Mayor Gray Greets Year of the Horse with AAPI Seniors

By Aurora de Peralta

Washington, DC – DC Mayor Vincent Gray and the Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs (OAPIA) welcomed the Lunar New Year with AAPI seniors at a tea event on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at the Chinatown Wah Luck House.

Gray is the first DC mayor to greet the Lunar New Year with DC residents, according to OAPIA. He arrived at the Wah Luck House community room accompanied by the DC-based traditional Chinese dance group, Wong People Lion Team, who performed the Chinese lion dance.

The crowd of approximately 120 AAPI seniors was in good spirits, smiling and cheering as Gray participated in the lion dance. Several seniors stepped forward to feed the lion with the DC mayor for good luck.

After the lion dance, Mayor Gray delivered a speech which was live interpreted into Mandarin, Cantonese and Vietnamese.

Mayor Gray announced that his office is organizing a task force to make DC a more “age-friendly” city. The task force will be chaired by George Washington University president Steven Knapp. Its efforts will include food delivery to senior homes like Wah Luck and a “new approach to transportation,” said Gray. In order to accommodate these efforts, Gray said that they have increased the task force budget from $2.4 million to $6 million.

“We are working hard to make sure Chinatown is a great place as our city develops,” Gray said. “Chinatown has a great future.”

In response to Gray’s speech, board president Yam Chum Leung of the Wah Luck House Tenants’ Association stepped forward to extend his thanks and good luck wishes for Gray’s re-election.

“We want to work with the mayor to make DC a better city,” Leung said.

Tea and pastries were distributed afterward to the event attendees as Gray walked around the room to shake hands and pose for pictures with the seniors.

OAPIA Director Soohyun “Julie” Koo was pleased with the outcome of the event.

“I spoke to several people, and they really liked the event,” Koo said. “They said it was really celebratory, very happy and cheerful.”

Koo said that Gray chose to focus on AAPI seniors for the Lunar New Year to express his support for the AAPI senior community. One of his main focuses as mayor is his “age-friendly initiative.”

“City-wide we want to make a conscious effort to make the city more accessible for the population of all ages, but especially for the senior population,” Koo said.

Specific to the AAPI senior community, the Mayor’s Office has a long-term goal of designating Chinatown as a cultural district. This would promote Chinatown as a place to experience Chinese and Asian culture in the Washington region.

But the plan is still in its preliminary stages.

“We’re trying to research a little bit more about Chinatown so that we can actually make a business plan and recommendation to the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development,” Koo said. “From there, perhaps we can designate DC Chinatown as a cultural district.”

Koo could not comment on where the AAPI community fits into Gray’s platform for re-election. She could, however, comment on Gray’s commitment to inclusion and diversity.

“He is really one of the mayors that is sensitive about diversity and about the limited or non-English proficient population,” Koo said. “He has been very supportive of our community.”