Cupertino Makes Some History

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Caught this one via some alerts and wanted to make sure and post it on up because it's about time we get some majority:

Cupertino made a bit of history Tuesday night when it swore in a newly elected City Council member, making it the third city in the country and the only one in Northern California with an Asian-American council majority.

"Wow ... this is a major milestone for Cupertino," said Grace J. Yoo, professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University. "This is, indeed, unusual, but I believe that Asian-Americans have started to get more involved in the political process. This last presidential election galvanized a lot of first time voters in the Asian-American community."

Newcomer Barry Chang joined Gilbert Wong and Kris Wang on the five-member body, pushing the Cupertino City Council to an Asian-American majority. The council selected Wang, mayor, and Wong, vice mayor. All three are Chinese American. "More and more Asian Americans are willing to serve the community and have become more outgoing," said Wang, who previously served two stints as mayor. "It's a huge honor not only for me, but to have a community that is diverse and mature enough to elect the best representatives."

Cupertino is the second city in the South Bay where a majority of residents are Asian — a rare cultural phenomenon even in one of the most diverse counties in the country. Asians also are a majority in Milpitas. Cupertino's Asian population now makes up 57 percent of its 55,623 residents, according to the most recent census data for the three-year period between 2006 and 2008.
Read it in full here.