New York City Comptroller Brad Lander hosted a roundtable meeting focused on the Asian Pacific Islander community on the 13th. The discussion centered on issues such as city government contracts and procurement, the current state of the education system, and language accessibility challenges for the Asian Pacific Islander community. Over 40 organizations including the Asian American Federation, Chinese-American Planning Council, Chinese-American Independent Practice Association (CAIPA), and Flushing Chinese Business Association, with more than 60 representatives, participated in the roundtable meeting.
“New York City is the largest Asian Pacific Islander enclave in the world, but in many aspects, our city has yet to fully provide the necessary support for these diverse communities. Today’s roundtable emphasized the importance of open dialogues and transparency. We must ensure that every New Yorker feels heard, valued, and supported,” stated Comptroller Lander in his remarks.
The Asian Pacific Islander community roundtable meeting delved into the procurement processes of city contracts within the Asian Pacific Islander community, the current status of the public school education system, and language accessibility services.
Lander proposed improvements for the timeliness and complexity of the contract procurement process, highlighting measures such as the Passport Plus system. The system has reduced average processing times to 17 days and pointed out that the City Council’s discretionary contracts are now multi-year contracts, which speeds up the payment process. The Comptroller also emphasized the need to enhance government data transparency and timeliness in handling contracts, thus supporting legislation proposed by Council Member Althea Stevens to mandate deadlines for government agencies to ensure a more efficient and transparent contract processing process.
Lander also addressed education issues that attendees were concerned about, including language accessibility services. Community representatives at the roundtable meeting expressed that the current contract translation agencies lacked professionalism, with many resorting to using Google Translate directly. Lander responded by stating a focus on the existing translation services and procurement requirements of the New York City Department of Education.
Lander underscored the importance of addressing these issues and encouraged cooperation between his office and community organizations to effectively tackle these challenges.