APAAC Questionairre

Asian Pacific American Agenda Coalition
2005 Boston Mayoral and City Council Election Questionnaire
_______________________________________________________________________

NAME OF CANDIDATE ____________Kevin McCrea______________________________________

A. PUBLIC SAFETY
1. Which one of the following best expresses your opinion regarding the Combat Zone? (CHECK ONE):
I support strong enforcement of the building and zoning code. I also have called for the elimination of the BRA and the institution of a
city planning agency so that citizens can be involved in the development of their community.
3. Which of the following measures you will SUPPORT?
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):
__x__ a. Multilingual dispatchers on the 911 service so that limited English speakers can communicate in emergencies.
___x_ b. More bilingual beat police, including officers fluent in Asian languages.
__x__ c. Emergency medical technicians who are bilingual, including EMTs fluent in Asian languages.
____ d. None of the above due to budgetary restrictions.

4. What do you think are the public safety issues that especially affect Asian communities in Boston and how would you address them? (100 WORDS OR LESS)
The way to increase public safety is to have more resources available. This will be done by not wasting the taxpayers money and by
not giving away the citizens property, for example with Heyward Place. If we had the $23 million the city gave away we would have more money to hire bilingual police and community people to help ensure public safety.













B. SOCIAL AND HUMAN SERVICES
1. How would you increase access to job training for limited English speakers? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):
__x__a. I would support city funding for adult English as a Second Language programs.
__x__b. I would encourage public/private partnerships to train immigrant workers.
____c. There should be no special government supported job training programs for limited English speakers - they should learn English first.
x d. I would support an increased priority on integrated ESL and skills training programs to move limited English speakers into jobs more efficiently.
2. Which of the following will you support?
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):
____a. Maintaining the current level of social services support for all City residents.
___x_b. Increased services to Chinatown and Fields Corner (Dorchester), such as additional street cleaning and sidewalk repair.
___x_c. Multilingual health care workers at city hospitals, particularly those frequented by the Asian community.
I support increased services for all the city residents by professional management of the city resources, not a city run by cronyism and nepotism. Also, I believe in multilingual people whenever possible, which is why I have tried to learn spanish, french, japanese, chinese, and words from other countries that I visit.
3. What efforts do you support to improve educational opportunities for Asian Pacific American students?
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):
__x__a. Creation of a Chinatown branch library.
__x__b. Supplemental educational services for limited English speaking and new immigrant Asian students.
__x__c. Teaching curriculum on Asian Pacific American history and culture in the Boston Public Schools.
4. Please describe how you would increase services and job opportunities for Asian Pacific American youth. (100 WORDS OR LESS)
I aim to create job opportunities for the youth of the entire city. This is done by not wasting money at the City level and giving it away to connected developers. We then would have more money to build recreational centers for the youth to have a place to go, and to provide jobs with room for growth and responsibility to teach the citizens of tomorrow.


C. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AND POLITICAL EMPOWERMENT
1. For current elected officials ONLY:
a. What percentage of your direct staff is APA? ______
b. What is the overall racial/ethnic breakdown of your staff?
_______________________________________________________________
2. If (re)elected, would you support expanding the APA and other minority composition in your staff and within City government?
Yes ____ No ____
3. What measures will you support to protect the voting rights of minorities and limited English speakers? (CHECK ALL THAT APPLY)
__x__ a. Requiring multilingual ballots and translations of instructions & signage for any local precinct with a significant population of limited English speakers.
__x__ b. Increasing the number of bilingual poll workers.
__x__ c. Providing additional training for all poll workers so they are familiar with the rights and needs of voters, including limited English speakers.
__x___d. Instituting Election Day voter registration to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised due to a voter registration problem like a name or address change.
4. Would you support permitting legal permanent residents to vote in City of Boston elections?
I'm not familiar enough with this issue to comment.
5. Explain your response to question no. 4 above. (100 WORDS OR LESS)
D. HOUSING AND LAND USE CONTROL
1. Will you support re-defining the income standards in the City of Boston affordable housing guidelines, so that they are based on City of Boston residents' median household income rather than the current standard of the area median family income (AMI) for 127 cities and towns in the Greater Boston area?
Yes _x___ No ____
2. Which of the following will you support?
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):
__x__ a. Using City authority and resources to protect existing subsidized housing for permanent affordability.
__x__ b. The rights and ability of tenants to organize and engage in collective bargaining with large landlords.
___x_ c. Disclosing tax breaks for businesses and institutions, and reforming property tax policies to lower the burden on homeowners.
x d. Whenever feasible, making it a priority to dispose of City-owned land for development of affordable housing.

3. What proposals would you support to address the land use conflicts that have occurred in Boston’s Asian Pacific American communities?
(CHECK ALL THAT APPLY):
__x__ a. Removing city planning functions from the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and creating a separate independent planning department.
__x__ b. Enforcing the Chinatown Master Plan.
__x__ c. Requiring the BRA to conduct culturally and linguistically appropriate community engagement in the Dorchester Avenue Project in Fields Corner, and to minimize the potential adverse impact of the project on the Vietnamese residents and merchants in the area.
____ d. I am not aware of any land use conflicts affecting the Boston Asian community.


4. Please describe your specific proposals for increasing affordable housing in the City of Boston. (100 WORDS OR LESS)
Please look at my website electkevin.us which has a complete program for dealing with the housing issues of Boston. In short however, the City needs to get rid of its excess land. This land should be sold to owner occupants first, developers of affordable housing second, and third sold to the highest bidder with zoning being enforced for each of the properties. The BRA needs to be eliminated so that citizen control of housing is established through the city council, and we need to establish a planning agency so that we can proactively address the needs of the community.