Not one of the three Chinese-American candidates received enough votes to win one of the three open City Council seats in April 13th Tuesday's election. With the departure of Mayor John Wuo, who was the second Chinese-American to be elected to the council, the ethnically mixed city is reverting to an all Caucasian council for the first time in 12 years.
Businessman Sho Tay, Attorney Paul P. Cheng and Attorney Jason J. Lee were defeated this week by three familiar faces; Councilman Bob Harbicht, who will be serving a fifth four-year term, former councilman Mickey Segal, who will be serving his third term, and Councilman Peter Amundson, who is serving his second.
Asians made up about 45 percent of Arcadia's population in 2000, with an equal percentage of whites living in the city. Forty-two percent of the city's population spoke Asian or Pacific Island languages at home - a quarter of those spoke English less than "very well," according to census data. (Source: Brenda Gazzar, Pasadena Star-News, Apr 18, 2010).