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Michael Woo

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Michael K. Woo (born October 8, 1951) is an American politician and academic who was the dean of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.[1] As a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing District 13 from 1985 to 1993, he was that body's first Asian American member and its youngest member upon his election, at 33.

Michael Woo
Woo in 2009
Dean of the Cal Poly Pomona College of Environmental Design
In office
2009–2019
Member of the Los Angeles City Council
from the 13th district
In office
1985–1993
Preceded byPeggy Stevenson
Succeeded byJackie Goldberg
Personal details
Born
Michael K. Woo

(1951-10-08) October 8, 1951 (age 73)
Los Angeles County, California
EducationAlhambra High School
Alma materUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (B.S.)
University of California, Berkeley (M.S.)

Early life

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Woo was born October 8, 1951, in Los Angeles County, California, the son of Wilbur and Beth Woo, native Chinese.[2] Wilbur left the family's ancestral village in the city of Kaiping, China in 1940 to study at UCLA and had to stay in the United States during World War II, while Beth remained in China under Japanese occupation with two young daughters, Pat (later Wong) and Janice (later Chin). The family was reunited after the war, in 1946, and settled in a five-bedroom Monterey Park hillside home. Younger daughter Janice had contracted polio and needed seven operations before she could walk without help. The Woos had three more children born in the United States—Michael, Elaine, a journalist on the Los Angeles Times,[3] and Pamela, who had Down's syndrome.[4]

Woo went to Alhambra High School, and at the age of sixteen he attended summer classes at California State College at Los Angeles under a special program for gifted students.[5] When he was a senior, his invitation on behalf of a student group to the editor of the UCLA Daily Bruin to talk at Alhambra High was vetoed by a department chairman who feared the editor "might speak on a controversial subject" that could be misunderstood outside the campus.[6]

Young Woo chose to attend the University of California, Santa Cruz, he said, to get away from his family and into an unstructured environment. He graduated with honors in 1973 and earned his master's degree in city planning two years later from the University of California, Berkeley, with a thesis on the origins of regional government in the San Francisco Bay Area.[7][8]

Chinese name

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Michael Woo's Chinese name is 胡紹基,[9][10] which is rendered Hú Shàojī in the Pinyin orthography and Wu4 Siu6 Gei1 in the Jyutping romanization.

Career

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Early career

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Wilbur and his father, David Kitman Woo, began a produce business in a spot at the Ninth Street Market vacated by a Japanese man who was interned during the Second World War. After arriving in the United States, Beth Woo became the bookkeeper for the family business. In the 1960s, Wilbur Woo and friends chartered Cathay Bank, the first bank in Chinatown. He studied banking and later became a vice-president of the organization.[4][7]

Volunteering

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As the only son in his family, Michael Woo said he was brought up "with the expectation that I would have a leadership role of my own"; he worked in summer 1970 as a volunteer in the office of Assemblyman David Roberti and later for Democratic Senator William Proxmire of Wisconsin and in the presidential primary campaign of New York Mayor John V. Lindsay.[7]

Senate staffer

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Woo joined the staff of David Roberti after the latter was elected to the California State Senate in 1973. He took a leave in December 1980 to run for the City Council the next year, and he moved from Alhambra to Silver Lake to do so.[7]

Academia

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Woo previously taught at Harvard University and University of California, Los Angeles.[11] He was dean of the College of Environmental Design at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, retiring in 2019.

Los Angeles City Council

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Woo's official City Council portrait in 1986.

Elections

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1981

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Woo first ran for District 13 on the council in 1981, against incumbent Peggy Stevenson. The aggressive race was controversial for the supposedly racialized rhetoric used by Stevenson against Woo. Her primary campaign sent out fliers which asked Republican voters if they wanted the candidate supported by the Mexican American Political Association and the Asian Democratic Caucus "or Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson". She denied they were meant to raise racial questions but simply to point up Woo's "ultraliberal" support.[12] Stevenson was also endorsed by controversial police chief Daryl Gates, which has been debated as being either an asset or a liability. Stevenson won the election with 20,162 votes to Woo's 13,018.[13]

1985

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The 1985 race in District 13, again between Councilwoman Peggy Stevenson and Woo, was notoriously expensive and cost a reported one million dollars. Stevenson was supported by "some of the city's most prominent political fund-raisers" and the "real estate industry," while Woo's Republican banker father provided about half of the $437,000 raised for his campaign.[4][14] Zev Yaroslavsky and Marvin Braude, Los Angeles City Councilmembers expected to endorse Stevenson, endorsed Woo.[15][16]

Woo was victorious in the race, with 16,417 votes to Stevenson's 12,052.[17] The Los Angeles times credited the win to "family wealth, ethnic pride, younger voters and festering discontent with an incumbent officeholder".[18] Stevenson blamed a "Westside political organization" headed by U.S. Representatives Henry Waxman and Howard Berman for her loss.

Tenure

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  • Film, 1985. Woo publicly censured the MGM-UA film Year of the Dragon, a graphic movie about a crime war and violent youth gangs in New York's Chinatown. He was reported to be negotiating a public disclaimer that would be issued by the studio concerning the picture.[19]
  • Sanctuary, 1986. In his first major triumph, he succeeded in maneuvering the City Council into declaring that Los Angeles would be considered a "city of sanctuary" for political refugees, but the resulting public outcry forced the council to reverse itself and repeal the entire resolution.[20]
  • Rodney King, 1991. He was the City Council leader in a fight to oust Police Chief Daryl Gates in the wake of the beating of Rodney G. King by police officers.[22]

Later campaigns

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1993 Los Angeles mayoral campaign

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Woo left his council seat in 1993 to run for mayor that year against Richard Riordan.[23] Woo was endorsed by Bill Clinton, who was running for president at the time. Riordan garnered 54 percent of votes to Woo's 46 percent.[citation needed]

1994 California Secretary of State campaign

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Woo ran for California Secretary of State in 1994. He lost to Tony Miller.[24]

2001 Los Angeles City Council campaign

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Woo attempted a comeback to his old City Council seat in 2001, but was defeated by Eric Garcetti by 1,000 votes, as Woo garnered 48% of the vote.[25]

References

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  1. ^ "Michael Woo, College of Environmental Design Dean, Retires After 10 Years | PolyCentric".
  2. ^ Nelson, Valerie J. (November 15, 2012). "Wilbur K. Woo dies at 96; a leader of L.A.'s Chinese community". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 1, 2012.
  3. ^ Elaine Woo "Asian identity crisis fades to worries of everyday life", Los Angeles Times, 28 April 2012
  4. ^ a b c Gary Libman, "Woo Family's Road to Success Long and Not Always Smooth," Los Angeles Times, August 5, 1985, page E-1
  5. ^ "High School Youths Attending College," Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1968, page SG-B-12
  6. ^ Peyton Canary, "Faculty Vetoes Talk by Editor of UCLA paper," Los Angeles Times, January 17, 1969, page SG-8 With a photo of Woo.
  7. ^ a b c d Judith Michaelson, "Stevenson Ignores Foe but He's Hardly 'in a Corner,' " Los Angeles Times, April 5, 1981, page C-1
  8. ^ Frank Clifford, "Woo Forces Stevenson Into a Runoff," Los Angeles Times, April 10, 1985, page 1
  9. ^ 胡紹基出任加州工藝大學院長, Wang Shanyan, "Michael Woo Served as President of the California University of Technology," World Journal, July 17, 2009 Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine (in Chinese, with photo)]
  10. ^ "Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council Board of Directors" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 10, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2011.
  11. ^ "Merging Identity," New York Times, May 30, 1996, screen 6
  12. ^ Susan Schmidt, "Stevenson-Woo City Council Campaign a Study in Styles," Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, May 22, 1981, page A-1
  13. ^ Kenneth Reich, "Gates' Support of Stevenson Draws Fire", Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1981, page D-4
  14. ^ "Contest Shapes Up as a Million-Dollar Battle," Los Angeles Times, May 20, 1985
  15. ^ Bill Boyarsky, "Woo Upsets Stevenson," Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1985, page 1
  16. ^ "The Region," Los Angeles Times, May 24. 1985
  17. ^ "Los Angeles Races and Measures", Los Angeles Times, June 5, 1985, page 1.
  18. ^ Frank Clifford, "Woo's Victory: Asians Come of Political Age," Los Angeles Times, June 6, 1985, page OC-1
  19. ^ John Horn, "MGM/UA May Insert 'Dragon' Disclaimer," Los Angeles Times, August 28, 1985, page SD-D-1
  20. ^ Victor Merina, "The Sanctuary Resolution," Los Angeles Times, February 18, 1986, page B-1 With photo of Woo.
  21. ^ Richard Simon, "Bradley, Woo to Write 'Pro' Light-Rail Ballot Argument," Los Angeles Times, March 9, 1988, page AV-8
  22. ^ Frank Clifford, Decision '93: A Look at the Elections in Los Angeles County," Los Angeles Times, April 11, 1993
  23. ^ Richard Simon, "Anglo Vote Carried Riordan to Victory," Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1993
  24. ^ Paul Jacobs and Jean Merl, "New Names, New Outlooks Emerge in Statewide Races," Los Angeles Times, June 9, 1994, page 3
  25. ^ Patrick McGreevey and Sue Fox, "Garcetti Defeats Woo," Los Angeles Times, June 6, 2001
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Preceded by Los Angeles City Council
13th District
1985–93 		Succeeded by
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