Sharon Lai, a Chinese American immigrant, nominated for SFMTA board
San Francisco’s transportation policy governing board has been without an Asian American member for more than a year. And Mayor London Breed is proposing to change that.
Sharon Lai(黎慧心), a Chinese American immigrant and urban planning professional, has been nominated by the mayor to fill a vacant seat on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency(SFMTA). If Lai’s nomination gets approved by the elected supervisors, she will be the first Asian American director on that board since last year.
Lai has more than a decade of experience in city planning and land use issues, and before moving to private sector, she’s a senior planner in San Francisco’s Planning Department for years. She currently works for One Vassar, a commercial real estate company, and sits on the board of the Treasure Island Development Authority(TIDA).
“I feel humbled to have the mayor’s appointment,” Lai told the World Journal. She explained that her qualification of urban planning has many crossovers with transportation, such as roadway share, transit-oriented development, and infrastructure transportation. And being a board member of TIDA also taught her “how infrastructure, transportation policy decisions should be made.”
Raised in Hong Kong, Lai emigrated to Canada during elementary school time and came to the U.S. for high school.
“I know of being a minority feels like and what language barriers mean to the immigrants,” Lai said. She speaks fluent Cantonese and Mandarin and pledges to be the voice of the Chinese community.
SFMTA board has more independence compared to other city commissions, as the seven-member government body can have the full power of making transit-related decisions, including Muni fare adjustments. The Board of Supervisors cannot override the legislation from SFMTA.
In 2019, the controversial renaming of the Central Subway station in Chinatown lies within the jurisdiction of the SFMTA board, and the supervisors can’t make direct interference except for sending a non-binding resolution. The board finally voted 4–3 approving the rename of “Chinatown-Rose Pak Station”, and none of the seven members was Chinese American.
Mayor Breed, whose nomination for city commissioners has recently met fierce challenges from the supervisors, expressed her confidence in Lai.
“I’m proud to nominate Sharon Lai to the SFMTA Board of Directors,” said Mayor Breed. “Her experience working in the public and private sectors, combined with her experience as a parent navigating the city on Muni and by bike with her kids, will bring an important voice onto the Board of Directors.”
In May, the supervisors rejected the mayor’s nomination of Cristina Rubke to the SFMTA board; and in June, the supervisors again rejected the Police Commission candidate Nancy Tung, a mayor’s pick to address the lack of Chinese American representation.
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The Chinese language version of this story appeared on the World Journal on June 29, 2020.
