor Gavin Newsom’s term. Newsom was sworn in as California’s lieutenant governor. Former Mayor Willie Brown served as master of ceremonies, standing behind a podium on the grand staircase.
The 58-year-old Lee is the 43rd mayor of San Francisco and the first mayor with Chinese ancestry in San Francisco since Chinese first moved there more than 160 years ago. The local Chinese community celebrated the historical moment.
Two months ago, Gavin Newsom’s appointment to California’s lieutenant governor created a vacancy of mayoralty in the city. The last vacancy had happened more than 30 years before. The Board of Supervisors stepped in to appoint an interim mayor. Edwin Lee did not plan to take the job, but he was considered the right candidate for the vacancy. On January 11, 2011, the Board voted him in unanimously.
In San Francisco Edwin Lee enjoys great popularity in the Asian American community, which accounts for one third resident population of the America’s 12th most populous city and one of the top ten GDP cities. On the decision-making day, Chinese Americans gathered at the city hall to express their support.
In early January, neighboring Oakland inaugurated Mayor Jean Quan, the first Asian-American woman to helm a major US city. Quan, a longtime acquaintance of Lee’s, was also present at the ceremony to show her support.
Edwin Lee was born in Seattle. Her mother still lives there. About a month before, she was in San Francisco to witness her son sworn in again as City Administrator after he got successfully reelected. Now she had traveled again from Seattle to attend the ceremony of her son’s new appointment. She sat with her granddaughters who had arrived from New York to witness the family’s important moment. The daughter felt very happy for her father but hoped he would not run for mayoralty in December, 2011.
Born in Seattle, Edwin Lee is a descendent of Chinese immigrants from Taishan, Guangdong Province in southern China. His father died when he was only 12 years of age. He helped his mother and brothers operate a family restaurant. With top honors, he graduated from law school of the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as civil rights lawyer for more than ten years at Bay Area of San Francisco, battling for the interests and rights of minority people and new immigrants.
In 1989, Edwin Lee was appointed an investigator with the city government. From then on he worked in various important positions in the city. In 2008, he was one of the 80 torch relay runners when the torch of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games came to the city.
After Wenchuan in Sichuan Province, China was hit by the killer earthquake in May 2008, Lee set up a work panel, and contacted Chinese consulate in San Francisco to offer help people in the disaster area. He also offered to rebuild a village in the earthquake area.
Edwin Lee speaks Chinese. In order to better serve as a city employee, he spent nearly a year in Hong Kong studying the Cantonese and learning about Chinese culture. He is the only one of the six siblings in the family that speaks fluent Chinese.
In the eye of his wife, Edwin Lee is a man of honesty and humor. However, he is workaholic. He was traveling with his wife in Hong Kong and the two were about to fly to Taiwan when the call came. In the following days, his colleagues at the board phoned him, expressing their support and encouragement. After consulting his family and agreeing to take up the challenge, he immediately flew back to San Francisco while his wife continued to travel to Taiwan.□
The 58-year-old Lee is the 43rd mayor of San Francisco and the first mayor with Chinese ancestry in San Francisco since Chinese first moved there more than 160 years ago. The local Chinese community celebrated the historical moment.
Two months ago, Gavin Newsom’s appointment to California’s lieutenant governor created a vacancy of mayoralty in the city. The last vacancy had happened more than 30 years before. The Board of Supervisors stepped in to appoint an interim mayor. Edwin Lee did not plan to take the job, but he was considered the right candidate for the vacancy. On January 11, 2011, the Board voted him in unanimously.
In San Francisco Edwin Lee enjoys great popularity in the Asian American community, which accounts for one third resident population of the America’s 12th most populous city and one of the top ten GDP cities. On the decision-making day, Chinese Americans gathered at the city hall to express their support.
In early January, neighboring Oakland inaugurated Mayor Jean Quan, the first Asian-American woman to helm a major US city. Quan, a longtime acquaintance of Lee’s, was also present at the ceremony to show her support.
Edwin Lee was born in Seattle. Her mother still lives there. About a month before, she was in San Francisco to witness her son sworn in again as City Administrator after he got successfully reelected. Now she had traveled again from Seattle to attend the ceremony of her son’s new appointment. She sat with her granddaughters who had arrived from New York to witness the family’s important moment. The daughter felt very happy for her father but hoped he would not run for mayoralty in December, 2011.
Born in Seattle, Edwin Lee is a descendent of Chinese immigrants from Taishan, Guangdong Province in southern China. His father died when he was only 12 years of age. He helped his mother and brothers operate a family restaurant. With top honors, he graduated from law school of the University of California, Berkeley. He worked as civil rights lawyer for more than ten years at Bay Area of San Francisco, battling for the interests and rights of minority people and new immigrants.
In 1989, Edwin Lee was appointed an investigator with the city government. From then on he worked in various important positions in the city. In 2008, he was one of the 80 torch relay runners when the torch of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games came to the city.
After Wenchuan in Sichuan Province, China was hit by the killer earthquake in May 2008, Lee set up a work panel, and contacted Chinese consulate in San Francisco to offer help people in the disaster area. He also offered to rebuild a village in the earthquake area.
Edwin Lee speaks Chinese. In order to better serve as a city employee, he spent nearly a year in Hong Kong studying the Cantonese and learning about Chinese culture. He is the only one of the six siblings in the family that speaks fluent Chinese.
In the eye of his wife, Edwin Lee is a man of honesty and humor. However, he is workaholic. He was traveling with his wife in Hong Kong and the two were about to fly to Taiwan when the call came. In the following days, his colleagues at the board phoned him, expressing their support and encouragement. After consulting his family and agreeing to take up the challenge, he immediately flew back to San Francisco while his wife continued to travel to Taiwan.□