Meeting minutes for July 18, 2009 - Saturday

Attendees : John Downey, Betty Yau, May Chan, Linda Bowes, Frank Chan, ShiXian Sheng, Kaili Xu, Tinney Yeung and Kitty Huang

The following topics:

Community Services - The service continues to do well. It is considered as an extension of the Constituent Services at City Hall. Participating members such as attorney John Downey, firefighter Jimmy Wong, long time community activist Betty Yau and volunteers May Liu, Li Jun, Sarah Sun … etc. are experienced community workers. The program offers resourceful services. Linda Bowes who works at the City’s Dept. of Public Works commented that DPW received significantly more service calls during the past year from the Asian community. The increase is due partly or perhaps largely by our consistent and persistent outreach effort in the community. The Chinese media have been very helpful too. Many attended our monthly meeting and made announcements in their publications. Attended in today’s meeting include reporters from Sampan, World Journal and Epoch Times. We are also grateful to support from Sing Tao newspaper, Boston Chinese News, News Chinatown as well as other newspapers.

Mandarin Classes - Language Bridge Project - The course held in May and June went well. We decided to continue the Mandarin classes in the fall. There are two courses. Course A is for English speakers. Course B is for Cantonese speakers. The classes will begin on Sept 5th for six consecutive Saturday mornings. The fee for a course is as low as $50. To register on-line and/ or for more information, please click: http://yausmarketing.bizland.com/quincyasianamericaneforum/id20.html

Committee brochure- A draft brochure of our Advisory Committee has been circulated during the meeting. Chris Walker, the Director of Policy at the Mayor’s Office will edit the brochure. Chinese and English copies of the brochure will be ready to be distributed during the August Moon Festival on Aug 23rd. We are proud that the first ever Asian-American Advisory Committee is finally established in the City. The brochure has a brief summary of our accomplishments since inception of the organization. In addition, the Chinese/ English Service Handbook 2008 of the City of Quincy will be revised/ updated for distribution during the August Moon Festival. TV project - A team of 7 members had completed 4 training at QATV. Two more rehearsal sessions are being planned. The name of the Show is "Eye on Quincy. 放眼昆士". Tentatively, the Show will be broadcast in early Sept. It will be a LIVE 30 min Show on a biweekly schedule. We hope the interactive format will engage more of the Asian community in City affairs. A formal announcement of the TV Show will be made during the August Moon Festival. Donation (from Vivian W. Lee) - The $500 check from Vivian was presented to Steve Buckley, the Executive Director of the North Quincy Community Center. We greatly appreciate the generosity of Ms. Lee and Mr. Buckley for monetary and space sharing. New City of Quincy website: http://www.quincyma.gov The new web site received a lot of praise. It looks good, very informative, less cluttered and easier to navigate. On-line payment is also available. Next meeting: August 15, 2009

Respectfully submitted
Betty Yau
Quincy Asian American Advisory Committee

may 16, 2009 - saturday

attendees : john downey, jimmy wong, betty yau, cathy ko-downey, may chan, james luo, special guest- amanda le

the following topics:

community services- the committee are pleased to have 3 volunteers to assist with the community services. they will be very helpful to help out with such work as pamphet folding, etc. the committee has committed to provide any up-to-date informations and any clarifications of quincy's government policies that may affect the asian community, such as the zoning regulations, drug task force, recycling,etc.

multilingual interpretation services- a proposed concept of allowing multiligual interpretation services (cantonese and mandarin) to be available for all interested parties, who would like to attend any or all the public hearings that are held at the city of quincy.    due to the huge response, the advisory committee and the mayor, tom koch, himself, were quite impressed to see many vibrant, concerned, and enthusiastic asian residents and business owners, attending the revitalization of quincy center project meeting. not only,  to be socially interactive, but also, to share their opinions and ideas.

immigration services- our co-chairman, john downey, has offered to provide question and answer period on immigration matters. date, time and location will be determined later. all interested parties are welcome to attend. john has over 35+ years of providing broad immigration services worldwide.

election time! - preliminary discussions of developing commitment to help out with voting/ election awareness. the committee wish to see more quincy asian residents registering to vote.

recycle your plastic, glass and newspaper - discussion concerning whether the asian community lacks the interest to help quincy recycle. the committee finds the lack of understanding the codes and the benefits of recycling will help the city bring in revenues .

Respectfully submitted
Cathy Ko-Downey,
secretary,
Quincy Asian American Advisory Committee