HomeMy WebLinkAbout2017-03-24-2020-minTown of Lexington
20/20 Vision Committee Meeting
March 24, 2017
Parker Room, Town Office Building
1625 Massachusetts Avenue — 7:45am
Members Present: Peter Enrich, Fernando Quezada, Alan Wrigley, Peter Lee, Kathleen Lenihan
Members Absent: Bhumip Khasnabish, Dan Krupka, Andrew Dixon, Joe Pato, Ginna Johnson, Margaret
Coppe
Visitors: Elaine Ashton, Marian Cohen, Suzie Barry, Wei Dong, Jiang Jiao, Qing Liu, Houze Xu, Jian Zhang,
Liang Gu, Wei Hu, Rhea Zhang, Yingjie Wei
Minutes: Claire Vanessa Goodwin
CaII to order: 7:49
Minutes: The group does not have a quorum. The minutes will be approved next meeting along with
the previous two meeting's minutes.
Fernando welcomed the guests in the audience and asked that everyone in the room introduce
themselves.
Feedback on presentation of the Sub -committee on Asian Communities report to the League of
Women Voters, First Friday event 3/3/17: Fernando stated that the presentation given by Susie Lee
Snell went well at the League of Women Voters event. Elaine stated that the Diversity Think Tank was
recommended to move forward. Suzie Barry stated there was a meeting of the Town Manager, Dr.
Czajkowski, and two members from the Board of Selectmen to discuss the think tank.
Town -wide survey: Fernando stated the subcommittee for the survey was looking at household size,
family issues, affordability, and what might be the implications of the change in the population. Peter
Enrich stated the survey has been up since March 13 through March 31. Marian stated the responses so
far have been almost 900. Marian stated this is a low response rate and reaching out again to the
stakeholder groups would be useful. Peter stated a problematic issue has arisen.
Peter stated that a concern has been raised, primarily about the demographic question in which the
survey asks people to indicate what ethnic group they identify with (Question #49). The question breaks
the racial categories into white, African-American, Hispanic, and broke down the Asian category into
national origin: Chinese, Filipino, Korean. This was disturbing to members of the Asian community. A
meeting was held this week with 50 people in attendance. One-third were not Lexingtonians. Peter
Enrich stated it is upsetting that it was concerning to so many members of the community.
The concern is the way national origin identification could be used as discriminatory and has created a
sensitivity to the use of those subcategories. The question has been described as divisive and
discriminatory and the request was that the committee eliminate the categories in the survey. Peter
Enrich stated the phrasing of the question was not the result of long -consideration nor seriously
discussed. The committee has been responsive to members of the Asian communities in Lexington. Ten
years ago there was significant concern if Town services were being sensitive to the needs of the diverse
community. There was an underrepresentation of the community in Town services. Peter said that now
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the matter is taken as hurtful and concerning to residents. Fernando said when the survey was put
together, there were certain people involved in this process. The phrasing of Question #49 was the
same question from the previous survey. The survey was translated into Mandarin Chinese and Korean.
The issue was not something that was thought about or considered at the time.
Fernando stated that the focus of the survey was primarily on income and age. Those are the things
that the committee is trying to monitor. Elaine stated she was surprised that this has become a
problem. Fernando stated the committee did a study on demographic changes. The report is online,
and the feedback the committee got was to not lump all Asian people into one category. Fernando
stated he is Mexican -American, but he gets lumped into the Hispanic category. Marian stated the
questions are all optional and respondents do not need to answer the question.
Peter Enrich said the concern was that the Town would use the information in a discriminatory way.
Peter Lee stated that a California house bill was drafted by one fraction of the CA legislature, the intent
was nefarious and was vetoed by the governor. Peter Lee said it had something to do with the
categorization of Asians. It has been reintroduced in CA. It has sparked a national conversation and was
perceived as perhaps coming into Lexington. Peter Lee stated that some groups have asked for
subcategorization. Peter Lee stated he doesn't see the evil intent of the question, but doesn't want to
say there is no chance for discrimination. Peter Lee said he doesn't think there is that possibility of
nefarious intent from the Town's perspective. Peter Enrich stated it is important that most people who
attended the meeting this week, stated they did not think the data would be used in a discriminatory
way. It is important to note that people have different thoughts on the intent. California AB -1726 can
be viewed here: ht:t:ps: leginfu.Ir.:.islature.ca..:.ou face billll avlir^n1::.; h1.;..m :bilI i 201 20160A :d. 26
Fernando stated changing the question may have an impact on the analysis. Would the quality of the
survey be diminished? The over -ridding issue is the perception issue. Marian stated it would take a
minute to change the question. If she did that, the Survey Monkey program will see it as a new survey.
The current survey results would need to be downloaded and compared later. The other option is for
respondents to select the Asian -Other category in the question. The third thing to do is to compile all
the Asian categories into a broader Asian category in the statistical analysis. Marian recommends that
the respondents with concerns not fill out the details in that question and list their answer as Asian -
Other.
Jian Jiang stated that the problem is the perception issue. He stated the committee needs to solve that
issue and he and others can help with the integration of the surveys and the technical aspects of
creating a new survey if need be. Marian stated from a research point of view, it is not good to change
the question. Peter Enrich stated there are several things on his mind — there will be another survey he
hopes in five years. The group needs to have a real discussion on this topic and find a way to deal with
it. Maybe when the Diversity Think Tank gets three years into its charge, they can take this up.
Peter Enrich stated that in the present survey, he agrees with Marian. Peter stated that having other
people dealing with the data poses a security concern so does not like that option. Peter stated it is an
imperfect solution and is not clear that he can provide the solution they want. Marian stated she has
the census in front of her, and the census includes all Asian categories of national origin. Fernando
asked why we don't break down the white or Hispanic groups in our survey. Marian stated because the
assumption is that those groups are more acculturated.
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Alan stated he would like to hear from more visitors.
Wei Dong stated the problem was that Asians are overrepresented in colleges and employment. Under
current laws, there may be rules that only allow a certain number of people from different racial groups
to attend college. Marian stated that Harvard has a quota on the number of Asian -Americans it will let
in. Marian stated that the more representation we have had in Lexington, we try and provide more
services — like increasing the Chinese literature in the Library. Wei Dong stated the political landscape is
changing and the new generation of Chinese -Americans is changing.
Rhea Zhang stated the reason why she is here is about the design of the question. It does not matter
how carefully the data will be used, it is sending the wrong message to the community and is signaling
racism to the wider region. Rhea stated the question should be changed. Peter Enrich stated we cannot
throw out the data.
Qing Liu read from a letter and stated he wants to express that there will always be individuals for and
against this question. He stated the Chinese have been heavily discriminated in this country and Asian
only subcategorization is the problem — no one else was subcategorized. It creates potential
discrimination. The recommendation is to use Asian — All as the category and he and others would be
willing to work with the committee. See attached letter which he presented and read from. The guest
who came in after the introductions stated the category can be changed and the data does not need to
be thrown out. Peter stated before the guest came in, Marian explained why she can't do that in the
middle of the survey. The guest stated, if there is a problem, it needs to be addressed. Peter stated
there are other members of the Asian community who believe the opposite of the guest in the room.
Qing Liu stated the committee's approach is not justified. Alan stated there is no easy way out. One of
the problems of changing the survey as a result of pressure from the Chinese community, may create its
own problem. One thing people can do, is to not take the survey. The next time, potentially, we will
either break down white or we won't break down Asian.
Liang Gu stated he is here to solve the problem and not taking the survey is not a solution. Alan stated
he wished some of these visitors were on the subcommittee that made the survey because they are
always needing good members with a different perception. Qing Liu stated once you create
subcategorization, there will always be people who support it or don't. So the committee considers
Asians a special category which is good and bad. One group may be favored or discriminated against.
Liang Gu stated this is way beyond a survey problem. Liang Gu stated we can't make it go away, but the
survey is out there, and we can't make the mistake go away.
Peter Enrich stated he appreciates the letter resident Qing Liu submitted. In the future, the group
should spend more time to understand the impacts to the community and the best way to gather data.
The Town has invested a lot of time, money, and resources to get the survey off the ground. Peter
Enrich stated he is not prepared to cancel the survey with the assurances that the group will not use the
data in a way that is discriminatory.
Fernando stated he wanted to make sure the committee can keep in contact with the guests. Qing Liu
will send Claire a digital copy of the letter.
Adjourn: 9:OOam
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Next meeting: Friday, April 28, 7:45am, Parker Room, Town Office Building