Alan Wong Talks City College, Supervisor Appointment

Alan Wong has made the leap from City College of San Francisco’s Board of Trustees to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors.

The life-long Sunset resident was sworn in as District 4 supervisor on Monday in the wake of the recall of Joel Engardio and resignation of Isabella "Beya" Alcaraz. 

“I was born and raised in Sunset and have lived there my entire life,” Wong said. “It's the community that I love and that I want to serve.”

Wong has diverse experience. He interned for Fiona Ma when she was District 4 supervisor while in high school, worked for Supervisor Gordon Mar, and served as a policy director at the Children’s Council of San Francisco while in the military.

Wong had recently joined the Ocean Avenue Association board of directors and was elected vice chair in November, but has since resigned due to a conflict of interest.

Although he had been in office for just over a day when The Light visited him at City Hall, Wong said he already has priorities identified. Wong wants to work on increasing public safety with a focus on fully staffing the police department and cracking down on the open-air drug markets. 

Wong said he wants to rebuild trust in the local government among citizens and small business owners by cutting red tape, streamlining processes and dedicating half of his office staff to constituent services. Finally, he wants to prioritize education and plans to be an advocate and supporter for increasing the child care subsidy to 200% of the area median income. He also intends to remain a partner for City College and be an ally and cheerleader for the city’s public schools.

“Being a supervisor is the greatest honor of my life, and as a veteran, I'm here to serve my community and my country and to put those needs above any partisan interests or politics,” Wong said.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How do you feel about your time on the Board of Trustees? How do you feel about leaving? 

On the board of trustees, I felt that I sought balance. I sought to be a person who could play a middle ground on things, and as much as possible, lead the institution toward the direction of long-term financial stability in a way that balances different perspectives, because we have very strong, as you may be paying attention, very strong perspectives on how to handle it. I've always sought the middle path, which is to take incremental steps towards that and long-term fiscal sustainability, protecting free City College for our students, ensuring we’re growing our enrollment, and offering the courses that our students need.

For me, it's bittersweet to leave. I really enjoyed being a leader at City College and having the opportunity to influence the school that's given my family so much. As you may know, my dad went through the culinary and ESL programs, and that's how he became a union hotel cook at the Grand Hyatt on Stockton Street, and ultimately supported my family for two decades with those wages. My mother took ESL classes, too. I took City College classes as a teenager, and those extra units that I took helped me graduate from UC San Diego when I was just 19 years old with a bachelor's degree.

What are some of the things you learned from City College that you are taking with you into this role? 

I think being an elected official, there are many soft skills that you need to develop, so I think I've been able to go through the training grounds, having in the past worked at City Hall before, and also being a past elected official. It gives me the right blend of experience to start on day one, ready to lead this office, whereas somebody without this experience would probably be struggling.

You went through a new vetting process to be the District 4 supervisor. Do you think a similar process should happen to replace you on the Board of Trustees?

I think that there was an attempt to correct what happened with the previous appointment, and I think my process is very thorough, and ultimately, that decision is up to the mayor's office to decide.

How does it feel to be the new District 4 supervisor? Was it something you’ve always wanted?

Being able to serve the community in which I was born and raised is the greatest honor of my life. I really think that it's such a great honor. For me I look forward to being able to serve. I want to bring a public servant's heart to my work, and as a veteran, I'm here to, I'm always here for my community and my country above any sort of partisan ideology or politics.

Back in the day, I interned in the District 4 office for Fiona Ma as a high school student. So I'm like, maybe someday. It wasn't like a total, checklist thing where I had to do it, but I'm like, OK, if the opportunity comes up, it's something that I would like to do to serve my community.

As you know, the Great Highway is a polarizing topic throughout District 4. How do you feel about it, and how do you plan to address concerns from the community on both sides of the issue? 

Firstly, I voted no on Proposition K, and I support the compromise. As a Sunset resident and military officer for the last 20 years, I have been running along the trail for my physical fitness training, and I've never had an issue sharing the road. At the same time, as a new District 4 supervisor, I am here to be a leader and to heal. I see my role, in terms of being a leader, as listening to everybody. I will always listen to everybody when making major policy decisions. I will always listen before I act, and I will talk to those who supported the compromise and and I'll talk to those who supported the closure. I want to listen to everybody before I make any major policy decisions, and in the way that I move forward, I want it to have public trust and legitimacy. I'll have to figure it out. I will have to make a decision in the future because this is something that people on both ends of this are bringing up, and at the same time, that's the process that I commit myself to. I know some of the advocacy groups just want you to take one side or another, and that's not how I conduct and comport myself. I want to be able to listen first before I make any decisions.