Meet the New Council Members: Susan Zhuang

( Emil Cohen / NYC Council Media Unit )
Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. We continue now to meet the four newly elected members of New York City Council, those voted into office just last November and taking their seats just last month at the beginning of the new year. Today, Councilmember Susan Zhuang, whose Brooklyn District includes all or parts of, you ready? Sunset Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend, Borough Park, Mapleton-Midwood, and Gravesend Homecrest, all or part of all those neighborhoods. Councilmember, congratulations on your election, first of all, and welcome to WNYC.
Susan Zhuang: Thank you so much, Brian. Thank you to have me here and Happy Lunar New Year.
Brian Lehrer: Same to you. I'll ask you in a few minutes how you celebrate Lunar New Year in the district if you have particular things going on but tell us first about yourself. Where did you grow up? How did you get into politics?
Susan Zhuang: I was growing up in China. I grew up in a very small town named Baipu. It's only 60,000 people there. It's one and a half hour away from Shanghai. When people ask me, where are you coming from, I tell everyone I come from Shanghai because that's the only city majority of people know but I grew up in a really small town. Everyone know each other in the town. This is the environment I grew up. When I was 20 years old, I come to US, come to New York State, upstate for school. I came here for my college.
I went to SUNY Oswego to study, and then after I graduate, I got a job in New York City. That's the reason I moved to New York City. I was a volunteer in the community and one of my friends introduced me to Assemblyman Colton. When I go to his office, I see he helps a lot of people, and a lot of people also wait in the line. I said to him, "Is there anything I can do to help you and help the community?" He asked my background. I had a background in finance.
Then we talk about the topics the community needs and I start to help him, his office, to help seniors and the low-income family to file tax returns. That how I started working politics. Then after a few months, he hired me as his chief of staff.
Brian Lehrer: Then eventually you ran?
Susan Zhuang: Ever since I am working in politics, and last year, I ran for office.
Brian Lehrer: Well, let me ask you this. Since you were helping that councilmember respond to constituents' concerns, what was the number one, or you could mention the top two if you want, things that you found people approached that office for, that they needed help with? Since you took office last month, what would you say the number one or numbers one and two things are that you're hearing from constituents about directly to you now?
Susan Zhuang: Definitely, number one is public safety. I had a meeting with PTAs in the neighborhood. The first thing parents talked to me about, they want more cameras in school. They want to make sure that kids go to school safe, come home safe. That's the number one issue. Also, we have people calling to office about they want clean streets, garbage is everywhere. That's a quality of life issue. That's a two-top issue what I hear every single day.
Brian Lehrer: Let me ask you about one of the issues between City Council and Mayor Adams right now, the How Many Stops Act, which requires police officers to record more details such as demographic details of more encounters with New York City residents. It's easier to tell if they're being racially biased and things like that. When the mayor talks about why he vetoed that bill, he says, "Well, it's because of public safety. We want the police officers to be able to focus as much time as possible on actual response and not as much time filling things out."
You cited public safety as your number one issue or what people contact your office most frequently about. Did you vote to override the bill with the council majority, override the veto?
Susan Zhuang: No, I vote, I agreed with mayor on this issue. I have to tell you, after I vote no, I got probably thousands of emails, people thanked me to vote no because our community in southern Brooklyn, we want more police in our streets. When we not increase the NYPD budget, but we give them more paperwork to do. That means going to take out the time, police able to patrol in the streets, come to the office to work on the paperwork. That's what our people worry about.
Also, we will not tolerate any police brutality, that's I never agreed with but we need to consider when we don't have enough budget, we cannot increase the number of work for the police for paperwork and they take out in the crime they are supposed in the streets. That's what our communities concern.
Brian Lehrer: One more thing on this, you know that the court-appointed monitor that goes back to the days of the court proceedings on the Bloomberg stop-and-frisk policy, that monitor is still in effect. They found that a quarter of the stops by Mayor Adams knew neighborhood safety teams, people on the NYPD who go out not in full uniform, a quarter of the stops were unconstitutional. I'm just curious if more of those stops were in your district, the unconstitutional ones, which I'm gathering that they don't tend to be, do you think you'd feel the same way?
Susan Zhuang: Well, our community strongly supports police because we want them to come to the streets to protect us. We had, as probably you already know, my district is 54% Asian and also we have large Jewish community here and also Muslim community here. The recent years, we had a spike on hate crimes in our district. That's what we worry about. In our community, we believe we must support and work with NYPD to tackle hate crimes, including against our Jewish, Asian, and Muslim neighbors.
I also recently joined the governor to support her investment to tackle the rising number of hate crimes. As a councilmember, I will do whatever I can to protect our constituent safety.
Brian Lehrer: Do you think the city and the state are doing all that they can do to fight hate crimes, and if not, what more could they be doing in your opinion?
Susan Zhuang: I think they try to do more, but never enough, because I believe, I'm a mother, and also my kids go to public school. I think the kids should learn about different culture. When they start to learn about different culture in school, they understand why people come and what's the people perspective and understand different cultures that's going to help them when they grow up to not hate each other and be nice to each other. I think we need to do more in the education system. That's what I believe. Also, I appreciate the governor's recent investment in the hate crime.
Brian Lehrer: Listeners, we can take some phone calls, especially if you're in the district, but we could take some others too. For this brand new member of City Council, we are interviewing all four new members of City Council. Remember, last November was a New York City Council election year and four first-timers got elected. We've invited each of them to come and talk to me and talk to you. Our guest today is newly elected City Councilmember Susan Zhuang from District, it's 43 is the number, do I have that right?
Susan Zhuang: Yes.
Brian Lehrer: 43, which is parts of Sunset Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, Gravesend, Borough Park, Mapleton-Midwood, and Gravesend Homecrest. Did I say Graves and twice? Maybe. There you go. Part of all of those neighborhoods in Brooklyn. If she is your councilmember, you're welcome to call or anyone else. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Speaking of public schools, did you hear they're going to be closed tomorrow and go on remote learning for one day because of the expected snowstorm?
Susan Zhuang: I heard the news, but also I'm a public-school parent. I do have some concerns when we don't have day off from work. I prefer our kids go to school, but because of the weather, I also concern about public safety for our kids not able to go school safe, that I will rather they stay at home probably sometimes I would take them to our nanny's house or do something with them.
Brian Lehrer: Your office told us your priorities, in general, include high-quality education. How do you think the DOE, the Department of Education is doing on that front at the moment?
Susan Zhuang: In general, I think they provide the resources we need in our community. We want more different talented program. Now, they give us a choice to do different talent program. Then we also want more funding to some schools in our district. I recently learned there's a lot of schools in our district still don't have AC in their cafeteria. That hurt me when I hear that because can you imagine our kids in the summer, they have lunch and all sweaty, how they are going to eat their food?
I'm a mother. I know what parents feel, and I definitely will try my best to secure all the resources we need for those schools.
Brian Lehrer: One of the disagreements between Mayor Adams and the State right now is over implementation of the recent State law that mandates a reduction in class size in the New York City public schools. Is that something you think it's important for the city to spend money on and follow through on?
Susan Zhuang: I think it's very important to kids to have smaller class and get more attention from teachers. However, in our district, there's a lot of school is overcrowded. Especially like say the school P.S. 176, they have science room, they have STEM room. If they implement this law, have smaller class size, the school is going to lose those classrooms. That worries parents and also worries teachers because they already have very good program ongoing. Because the reduced class size, they have to lose those classroom. It's not fair to our students.
I think in certain schools, we need to have some exemption or how we need to talk about the plan, how do we adjust that. That we cannot just say we implant every single school, no matter what's the current situation, we need small class size. That's not fair for some students. Maybe we have to move some students way out of the district. They have to travel. Especially for the elementary students, the travel time really will be a big burning of the students, also for the family.
I think our government should look more detail in and see what's the possibility we can do to implement that law. Also, is that the best for our community? We have to adjust by the neighborhood.
Brian Lehrer: Really interesting. Given your childhood in a small town in China, as you were describing not that far from Shanghai, I'm curious if you have any comparisons to make with the public education system there so different cultural context, not just at being China, but also at being a small town, comparisons now that you're a public school parent here, with the education that's being provided here, do you think there are any lessons to be learned either way?
Susan Zhuang: Yes, definitely. My grandparents are both public school teachers in China and we live in a small town. Everyone know each other and also the school everyone knows the teachers in the town. That's a big plus. It's easier access to a small town to talk to neighbors, even if it's a teacher, just your neighbor. Also, we treat teacher like a God. Whatever teachers say, it's whatever God say. Our parents, our students have to follow whatever teachers say. We respect teachers a lot. That's very different from here. Then also here, I personally think we have more choice than in China.
When I go to school in China, the time I grew up only have public school. Every single person have to take college entrance exam. That's the only choice you have to get into college. It's very competitive. We don't have enough college, but we only have one chance a year to take the exam. Here, you can take SHSAT or some school even doesn't require that anymore. It's more diverse way to accept the students. I think they have better criteria to select students for good college and good schools
Brian Lehrer: In this country?
Susan Zhuang: In this country. Also, I love our public schools. They have different program for kids. They have violin, they have art class. When I grew up in China, I did not have that. I only had, you have to learn math, you have to learn Chinese. When I was in middle school, I start learning English, but it is very limited. Every day, we learn maybe one word or one word a week. It's very limited. I grew up in a small town. It's not like a big city. The resources are limited. Here there's much more resources.
I'm happy and also I want to make sure all the resources stay in our community.
Brian Lehrer: A few more minutes with Susan Zhuang, the brand new New York City Councilmember from neighborhoods in South Brooklyn. Let's get a couple of calls from the district in here. Jacob in Sunset Park, you're on WNYC. Hi, Jacob.
Jacob: Hi, Brian. How are you? Councilmember, I just have a suggestion. I was going to say, would it be possible to see if we can put like garbage bins in our neighborhood, specifically on 7th Avenue, between 65th all the way down to the 40th, there's absolutely no garbage bins. This is my issue. I'll come back from work sometimes and I'll have some trash in my car. Unfortunately, I would have to take that trash and try to find the nearest garbage bin for a building.
If I'm not mistaken, that's not legal, but I'd rather do that than to throw it on the on the floor. Listen, my brother, he lives in the same neighborhood. He'll take the trash from his car and then throw it on underneath. Then I'll try to advise him, but then he'll say, "Look, I'm creating jobs for sanitation." Unfortunately, that is true. I'm not saying we should put four garbage bins, one on each corner. The suggestion would be to put one diagonal from each other each other, so then that way, we'll have access to it.
Please, there's absolutely no garbage bins on 7th Avenue. If you can do that, that would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Jacob. Councilmember?
Susan Zhuang: Hey, Jacob, thank you so much. I think this is good question. I have been talked to sanitation about this issue since last year I get elected. I have to say in our district, we request some garbage bins in our neighborhood, but it's 7th to 65th Street, it's not in my district, but I will see what I can do. Also, in A7, we have issue on Sunset Park area in A7, there's so many garbage there and there's so many illegal vendors there. I've recently connected with Sanitation Commissioner's office and also mayor's office about providing additional cleaning service in my district.
Brian Lehrer: Go ahead. I'm sorry, you can finish the thought. I thought you were done. Go ahead.
Susan Zhuang: Then also, I wanted people to stay tuned for good updates. Also, I always encourage my constituents to report to my office in a location in my district in need more additional cleaning. We also create a neighborhood cleanup task force. I can share the information also.
Brian Lehrer: Listener writes, for Councilmember Zhuang, apparently from the district, "How are you bringing the different constituencies and communities in our district together?"
Susan Zhuang: Our office already opens with multilingual staff. We have Cantonese-speaking, Mandarin-speaking, Spanish speaking in our staff member. Then right now, in our office, we have direct Chinese line and then we have direct Spanish line. If anyone have issues, concerns, they're always able to call our office. Also, I knocked probably 10,000 doors last year. I understand people's needs, even people with different backgrounds. Everyone wants public safety. Everyone wants quality of education and also quality of life. That's the top three issues in our community.
When we talk about the issue that always bring our neighbors together. Unity in the community is the key to fight against the power and also that's the only way we're going to bring the resources to our community.
Susan Zhuang: One more call from the district. Harvey in Bensonhurst, you're on WNYC with the new Councilmember Susan Zhuang. Hi, Harvey.
Harvey: Yes. Hi, y'all. I'd like to know what's going on, what's being done about the cars with the loud exhaust and the motorcycles that are racing down the streets. This happens, this is all the time. A typical Saturday, all you hear is these cars without peace and quiet. Are the police giving them tickets? The first offense is $800. Are they just chasing them down the streets with the siren on to scare them away? It seems to me that what they're trying to do is scare them away.
Brian Lehrer: Harvey, thank you. Councilmember briefly on this because we're almost out of time.
Susan Zhuang: Okay, thank you so much for the question. I actually live in a neighborhood. I have same worry as you. I already spoke to, I don't know which neighborhood you live but I already spoke to 62 precinct, 66 precinct, 68 precincts, and 72 precinct about this issue. The captain all aware of this issue, they promised me they will work on that and then try to give them a ticket and chase them away, make sure they don't disrupt the community in our neighborhood. Also, in the state law right now, they have when they're doing the inspection, if they have loud motor, they should not pass the inspection. I will make sure our neighborhood apply those laws.
Brian Lehrer: Harvey, thank you very much for your call. We just have a couple of minutes left. Let me invite you to do two things. One is as you know, we invite the new councilmembers when they come on to bring a show and tell item for our listeners. Anything from your district that you think people not from the district might do well to know a little bit more about and then I will ask you how you're celebrating the Lunar New Year in the district. You want to start with the show and tell.
Susan Zhuang: Can I combine these two questions to one?
Brian Lehrer: Sure. Of course.
Susan Zhuang: Right now, it's Lunar New Year and also is a Year of Dragon. I think we have a lot of display in the community about dragon. I think this also is very important, it's a symbol to our community. Our community right now we have at 54% Asian. You can see in our streets, it's not only Asian celebrate the Lunar New Year, everyone celebrate the Lunar New Year because the Year of Dragon stands for powerful, kind hearts, and brave. Also that I think it's the symbol of a community. Our community have large of immigrants.
When they come here, they probably like me, I didn't know US that well before I come here. They have to have the courage and the brave to come here, move here. A lot of times, you just move by yourself. You don't have family member here, you start your family here, and then they work really hard. Then that's the power of people. They work hard, fight for the issues they care about and also we love each other. That's kindness in our community. No matter what language you speak, what background you have, we always love each other.
We care about the issues, like the hate against Jewish neighbors, it's also the hate to all of us, the hate about to our Muslim neighbors, it's hate against all of us. The hate against our Asian neighbors is hate against all of us. We love each other. We will stand for each other. I think that's the symbol of Dragon have a kind heart, that's our community. I think Dragon, it's a new year, and it's really a symbol of our community.
Brian Lehrer: Happy New Year. Happy Year of the Dragon.
Susan Zhuang: Thank you.
Brian Lehrer: Hopefully, it's happy term in City Council. Congratulations again on your election and for making this one of your first stops now that you've taken office so recently. Susan Zhuang, brand new member of City Council from Sunset Park, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach, parts of Gravesend, parts of Borough Park, and Mapleton and Midwood. Thank you again so much for coming on with us.
Susan Zhuang: Thank you so much.
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