Mr. Bloomberg engages in dialogue with Asian American leaders in sixth of Federation meeting series with Mayoral candidates

July 31st, New York City: The Asian American Federation of New York hosted a policy meeting today in midtown Manhattan with Mr. Michael Bloomberg, Republican candidate for Mayor in this year's election. Over 60 civic and business leaders from the Asian American communities of New York attended the event, the sixth in a series of meetings between the Asian American Federation and New York City mayoral candidates.

The meeting began with opening remarks from Mr. Bloomberg. Mr. Bloomberg, the founder and CEO of Bloomberg, L.P., a leading multinational company in the financial reporting industry, discussed his vision for the future of New York City. He spoke about the importance of education, spoke about community representation in city government, and lauded Mayor Rudy Giuliani's work with police relations. A panel of experts then asked for responses to questions concerning issues of significant concern to the Asian American communities. The panelists were: Ms. Jai Bae, publisher of Koreanday.com, Ms. Vishakha Desai, Senior Vice President, The Asia Society, and Mr. Larry Lee, Board President, Coalition for Asian American Children and Families.

During the questions period of the event, Mr. Bloomberg stated that he believed that Mayor Giuliani had set a good model for localized control and accountability with the police department, and that he would want to take similar steps for public education in the city. He emphasized that providing a good education to the City's residents would address many of the social service needs and concerns of the community. Additionally, Mr. Bloomberg stated that the only way to have the city government address the needs of the many communities within New York City is to have representatives from each of the communities involved within the administration.

After the meeting, Cao K. O, Executive Director of the Asian American Federation, said that "these meetings are an important first step for the Asian American community to begin a dialogue with the future leaders of New York City."

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