Building a Fair, Inclusive Economy for the People of Queens.

Sandra Choi
Nov 1 · 3 min read

Yesterday, I spent the day in Elmhurst, the neighborhood where I spent most of my childhood. I grew up next to Broadway Car Wash and lived in a fourth floor walk up with my parents, my younger brother and my grandmother. I spent most of my time talking to local businesses on Woodside Avenue.

The local business owners were mostly from East and South Asia; China, Thailand, Bangladesh, South Korea, Taiwan and India. They ran service based businesses, firms tied to the local economy. I visited restaurants, laundromats, massage shops, hair salons, corner grocery stores and liquor shops. While this is an everyday commercial corridor of businesses that line the neighborhoods of Queens, we should take a moment to appreciate how our population density allows for the formation of these independent shops to service our local neighborhoods. Communities outside New York work hard to develop ‘Main Street’ place making strategies to attract commercial tenants that drive spending and build wealth in their local economy. Queens is special so allowing locally owned small businesses not just to survive, but thrive, deserves a nuanced approach from policymakers.

Often when the media talks about immigrant entrepreneurs, they refer to the Andrew Yangs of the world. People that built multimillion dollar companies that are household names. However, whats often overlooked by society and economic development practioneers are the immigrant entrepreneurs who operate the locally owned businesses that you see up and down Woodside Avenue in Elmhurst and throughout the borough. In Queens, 70% of micro businesses are locally owned by immigrant entrepreneurs. I know my family and other families like mine started their own businesses because they were shut out of traditional economic, educational and career opportunities to obtain financial security and provide a living for themselves and their families. They deal with language and cultural barriers, discrimination from institutions and lack of access to traditional sources of capital. Often times, the people who support these entrepreneurs may be undocumented Americans as well which adds another layer of complexity. These Americans deserve to have the same labor and wage protections as American citizens and the opportunity to become entrepreneurs as well. Collectively, they work in industries that are hard on the body, mentally and emotionally taxing and unsafe environments. They take on jobs that people with more privilege can afford to pass on.

One reason why I wanted to run for office was to put my economic development background to use . We need policymakers in Congress who understand the economic realities people live and try to survive in. Often times, the totality of economic development is defined as number of corporate jobs attracted to a certain community, not taking into account if they were poached from elsewhere and hurting another community in the process. We need a $15 minimum wage yes but can a corporation like McDonalds and a mom and pop corner grocery afford to share the same burden? How do we provide better protections for undocumented Americans who want to contribute to our economy by participating in our labor force and provide for their families?

We’re at a tipping point. We can no longer afford stagnant conversations about the economy, the relationship between workers and employers and ignore the rise of the gig economy. We have to evolve the conversation about what it means to provide greater economic and financial security for the people in Queens and our country.

Please visit my site www.sandrachoi2020.com to learn more about the campaign’s vision to build a fair, inclusive economy for all.

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