When San Marino Mayor Steven Huang emigrated from Taiwan with his family to the United States in 1981, the then-seventh grader could have never imagined a future for himself in which he would be elected to his new hometown’s government.
At the time, Huang said he didn’t speak a word of English and recalled being only one of a handful of Asian students in the classroom.
“I was an outsider, at least I felt that way,” Huang told the Tribune. “If you asked me when I was in junior high or high school if I could ever see myself on the City Council, I would have probably said, ‘Are you kidding me?’”
Huang, who attended Huntington Middle School and San Marino High School, said he is the leader he is today because of his childhood experiences. The challenges that came with immigrating to a new country enabled him to learn new skills, grow as an individual and have compassion for others.
Huang, the now twice-appointed mayor and City Councilman, has entered his eighth and final year serving San Marino residents. He was most recently appointed mayor on Dec. 13.
Though Huang’s path to public service wasn’t always clear, he knew one thing to be obvious from an early age: The fondness he feels for the city he calls home and his neighbors who welcomed him and his family.
Originally, his parents intended for the family to return to Taiwan after Huang and his two siblings finished school, but the personal connection they forged with the city turned out to be longer lasting.
“For the people who accepted us and took us in, I’ll forever be grateful,” Huang said. “I’m very proud to call San Marino my home, and I hope that it will stay that way forever and that I can finish my life here. I guess I really love it. … This is the best place in the world.”
To Huang, one of the things that make San Marino so special is the city’s beauty and small-town charm. In 2015, he began to see a shift toward “mansionization,” which prompted Huang to throw in his hat into the City Council race — an effort that was fueled by his strongly held belief that the city should retain its traditional look and preserve its original homes.
“I asked myself, ‘If I don’t do this and I let somebody else do it, will I have regrets down the road?’” Huang said. “I was seeing a lot of changes, a lot of big houses. I didn’t want to see tear downs. I wanted to preserve San Marino and not have people come in and change the whole look of San Marino.
“I’m still the same. I don’t want to see a lot of these beautiful, old houses torn down because the new ones, I don’t think they look that great. I don’t think they blend in that well. … I wouldn’t say I’ve done things perfectly over my eight years, but I think I’ve done my fair share to save houses.”
Huang, a practicing dentist, never expected to find himself taking on a City Council campaign, but it was a duty he gladly embraced to protect the hometown he knows and loves so much.
So, Huang hit the pavement every chance he got to knock on doors to earn voters’ support. He estimates walking to about 1,200 houses from July to November that year.
“It wasn’t easy,” Huang said. “I remember one day in August it was 100 degrees … but it was fun talking to a lot of people and getting my name out there.”
Huang said many people helped him with name recognition in the community and made him feel supported, which forged meaningful friendships that he will “treasure forever.”
Running against two incumbents, Huang said his win was a surprise to some, but it was also met with much excitement from his family, friends and the community.
“Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you.”
San Marino Mayor Steven Huang
His victory also marked the beginning of Huang following in the footsteps of his two grandfathers, both of whom were lawmakers in Taiwan.
Huang admired the men who were “always happy to help people.”
“Maybe, one day, when I see them in heaven, I’ll feel like I didn’t let them down,” said Huang, who noted that years prior to City Council, his grandfathers’ dedication to public service inspired him to volunteer his time and give back to groups like the Chinese Club of San Marino, the Rotary Club of San Marino, the Taiwanese American Citizens League and Chinese American Dental Society. Collectively, Huang said he has committed 23 years of his life to volunteerism.
Thousands of miles away, following the news of Huang’s becoming an elected member of the City Council, his family abroad was cheering him on.
“My relatives in Taiwan were all proud of me for being on the City Council, which they thought was almost impossible being an immigrant coming to San Marino,” he said.
Huang said San Marino has welcomed a growing community of Asian residents since he was attending seventh grade.
“I’m looking at them and I feel like I’m watching my story play out again,” Huang said. “I commend them for doing it, because I can’t imagine myself at 40 or 50 years old moving to another country where I don’t speak the language. I think that requires a lot of courage.”
Moving through this year, Huang intends to push the city’s priorities forward during the remainder of his term, with one major project being the Stoneman site — a former school building that the city is working to repurpose with the guidance of the state Department of Housing and Development and exploring options, which include housing, a potential senior living project or recreational opportunities.
“One hot potato is Stoneman,” Huang said. “I hope that before I leave the City Council, my colleagues and I can decide the direction for Stoneman.”
During his tenure as a public servant, Huang said among his proudest accomplishments are preserving San Marino and minimizing “mansionization,” as well as helping to bring license plate-reading Flock Safety cameras to the city. Those cameras have increased to 40 over the years, whereas previously there were none.
“It makes me feel like I’ve made a difference in the history of San Marino, so when I get old and look back, I don’t think I’ll have any regrets,” Huang said.
While attending SMHS, Huang chose a fitting yearbook quote by American poet Madeline Bridges. It is a sentiment the mayor said he lives by to this day.
“Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you,” Huang said.
When all is said and done, Huang said he hopes he can use his next chapter of life to focus on family and his personal pursuits as a private citizen.
“I want to thank all of my supporters and the residents for giving me a chance to serve them, and I hope they like what I did,” Huang said.
After his term is over, the camaraderie of his colleagues, and hearing positive feedback from residents will be missed, Huang said.
“People ask me if it is hard to be on the City Council, and I say, ‘No,’” Huang said. “It is easier than being a dentist. Dentistry is a full-time job. This is community service. People always think it’s politics. No, it’s only community service. That’s how I’ve always looked at it.”
First published in the Feb. 8 issue of the San Marino Tribune
