Incumbent Michael Bloomberg is bidding for a third term as mayor this November.  This week he met with Chinese seniors in Chinatown and came out firmly on the side of LGBT couples.

The Chinatown event was met with a protest from the community.  Many local activists were (rightfully) angry over the mayor's silence over the housing situation in Chinatown.  Frequently, buildings are condemned and families thrown onto the street.  Additionally, rezoning is taking place which is forcing some families to move out of the neighborhood.  Small businesses in the area are also angry over rising water bills and rent.  These complaints are entirely legitimate and should be followed up with action from the mayor's office if he truly wants votes from Chinatown.

This is not to say that Mike Bloomberg has taken Asians for granted and ignored their needs.  On the most important issues, Mayor Bloomberg issued an order barring city employees from asking about immigration status when providing city services.  Another order ensured that all city services can be rendered in Korean, Chinese and Hindi.  He also created an immigrant's bill of rights when dealing with immigration attorneys.  This is an issue that I feel is the most important one for immigrants trying to navigate the system in that complacent attorneys tend to exploit their clients rather than helping them.  The of course there are more sweeping measures such as paying off the city's debt before the recession hit, improving crime and education and creating affordable housing.  Mayor Bloomberg's opponent on the other hand has not reached out to the Asian communities in a meaningful, nor has he shown any indication that he plans to do so in the future.

Also of note is the Mayor Bloomberg has come out quite strongly in favor of marriage equality in New York.  As referenced here, Republicans and conservative Democrats blocked the bill from coming to a vote by creating a political coalition that deadlocked the State Senate.  He created controversy two weeks ago when he was quoted as saying that the bill might not pass the Senate.

“I was asked by one of the newspapers, did I think it was going to pass and I said, ‘You know, I am so worried about it. I don’t think it’s going to pass, but I think we have to word as hard as we can to make it pass.’”

Mayor Bloomberg (who is running on the Republican ticket) told his LGBT supporters today that he had spoken to the Democratic and Republican leaders in the Senate about the bill and that he had received a positive response.  Arguably, Bloomberg can use his clout to influence the Republicans to at least bring it to a vote.  He ended his remarks by telling his supporters that

“I actually in my heart of hearts think this is going to get done, but I think we just got to approach it as we have not gotten to where we want to be, and we have to work every day harder and harder to get this done,”