(The following text is an excerpt from the book Chinese Americans in Irvine 1971-2021.)
With over 300,000 residents, Irvine offers topnotch public schools, safety, planned communities, and is often rated as the best city in which to live. Anthony Kuo is the first locally born and raised City Council Member. He is also the first Chinese American candidate to be elected to the City Council.
Kuo’s parents moved from Los Angeles to Irvine in the 1980’s. They opened the Chinese restaurant, Chinatown, in the University Town Center, located directly across the street from the UCI campus. At the time, there were not many Asian Americans in Irvine, comprising less than 10% of the population. The city enjoyed the freedom and openness of a college town.
Because his parents were working to build up the family coffers, Anthony spent his childhood mostly in his grandmother’s company, learning to speak Mandarin and the Shanghai dialect. Anthony recalls, “Grandma was from Shanghai, spoke not a word of English.” He was her personal interpreter. Whether out shopping or at the doctor’s office, he would translate the important English words into the Shanghai vernacular.
The Kuo family lived in the North Lake area of Woodbridge village. Anthony attended the local public schools from elementary through high school. He remembers the first thing he did when he got home from school was to take care of the mails, telling grandma the name of the sender as well as the main content of the letters. Sometimes grandma would send him to buy milk or fruits, and he would go on his bike. The family never needed to worry about his safety.
Only on his graduation from college did Anthony realize why grandma sent him on assorted errands—to instill in him a spirit of service.
It was Anthony’s impression that although she did not speak English, Grandma adapted easily to life in Irvine. She would walk to the market, toting several bags on her return. When she was tired, she would sit down to rest on the benches outside the houses along the way. Several times, his schoolmates’ mothers driving by would insist on giving her a ride home.
In those days, most relatives of the Kuo family lived in Los Angeles. Anthony remembers that Grandma used to take him to Los Angeles on the bus on weekends. He found her well-acquainted with all the bus routes. She told him to pay special attention when making transfers. He should not be alarmed if he found himself on the wrong bus. Just get off, go across the street, and take the bus going the other way. That would take him back to where he was. Thinking about it today, he still feels no end of admiration at her ingenuity in adapting to her new environment.
In 7th grade, Anthony joined the city’s Youth Action Team that was expanding its service area into the community. He remembers the time the Team was helping an elderly lady with mobility problems clean the house. He was assigned the bathroom. It was his first time ever cleaning a toilet. It left a deep impression. It also gave him a great sense of accomplishment!
In high school Anthony took part in many community service projects. For example, he would help during a marathon by registering participants, supplying beverages, cheering on the athletes and fundraising for non-profit organizations. These experiences made him particularly aware of the work of religious groups and non-profit organizations. He believes the city should cut down on unnecessary regulations and let non-profit groups help residents solve their problems.
While attending University High, Anthony Kuo was a reporter for the school paper. Others rushed to report on ball games or entertainment (stage and music performances), but he was more interested in the operations of the city government. Therefore, he interviewed the mayor, the police chief, etc. to report on city hall’s agenda in the paper. Then City Council Member Christina Shea was very impressed and suggested that he take a summer internship in the Council office to get to know how the Council functions.
After graduating college with a major in public policy, Kuo returned to southern California to enter into community service in earnest. He was a city planning commission member for eight years starting 2011. When he was elected by popular vote in 2018, he became the first Chinese American City Council Member since Irvine became a city in 1971.
Since becoming City Council Member, Anthony Kuo has been paying particular attention to business development in Irvine. He uses the #shopIrvine and #dineIrvine hashtags to strongly promote small businesses on social media, to encourage local shopping and consumption to increase the city’s tax revenues.
Although he has been working from home during the pandemic, Anthony has been interacting with the residents on social media. He hopes his practical actions will help the residents adapt to the various measures enacted during the pandemic. When he goes to take-out restaurants or supermarkets, he would livestream on social media to let the residents know how frontline employees are facing the pandemic. (English translation by Sally Feng)
Anthony Kuo regularly interacts with Irvine residents on social media to encourage them to frequent small businesses and support non-profit organizations.
郭正明經常透過社交媒體與居民互動，鼓勵大家支持本地小商家與非營利組織。
(以下文字摘錄自《爾灣華裔紀實1971-2021》一書)
居民總數超過 30 萬人的爾灣市，擁有一流的公立學校、治安及社區規劃，經常被評為全美最適 合安家的城市。市議員郭正明（Anthony Kuo）是第一位在爾灣本地生長的市議員，也是首位獲選進入市議會的華裔民選官員。
郭正明的父母於 80 年代從洛杉磯遷來爾灣，並在爾灣加大（UC Irvine）僅一街之隔的大學城中心（University Town Center）開設中餐館 Chinatown，那時候爾灣的亞裔不多，佔全市人口不到百分之十，整個城市保留著大學城自由開放的風氣。
當年由於父母忙著白手起家，郭正明童年跟著祖母，學會講華語和上海話。郭正明回憶說，祖母是上海人，一句英語都不會講，他從小就是祖母身邊的翻譯，不論外出購物或是看醫生，郭正明都習慣將重要的英語即時翻譯成上海話。
郭家住在木橋社區的北湖一帶，郭正明小學到高中都就讀附近的公立學校。他記得小學時，每天放學回家第一件事就是處理信件，告訴祖母每封信的寄件人及主要內容。有時候，祖母會派他去買牛奶或水果，他騎著腳踏車獨自出門採購，家人從不必擔心他的安全。
一直到郭正明大學畢業後，他才領悟祖母派他做各種差事的用意，讓他從小培養樂於服務的精神。
在郭正明的印象中，祖母雖然不會英語，卻很能適應爾灣的生活，她會自己走路去超市，回程時提著大包小包，走累了就在沿途住家前院的椅子上坐下休息，有幾次，他同學的媽媽正好開車路過，堅持要順道載她回家。
當時郭家大多數親戚都住在洛杉磯，郭正明記得祖母經常在週末帶他搭公車去洛杉磯，他發現祖母十分熟悉公車路線，而且還告訴他說，轉車要注意，發現上錯車不必驚慌，只要下車過馬路，改乘反方向的車就可回到原地。現在郭正明想起來，打心裡佩服祖母適應新環境的機智。
郭正明七年級時加入爾灣市政府的青少年行動隊 （Youth Action Team），將服務範圍擴展到社區中，他記得有一次青少年行動隊義務為行動不便的老太太清理住家環境，他被派去打掃浴室，那是他有生以來第一次清洗馬桶，印象特別深刻，而且覺得很有成就感！
郭正明在中學時期曾參加過各種社區服務工作， 例如在社區的馬拉松路跑中，為參賽者辦理報到、提供飲料、加油打氣，或是為非營利組織及學生社團舉辦義賣活動等等，這些經歷讓他特別關注本地的宗教團體與非營利組織，他認為，市政府應該減少不必要的規定，讓公益團體協助居民解決問題。
就讀高中時，郭正明曾在學生報紙中擔任記者， 別人搶著報導球賽、歌舞劇之類的活動，他卻對市政運作感興趣，因此，郭正明先後採訪過市長、市議 員、警察局局長等人，在學生報紙中介紹爾灣市的重要議題。當時擔任市議員的 Christina Shea 很欣賞他， 提出暑假到市議員辦公室實習的機會，讓他進一步體驗市議會的實務。
大學主修公共政策的郭正明，畢業後又回到南加州，積極投入社區服務，他自 2011 年起出任爾灣市都市計畫委員八年，並於 2018 年當選市議員，是爾灣市自 1971 年建市以來，首位由居民票選出來的華裔市議員。
擔任市議員近三年的郭正明，特別關注爾灣市企業發展，他創用了#shopIrvine #dineIrvine 等標籤，在社交媒體上大力為小商家宣傳，鼓勵居民多在本地購物消費，以增加市府的稅收。
新冠疫情期間，郭正明雖然在家辦公，仍透過社交媒體與居民互動，他希望以實際行動，協助居民適應新冠疫情期間的種種措施，當他去外賣餐廳或是超市時，會立即進行現場直播，讓居民了解從業人員如何面對疫情。（蕭迪玉撰文）