Quynh Pham sees centering Little Saigon’s concerns as Wilson transition team co-chair as win-win for both neighborhood and city

By Carolyn Bick
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

Quynh Pham

When Mayor-elect Katie Wilson asked Quynh Pham to co-chair her 60-person transition team’s leadership, Pham didn’t hesitate to accept.

The Friends of Little Sài Gòn (FLS) executive director told the Northwest Asian Weekly that she had engaged with Wilson and her team throughout their campaign to educate community stakeholders, and had met Wilson at a number of advocacy events in the community in the past.

“We’ve crossed paths a couple of times. … I think she saw our work and the challenges that Little Saigon specifically faces that really highlight where our city is,” Pham said. “And so I’m really glad that she saw that and saw my leadership. It’s just been an honor to be able to support her and this new administration in this way.”

Pham will serve alongside three fellow co-chairs, including Protec17 Executive Director Karen Estevenin, House Our Neighbors’ co-executive director, Tiffani McCoy, and Brian Surratt, the president and CEO of Greater Seattle Partners. Andrés Mantilla will serve as transition director for the leadership team.

While it’s still early days and nothing is set in stone, Pham said that everything has happened at a fairly breakneck speed. In addition to preparing for short-term transition needs and goals, the team is also looking further ahead to mid-term goals, such as next year’s FIFA World Cup Games. With more than 750,000 people expected to visit the city and flock to Lumen Field to attend the games, the Chinatown-International District (CID) is already in pre-game planning stages, in an effort to meet the increased demand on the CID as a whole and avoid a repeat of last year’s MLB All-Star Game.

Pham said that she is in the unique position of being able to bring forward Little Saigon’s particular concerns, many of which are reflected around the city. Because of the neighborhood’s location, those issues, such as homelessness and lack of affordable housing are magnified—and they happen to be part of Wilson’s campaign platform, which the transition team will be addressing, to some degree, as long-term goals.

Centering Little Saigon’s specific concerns is “a big priority” for Pham—and she sees it as a win-win situation.

For instance, she said, one of the primary concerns in Little Saigon is public safety. Because the neighborhood is located downtown, “there’s a lot of concentration of poverty and safety issues here. And so if we can alleviate that … we can approach other neighborhoods with the same model or the same strategies that we hope to apply here.”

“If there can be any major success in Little Saigon, I think that will be a huge positive outcome for the new administration, because it’s been many, many years and we’ve tried so many different things and … nothing feels like a big success,” Pham said. “There hasn’t been a dent in this feeling of safety in the neighborhood. If we can change that narrative and the perception of safety, I think that would be a huge win for the city.”

She also said that a focus on community ownership and control of their own neighborhoods is paramount, and that she believes this will be a particularly “hot topic area, because … we don’t have much land left, so it’s very valuable and housing will be a huge priority.”

“But in addition to housing, I think there is a need for more community control. Those key conversations will play a big role in how we shape certain strategies going forward,” Pham said. “For Little Saigon, we have a very specific example with our Little Saigon landmark project. We were able to acquire the project and we will be building a cultural center and affordable housing. It could be a very great model for other neighborhoods and an example of how we can take back control of properties and spaces for the community.”

Though the future is still nebulous, as far as concrete plans go, Pham said that she is excited. She hopes that her inclusion on the team is “good, positive news for the neighborhood and the community and that there’s a lot of momentum and energy to support the CID.”