2021年7月7日，西雅图中文电台“美国故事”栏目专访了西雅图高级副市长方威武Mike Fong以及来自西雅图中国城的社区领袖梁文辉David Leong，请他们介绍了即将在西雅图中国城、西方广场、西湖公园等地举行的“欢迎归来周”系列活动，方威武还就市政府在过去的16个月里战胜新冠疫情，努力重启经济等方面所做的工作，让我们西雅图的华人社区对政府的工作，以及与我们息息相关的疫情进展、公共安全的状态有更深入的了解。

美国故事：西雅图副市长方威武谈西雅图市政府如何战胜疫情以及举办重新开启经济的活动 Seattle Deputy Mayor Mike Fong on fighting Covid and reopening （2021年7月7日，主持：小元，翻译：雅秋，嘉宾：方威武Mike Fong，梁文辉David Leong）

（资料照片：方威武在西雅图中文电台五周年台庆晚会上发言）

（以下是采访全文，英文与中文翻译有不完全吻合之处，以英文为准）

小元：
亲爱的听众朋友晚上好，欢迎收听西雅图中文电台《美国故事》栏目。我是小元，今天我们非常有幸地请到两位特别的嘉宾，他们分别是来自西雅图的高级副市长方威武先生。We are very honored to welcome Senior Deputy Mayor of Seattle, Mike Fong。还有一位是我们西雅图的知名的梁师傅，他也是一个新成立的商会的会长。 Welcome David。我们非常感谢雅秋老师担任翻译，还有虽然开头几句话我也代为翻译了。

雅秋：
Thank you！

小元：
So would you guys say hi to our audience?

方威武 Mike Fong：
Great to be here. Thanks for having us on, Xiaoyuan! Always fun to join you for the program.

（通过翻译雅秋，下同）
副市长说，谢谢小元。每次都很高兴来到你们的节目里。

小元：
Thank you so much（非常感谢）！我们非常感谢方威武副市长在百忙之中参加我们的节目。最近西雅图还有华盛顿州在经过一年多的新冠病毒的肆虐之后，终于可以重见天日了。西雅图市政府也做了一系列的工作，在市长Jenny Durkan的带领之下，当然也包括我们方威武Mike Fong的积极的带领之下，我们西雅图能够完全地复工，这是非常好的事情。我们非常荣幸地请方威武副市长来给我们介绍一下相关的情况。

（通过翻译雅秋，下同）
It has been a long time since the beginning of the pandemic. Everybody is very excited about reopening Seattle. We have a whole series of activities and would you like to tell us a little bit about what we will be doing?

小元：

我的第一个问题是：在新冠疫情期间，西雅图市政府在处理新冠疫情方面做得怎么样？

How has the COVID-19 related work has be going in Seattle since the beginning of the pandemic?

方威武 Mike Fong：
Great, thanks for the question.（好的，非常感谢您的问题。）And first of all, I’ll just say（首先，我想说） 我对不起，我的国语非常不好，所以我今天用英文跟大家discuss tonight（讨论）. So I’m gonna use English and really want to thank Shuang for being here to help us translate so…

雅秋：

您太客气了。

方威武 Mike Fong：

Then again, Xiaoyuan, thank you for having us on. And I just again congratulate you and all the work that you and Seattle Chinese Radio do for the entire region in making information like tonight’s conversation available for so many people. So, thanks for your great work and I’m really glad to be able to be participating tonight.

首先谢谢小元台长请我到节目当中来，而且你们电台也做了很多很好的工作，包括像今天这样子的访谈，所以非常感谢你。我们再来继续接着谈。

方威武 Mike Fong：
I’ll just briefly touch on your questions. So as you started describing, this has been just an incredibly difficult 16 months for really everybody. And we early on when COVID first sort of hit our radar and ended up in our backyard and—actually just north of us, Snohomish County—we really knew that we were going to need to do everything we could and dedicate all the resources that we had available to us to focusing on fighting the pandemic. And the Mayor gave us two very simple charges at the outset, which was we had to act with urgency and recognize this was something we’ve never seen before, and it would mean that local government was going to have to enter the space of engaging in activities and work that we were just not used to and maybe not part of regular business.
And then the second thing that we were absolutely committed to, for early on, was that we would follow the science and follow the health experts in telling us what we needed to do and what was in the best interest of public health. So we feel we did that and we feel we did that very well and actually could only have been done with the cooperation and the hard work and getting through this by the people of Seattle and the entire region. And we’ve come out the other end so far; we’re not totally out of the woods yet but I think we could be very proud of everything we’ve done so far and hopefully we can move into this next phase of recovery in the same spirit.

雅秋：
好的，这是非常艰苦的16个月的奋战。在一开始的时候，我们就发现疫情开始了，而且是在离我们非常近的，就在我们北边不远的一个county（县），所以等于是我们的后院失火了。那个时候我们就知道，我们必须用所有的力量来跟疫情作战。市长也有两点指示，第一个这是非常紧急的事情，是我们地方政府都必须要努力做的事情，因为这是在我们的地方发生的疫情。当然这是全国的疫情，但是每个地方政府都要努力地去跟疫情作战。第二点呢，除了紧急之外，我们所有的作为都要根据科学，那要做非常科学的作战的方式。到目前为止，我们也很努力很成功很顺利地依照科学来对付疫情。到目前为止呢，我们都有各方面的合作、努力的工作，我们做得很好，现在看起来我们已经差不多要离开这个阴影了，不过还没有百分之百地离开，所以我们还要继续努力。

小元：
Mike能不能谈一谈西雅图战胜新冠疫情取得的最大的成就是什么？

Yes, Mike, what do you think the biggest achievement of the city of Seattle is in fighting the pandemic?

方威武 Mike Fong：
Great question. I think we’re really proud of the fact that—and we’ve certainly talked a lot about it recently—is that we are the first major American city in the country to have hit 70% vaccination rate for our population. So, that is no small feat, given all the challenges we had in getting through the pandemic and the issues with vaccine supply delivery and really just being able to get the public to a place of comfort, to be able to both go get the vaccine and also access to it. And in the city of Seattle itself, we vaccinated through our fire department and our partners over 300,000 people ourselves and it’s just an extraordinary accomplishment. And again, much of the credit must be given to the people of Seattle and of the region. I mean, we have really followed the health guidance, we’ve done everything we could, and I think it’s shown that we’ve been able to lead the nation in lower COVID cases, low debts, high vaccination rate. And it really is a testament to the people of Seattle and the entire county.

我想大家都已经注意到了，西雅图是全国主要城市当中第一个在疫苗的接种率方面超过了70%，这个是我们非常自豪的一件事情，因为这个是很困难的。在我们跟疫情作战的这段时间当中，除了治疗以外，我们还要预防，预防当然就是要用疫苗。除了打疫苗、接种疫苗之外，当然我们还有疫苗的供应、疫苗的分配、疫苗的宣传，让大众来愿意接种疫苗，这等等都不是非常容易的事情。所以我们很高兴，我们一直是根据所有的指示来做这件事情。我们也让30万人接种了疫苗，而且西雅图有很低的发病率，也有很低的死亡率，所以这些都是我们很值得自豪的成就。

小元：
我们知道华盛顿州州长英斯利已经下令完全地复工、完全地重新开放，西雅图是不是已经做好准备，能够安全地重新开放了呢？

As we know, the governor of the State of Washington has ordered the state to be fully reopening the economy. Do you think the City of Seattle is ready for it?

方威武 Mike Fong：
Back to what I said earlier, the mayor and I said from the get go that we would follow the trajectory of the virus. The virus would tell us when we’re going to be able to reopen, not politicians, but the health experts in the science. And our health experts tell us right now that—including Dr. Duchin, the County’s health officer—that Seattle and Washington State are ready and able to safely reopen our economy. So short answer, yes, we are ready. And let’s do it.

像我刚刚已经讲过的，我们在市长已经早就指示我们要根据科学来做事情，所以我们不是因为政治人物告诉我们、政客告诉我们要开放我们就开放，而是要听病毒的，要科学的，病毒告诉我们，我们可以开放，我们去开放。到现在为止，我们的医学的专家都告诉我们，西雅图已经准备好了，我们可以开放了，所以大家就可以放心地让西雅图开放。

小元：
我们都听说西雅图市政府即将举办一系列的复工周，或者说“欢迎归来周”的一些活动来庆祝，或者说开启复工的、西雅图能够回到原来状态的一些活动。副市长能不能给我们介绍一下这些活动？

We’ve learned about the “Welcome Back Weeks” activities that are going to happen. There are a series of activities. Could you tell us what the plan is?

方威武 Mike Fong：
Sure, sure. And you know, we can invite David in into this conversation as well because we’re really excited about some of the partnerships we’ve been working with him and in his organization on these “Welcome Back Weeks.” But back in February, way back in February, the Mayor started to convene some conversations with stakeholders from the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. Just as we were starting to scale up vaccinations, we knew we had to start the conversation about, once we got to a vaccination rate that would allow us to move towards reopening and full recovery, we want to make sure that Downtown Seattle could recover and recover in a strong way and come back ultimately even stronger and better than we were before the pandemic.
And one of the things that came out of those conversations, a key recommendation, was this idea of events and activation of the downtown core that we’re calling our “Welcome Back Weeks.” And there are gonna be a series of these in July and September, with the ultimate goal is to bring workers and visitors, and small businesses back to downtown so that we can really increase the foot traffic and kick start the local economy again. So in July, the Welcome Back Weeks are going to take place from July 12th through the 26th, and with special key promotions that are going to be happening every single day. And then on top of that, we’ll have three large-scale Welcome Back Week events, with live music and performances, food and cultural promotions. And the very first one, with the great help of David and his team, we’re going to be able to do an event at Hing Hay Park in Chinatown International District on Saturday, July17th and Sunday，July 18th. And then we’ll do an event in Occidental Square and Pioneer Square on Saturday, July 24th. And then we’ll host, actually, a Halloween in July event on Sunday, July 25th, at West Lake Park. So we’ll do trick-or-treating and costumes and activities for kids because kids missed Halloween last year. So we’ve got to figure out a way to give them Halloween back. So we are going to do this event down at West Lake on the 25th. And hopefully these events all help in the spirit of bringing back activities to our downtown core.

雅秋：
Okay。在这一部分呢，我们的活动就是“欢迎归来周”。从七月到九月有很多很多的活动，也要介绍David Liang，因为他也是我们的合作的单位之一。我们在二月的时候就已经想到了这件事情，因为我们在要接种疫苗的同时，我们就要想到疫苗接种率到了一定的程度以后，我们就可以开始开放了。我们要开放什么地方呢？在城中心是很重要的，城中心周围的社区也非常重要，包括我们要有这些很多的人回来工作，要有游客，还要有各种的商业都要再开放。所以我们就打算有很多的活动能够让更多的人愿意到西雅图的城中心来。在这些活动里面包括了有三大类，有音乐、有食物，非常重要，还有文化方面的活动。在7月12号到26号这一整个星期当中，每一天都有活动，这里也有David为我们推出的在庆喜公园，7月17号星期六，有一个活动；7月18号星期天也有另外一个活动。还有7月25号有一个很可爱的活动叫做“七月万圣节”，因为去年小朋友们都不能在万圣节的时候出来讨糖了，所以今年七月份我们要办一个七月的万圣节，让小朋友有机会出来捣蛋，讨糖吃。这都是能够让整个的社区活跃起来，让我们的城中心更活泼，大家能够……不但恢复跟以前一样地有活力，而且比以前更有活力。

小元：
我们也感谢梁师傅的耐心，我们终于有时间要介绍梁师傅。梁师傅也是这一次“欢迎归来周”的一些活动的参与者。我简单地介绍一下梁师傅。David Liang，他是功夫巨星成龙的电影搭档，他在我们西雅图也是赫赫有名，他有一个功夫学校、有一个武士团。不久之前他还开启了一个新的商会，叫西雅图美国华人商会，他是会长，也是我们西雅图的侨领。我们想问一下梁师傅，您在这一次“欢迎归来周”这些活动当中，您会做些什么呢？

Okay. Do you want me to translate everything？（您需要我帮忙翻译吗？）

David：
Well. Hi everyone. I want to thank everyone at the China Radio team. Xiaoyuan, Shuang, we’ve been friends for many years. And it’s real honor to be here with Deputy Mike Fong. Thank you for taking the time to join us in this very important conversation. My Mandarin is a little bit better than Mike

雅秋：
Okay. So I don’t have to translate for you.（好的，我不需要帮您翻译了。）

David：
No no no, just a little but not enough to hold a good conversation. I would appreciate it if you could help translate that, Shuang.

（通过翻译雅秋，下同）
Okay。梁师傅说他很高兴能够来到节目当中，也很荣幸能够跟方威武Mike Fong一块在这节目当中跟我们一起做一个访谈。他很谦虚地说他的普通话不够好，所以还需要我翻译，但是我想他大概不需要太多了。刚才台长是问了他一些问题，包括：What will you do for the Seattle Welcome Back Weeks activities in the China International District?

梁文辉 David Leong
Sure. Thank you for having me on the show here. First of all, my family has been in Seattle for 85 years, so it’s quite a few generations and probably similar to Deputy Fong’s family—I’m assuming you’ve been here for at least a couple generations, right, Mr. Fang? So, I think I can speak for both of us—we have both the American version of being a Chinese American but we also have, from our families, very Chinese Chinese culture background, too. So as a kid, I used to have conversations with my grandmother. I remember at eight years old, I said, “Grandmom, when I go to school, my friends are Caucasian, Black. I speak English, I eat American food. But when I come home, I’m always eating Chinese food, I’m speaking Chinese the best I can with you guys. I went to Chinese school.”So on and so forth. So my grandmother says to me, “What do you mean by that, David?” I said, “Well, I think I’m gonna live my life, taking the best of the East and the best of the West.” So my grandmother said, “What’s that gonna be?” I said, “Well, I like my Kentucky Fried Chicken, my McDonald’s burgers, but I also like my Chow Mein and my Beef Chow Fun and Sweet and Sour Chicken.” So you know, as an eight-year-old, food is the diplomacy, okay? But, as an adult now, I still remember those conversations with my grandmother but yet the topics are different now. There’s politics, you understand more about life, as an adult. But I think the philosophy that I’ve kept is I try to take the best of the East and the best of the West.

小元：
I’m sorry. We have to take a commercial break. （抱歉，我们现在需要进一段广告。）

梁文辉 David Leong：
Sure, sure.（好的。）

小元：
欢迎回到我们西雅图中文电台《美国故事》栏目的节目现场。今天我们通过Zoom请到了两位嘉宾，他们分别是西雅图市政府高级副市长方威武先生，Mike Fong, Deputy Mayor of City of Seattle。还有David Leong，是我们西雅图知名的一位侨领，他是功夫学校的校长，也是一个新成立的商会的会长。
Now we have to keep the answer short because we still have lots of questions. I’m sorry, we have to do that. （我们需要把回答保持简短，因为我们还有很多问题需要回答。抱歉，我们必须这么做。）刚刚我们问David这个活动，Welcome Back Weeks, what will you do during the weeks?（您会在这些活动周里做些什么？）

梁文辉 David Leong：
July 17th and 18th, as Deputy Fong mentioned, we’ll have a couple of big days full of events down in the Chinatown International District. We will be at the Hing Hay Park, between 11 and 12, you will see a traditional lion dance, Kung Fu demonstrations. You’ll see all the different family associations coming out to support the reopening of the Chinatown ID. It’s going to be a lot of fun of family event, and we want to thank the City of Seattle along with our Chamber, the Seattle Chinese American Chamber, for partnering and making this event happen. So it’s two days, Saturday and Sunday, starts at 11 o’clock and it goes on to, I believe, 6 o’clock. There will be live music, bands, and opportunities for families to roam around the Chinatown ID area. It’s gonna be two days of great events.

7月17号跟18号这个周末，从17号的11:00~12:00，中午会有舞狮，还有功夫的表演。这两天都会有——从中午大概到六点——一系列的活动。音乐为主，大家可以来，在中国城逛一逛，欣赏音乐，欣赏各个各种不同的活动，参与各种不同的活动。

小元：
在这个活动的前夕，我们终于能够重新开放我们的城市。不知道梁师傅还有方威武副市长Mike Fong，你们有什么感想？

Before this Welcome Back Weeks, what do you two have… What kind of thoughts do you have?

小元：
What do you feel?

梁文辉 David Leong：
Few months ago, Deputy Fong and Mayor Durkan and the Chief of Police and several agencies from the City of Seattle came down to visit the Chinatown ID area. And we as business people and members of the community down there, we’re so appreciative of the care and the love and the support shown to us. And we came up with an idea, maybe we can put something together. This is during the… we’re trying to function as a community during the pandemic, and a lot of businesses have closed down and everything was so stressful. But I think, Deputy Fong and myself, and also Mayor Durkan of course, and the rest of the team that came down to visit, felt Seattle folks are very resilient. The Chinatown ID area has been around for 150 years, and you know, us business people, there’s a sense of community down there that’s very a blend of old and new. And myself, our families been there for 85 years, three generations, we feel this responsibility of the younger generation to try to do our best to help the older generation and the businesses prosper as a community, not just in the CID, but everywhere in the central area in West Seattle, Burien, you know, a lot of the members of the community have been in Seattle for 100 years. And there’s always been love and support for one another. And I think that with the help of the city, you’re gonna see that on the 17th and 18th, and right after that happens, the other events—Pioneer Square, Downtown, and then you’re going to see the snowball effect and everything is going to start coming back to even better than before in Seattle.

差不多在两个月之前，市长Jenny Durkan，还有副市长方威武先生，还有警察局的局长等等，他们有一整团的人到中国城国际区来，等于是来参访、来看我们社区的情况。我们觉得非常地温暖，也非常地受鼓舞。我们的社区呢，在疫情期间，我们也很努力地像一个家庭一样，因为社区受到很严重的打击，在各种的商家都不能够开幕，或者是还有很多的毁坏社区的活动，所以我们在社区是相当的辛苦。不过中国人在西雅图已经有150年了，包括我个人的家族也在这里有85年的历史了，中国人不只是在国际区，不只是在中国城国际区生活，而且是在周边的、有很多的地方都有很多的华人，这些华人我们都是等于是一家人，所以我们是彼此要关怀，彼此要互助互爱。所以在西雅图市的帮助之下，我们整个的华人社区应该是会越来越好，尤其是在17号、18号的活动之后，大家可以看到一系列的活动展开，就会造成像雪球效应一样，我们不但会回来，而且会比以前更好更强大。

方威武Mike Fong：
I think David did a great job describing the excitement and energy behind these welcome weeks. The only thing I’ll add is you asked how I feel. I feel a little bit relieved and very excited. So I think this is an opportunity here as we move towards recovery, to bring our communities back together, and jump start our economy. And with the help of people like David, I think we’ve got a very positive outlook ahead of us.

David：
It takes a team, Mike. You’re leading that charge and we’re taking the queues from you guys. Thank you!

副市长说，David刚刚说得很好，他已经把我们的情况、活动都已经描述了一遍。我个人的感觉是我松了一口气，而且非常地兴奋，希望能够看到所有的活动都顺利展开，我们的社区又再重新开始，我们的经济、我们的所有的商业活动也都会顺利地展开，我们会比以前更好、更兴旺、更强大。

小元：
你们是不是觉得西雅图能够开放到疫情前的程度？

Do you think Seattle can go back to before the pandemic or… sometimes soon? Ever? Or even better?

方威武Mike Fong：
It’s a very good question. And the truth of the matter is it takes some… it’s gonna take some time before we can bounce back. And just a couple of data points to kind of illustrate the challenge in front of us, we’ve actually had more than four hundred fifty street-level businesses in the downtown area closed since the pandemic. And at the very peak of the pandemic, foot traffic in Downtown was only 25% of what it was before. As of June, just last month, the number of small businesses open in the Seattle metropolitan area was 38% lower than in January of 2020. And small business revenues, really the lifeline of our economy, have been down 35% across the board. So I highlight those to say, it has been a tremendously challenging set of circumstances for our local economy. The pandemic has been very very difficult and has really hit, particularly small businesses I think, really hard, and the work in front of us to bring those businesses back, to bring the economy back, starts with local partnership opportunities, like the Welcome Back Weeks, but we have a lot of work to do. We need to continue supporting small businesses, we continue to provide the support and grants and other safety net services that we put in place during the pandemic. We have a new program that is gonna make it easier for entrepreneurs to start business opportunities and empty storefronts in the downtown areas, making a lot more flexible for people to of permitting and other requirements to get small businesses started. And we’re gonna continue, to the extent that we can, to keep trying to provide direct cash assistance to small businesses and downtown business districts to the extent that we can do that. Our goal is, as we said from the beginning, we wanna come back even stronger and better than we were before the pandemic. And part of that is also an equitable recovery that makes sure that we take care of the most vulnerable. We’ve learned a lot of the disparities in our community through the pandemic, and frankly, we have work to do. But I’m optimistic. I think we’re gonna come back stronger. But to be completely honest, it’s gonna take some time and I think we should be honest about that.

我们的目标是要比恢复以前，并且比以前更强大、更繁华，但是我们还要花很长的时间做很多的工作，因为我们可以从一些数据上看出来，在疫情期间，在街边的、路边的商家倒闭了450家之多，人流跟疫情之前比起来只剩下25%在城中心。今年六月份只剩下了38%的商家，跟去年一月比起来，商家的收入只剩下了35%。所以这些小的企业受到非常大的挑战，非常大的冲击，要使他们再重新地恢复，不是容易，但是我们会有很多的支持的……不管是援助的基金，或者是安全网，或者是各种的服务，都是要帮助他们，并且还有一些可以鼓励新的企业开始重新在这里，而不只是从过去在西雅图的我们要让他们恢复，而且我们要鼓励新的企业在这里再重新再开始，在西雅图开始他们的商业、他们的各种的活动。所以在这种情形之下，我们知道是很困难，但是我们很乐观，我们的目标是可以达成的，只是说需要一些时间。因为我们的所有的……过去的这16个月以来，我们已经看得很清楚，我们这些商家需要的是什么，他们最需要的是什么，我们可以替他们提供，以后他们就能够更……有我们的支持，更能够成长，更能够在西雅图发展。

小元：
Let’s have another break.（我们再休息一下。）

小元：
欢迎各位听众朋友回到我们西雅图中文电台《美国故事》栏目的直播现场。今天我们通过Zoom请到了西雅图高级副市长方威武先生，还有西雅图美国华人商会会长，也是西北功夫学校校长梁文辉先生。我们下面问一下David，您能不能用一两句话简单给我们介绍一下您新成立的、新开启的商会， please introduce Seattle American Chinese Chamber of Commerce, in one or two sentences？

梁文辉 David Leong ：
Yes. I wanted to start this organization back in 2017, but when you start an organization, that takes a lot of time to commit, a lot of volunteer time. So we started it officially about a month and a half ago. And we are all volunteers; we have a very diverse board from many different professions: Verizon, Amazon, Blue Origin. So we have quite a committed group of individuals that want to help various communities, all communities. We’re going to start with the Chinatown ID area first, that’s what we’re located. After this past year and a half of extreme difficulties, including the pandemic, a lot of the community members are kind of lost as to how to bring the community back together again. And we felt it was an important time for us to start this organization and really start from the grassroots point of view and get things going in the CID.

从2017年开始，我就想要成立这么一个商会，但是一直到了2021年，差不多一个半月以前才正式成立。在这段时间，当然除了是疫情以外，我们也有碰到了很多其他的困难。我邀请了很多的社区的领导者，包括有Verizon，还有Amazon，还有很多其他的重要的社区的领袖人物。我们要开始是在中国城国际区，但是我们还要帮助很多其他的社区的人，一起来合作，来度过这些困难。

小元：
梁师傅，您对西雅图市政府处理疫情，还有中国城的安全等方面的工作满意吗？

As a community leader, are you happy with the City of Seattle in handling the public safety in Chinatown and other safety issues?

梁文辉 David Leong ：
I think the City has been put into a very difficult position. There are so many extreme difficulties, you have the pandemic, you have businesses closing, you have levels of crime increasing all over the city. It’s been quite a handful. My personal opinion, I think the city has done a wonderful job, the best they can, based on the circumstances. There’s been a lot of police that have left the force; that has made manpower a little bit short. There’s lots of different ideas, left, right ideas. And frankly, I have to give the City a lot of credit to hold society together the best that they can. It’s been very difficult for young and old in all races, all communities. Everyone’s been affected.
But I think that we as a community—when I say we, CID in particular—we can come together. That’s why it’s so important that this event on the 17th and the 18th, it is to show the world that the CID is united. You’re gonna see senior citizens holding signs up, you’re gonna see lions and dragons, you’re gonna see girls marching drill team that’s been around for 60 years. And there’s a lot of history and culture. We invite all communities to come to this event. And as our Chamber grows, we’re gonna reach out to other chambers in other communities. And I think at the end of the day, compassion, kindness, discipline, integrity, honor, all of these things are very important in all communities. And I think every community will agree that we have some of these principles and follow them. Love and support trump all. And compassion—put yourself in other people’s shoes for once. And I think that will give people on the other side, or this side or that side, the experience. And that will hopefully humble people to the point where they want to work together at the community.

在这个新冠大流行期间，我们当然就是疫情的期间，大家都面临了非常大的困难，在华人社区也是一样，尤其是中国城国际区，有很多的商家都关闭了，很多的犯罪的事件等等。但是我认为西雅图市还是为我们的社区做得很好，因为他们警察的离职的人数很多，人手不足，再加上左派右派有不同的意见，在这一段时间要帮助华人社区实在是非常地不容易，但是他们也尽全力把华人社区的事情尽量地安排得周全，所以我们非常感谢他、感谢西雅图市。我们也希望在我们自己的社区里面我们可以团结起来，17号跟18号这两天，我们的活动就是我们最好展现中国城国际区还有我们华人社区的团结的力量的最好的机会。我们有很多的活动，包括历史的文化的、有很多历史悠久的活动，包括这个女子的drill team（啦啦队），还有舞狮，这些活动都是非常的有历史跟文化性的，也希望所有各个社区的人都能够来参加。这样子的话我们的社区就会更团结、更强大。谢谢西雅图市。

小元：
我问一下副市长一个难一点的问题，您能不能给您的老板，就是西雅图市长打个分，因为她不再竞选连任，但是您对她在处理疫情还有公共安全等方面的表现，您觉得她做得怎么样？

This is gonna be a little difficult or even a sensitive question to ask. I would like you to give your boss a score, evaluate the work that she’s been doing related to the pandemic—the safety of the City and handling COVID-19 related issues, including maybe issues involving those who were experiencing homelessness and Capitol Hill organized post-protest and overall as a mayor.

方威武 Mike Fong：
Sure. So I’m gonna break this response up a little bit. That’s a long question, I wanna spare you the long…

方威武Mike Fong：
So let’s take this one in a couple of pieces. I think it’s an important question and certainly a fair one to ask now that the Mayor has decided not to run for re-elections. But first off, I wanna be really clear, I am really proud of the work that the Mayor has done but also the Durkan Administration, the 12,000 City employees and the work that they’ve done over the last 4 years, continues to amaze me and I’m very proud of that work. So I’ll start there. And then I’ve already mentioned… that on COVID-19, I absolutely feel strongly that our response was, if not the best, one of the best of the nation. And I think if you look at all of the metrics and that has as much to do with local government, county government, state government, all being in alignment, but also much of the credit goes to the people of the region. I mean, the only way responding to a pandemic that can work is true trust and cooperation from the people of our community with what we feel was necessary to protect the broad public health. And Seattle and the region did that and we’re very proud of that work.

Thank you（谢谢）。首先副市长说他要特别强调，他对这一届的市长跟她的12,000人的市政的团队，这四年来做得非常好，他非常地为他们感到骄傲，这四年他们做得非常好。关于疫情方面，他们也是……即使不是全国最好，也是最好之一，因为他们对整个疫情的相关的问题处理方面都是做得非常好。当然了，在他们做得好之余，更重要的是全体的人民的配合，如果没有这些州民的配合——州民、市民、县民的配合的话，是不可能有这么顺利的工作的成果。所以不但是这个团队做得好，而且我们整个地区的人民的素质也很高，配合的程度非常高，所以让我们能够做到非常有效率、非常好的成果。

方威武 Mike Fong：
I just want to answer your question on. And certainly there have been other challenges and I want to be really upfront about those. Homelesness has been an extremely difficult issue and in my 21 years of service to the City of Seattle, the challenges of homelessness and all of the impacts on the individuals experiencing homelessness but also on the community have been just enormous. And it’s very difficult. In spite of us housing and opening shelters for thousands of people, the problems that come with homelessness and the challenges that people are facing continue to persist. I think it’s a challenge that requires a whole region focus. There’s definitely no shortage of more work that needs to be done, but we want to be able to help people, bring them inside, get them the services they need. And we’re just gonna have to keep working on this issue together. So I feel we made some progress, not as much as I would like, but it’s definitely something that we need to keep working on, and the next mayor will need to keep working on.

关于无家可归者的问题，在我从政21年以来一直不断地面对这个挑战。21年以来，个人跟社区……就是在无家可归的人本人、个人跟对整个社区的影响都是非常大的，也是一个非常困难的问题。我们尽量地想办法给他们提供住所，包括开放了给几千人使用的收容所，但是这还是不能够解决问题，我们需要整个全区域能够集中力量来解决这个问题。虽然我们这些年来已经有一些的成果，但是在我看来还是不够的，我们要想尽办法把他们从街上搬到有屋顶的地方，要给他们各种的服务，我们必须继续地努力，真的还是非常困难非常大的一个挑战。

小元：
因为今天时间非常有限，马上接近节目的尾声了，所以我们不能把所有的问题都问掉。但是在最后一个问题之前，我再问一个小问题，就是我们知道西雅图市长Jenny Durkan不再进行连任，但是我们知道方威武Mike Fong还年轻有为，您个人会不会继续担任公职？

The last question, because we have limited time, we would like to know if you are interested in getting more public office work since the Mayor is not seeking re-election?

方威武 Mike Fong：
No. I have really enjoyed the time that I have spent as Deputy Mayor over the last four years. And as I mentioned, this year will mark 21 years of public service for me for the City of Seattle. It’s… so much has happened over the last two decades and I’m very fortunate to be able to be part of that work. And I don’t have any plans to run for public office. I have really enjoyed being a public servant and I hope that in the future I’ll continue to serve the public in some capacity—don’t know what that is yet, but it has really been my privilege to be able to work with so many people that care so much about our community. So we’ll see what’s next.

过去四年来我非常非常地高兴我有机会做西雅图市的副市长，像我刚才说的这四年结束以后，就是我在西雅图担任公职的21年，完成了21年的西雅图公职。未来会发生什么事情我不知道，但是我并没有打算竞选公职，可是我很乐意继续成为大家的公仆。在什么机会、什么情况之下，我能够再继续为大家服务，我可以继续这么做，这是我的……不想竞选公职，但是继续愿意做公仆，这是我的心愿。

小元：
今天非常荣幸，我们请到西雅图的高级副市长方威武先生，还有我们西雅图的一个美国华人商会的会长，也是西北功夫学校的校长梁文辉先生参加我们的节目。在节目的最后，这是真正的最后一个问题，就是两位是不是……给我们的西雅图的华人社区讲一句话吧。

It’s our great honor to have Senior Deputy Mayor Mike Fong and the Chinatown community leader David Liang on our interview. And now we’re going to have our last question. Do you have any special words to the Chinese community in Seattle to wrap up this interview?

方威武 Mike Fong：
Alright I’ll go first. Sure. Again, Xiaoyuan, thank you for having us on, always a pleasure to stop by and spend some time with you and your listeners. I just, again, this has been such a challenging and difficult 16 months. And everyone on our community, but our Chinese community in particular, has really endured some pretty significant challenges. From the outset of the pandemic itself, we had to contend with issues of stigmatization and really some very unfortunate perspectives about COVID and the Chinese and Asian community. Then of course in recent months, we also experience a spike and… in some ways a spike but also in some ways a bringing to the forefront of hate crimes against Asian Americans that had been hovering in the background but has always existed as a challenge for our community. And then overlaying all of that is trying to come out of the pandemic and reopen and recover. So I am very proud of the community and its strength in holding together as a community. And I think because of that strength, we will come out of this stronger than before. And I am very optimistic. Again, with all of your listeners out there, I know people are relieved and excited as I am, for us to start the process of full recovery. And I don’t mean getting back to normal, I mean getting back to being better than where we were before. So thanks again, Xiaoyuan, really appreciate it.

要再感谢小元台长给我这个机会到西雅图中文电台来参加这个节目。过去的16个月来，对我们来说是非常困难、非常挑战的16个月，尤其是在华人社区，我们不但是要对付疫情，并且疫情带来的、给我们华人的一些负面的影响，包括这个病毒的来源、很多当地人对华人的一些偏见、误解等等的，尤其是近几个月来，我们看到很多仇恨犯罪的增加——其实并不见得是最近才增加，只不过是，一直是在不太被人注意的这个地方，现在被带到前台来，很多人注意到了对华人的仇恨犯罪。所以这些都是对我们来说非常大的挑战，但是当然有人注意到这件事情是好的。我希望我们在很快的未来就能够从疫情当中走出来，我一直对我们的华人社区感到非常地骄傲，因为我们有非常强大的力量。我还是跟以前一样说，很乐观，也希望我们的听众听到的都跟我一样乐观，知道我们的华人社区能够有力量恢复，不但是跟以前一样，而且比以前更好更大、更强大更有力。

小元：
Thank you so much.（非常感谢！）

梁文辉 David Leong：
I’m gonna say that my wish is to see the young generation work together with the older generation and show the love and respect for the early pioneers who landed in America 160 years ago. They went through so much to establish, first the Chinatowns, and then relations, relatives and bring them over here, and then, that led to what we see today, a lot of immigration. Just, you know, my wish is that people show the kindness and compassion of the early pioneers, and from here on, work together in every community. If you have something positive to share, please share it and share it with your heart. I think kindness and compassion will go a long way as we recover from this pandemic. And I agree with Mike, I’m super excited about the re-growth of Seattle and I think we’re gonna do really well here. Thank you so much everyone.

最重要的一句话就是年轻的一代的华人对年长的前辈们要非常地尊敬，而且要非常地表达他们对他们的感情，因为如果没有我们的前辈，就没有我们现在的这些后辈，没有我们这些年轻人。是我们前辈的打拼、前辈的开创，才让我们的后来的华人能够在这里生存发展。所以我们必须对我们的前辈非常地尊重、非常地感谢。谢谢！

小元：
加一句，非常感谢方威武先生给我们西雅图所做的贡献，我们西雅图有你而不同。

Thank you so much, Mr. Mike Fong, for your contribution to the City and to the Chinese community. We are different because we have you.

方威武 Mike Fong：
Thank you!（谢谢！）

小元：
感谢方威武副市长还有David Liang参加我们的节目。那也提醒各位听众朋友参加“欢迎回来”的活动，就是7月17日在中国城。也感谢各位听众朋友收听本期《美国故事》节目的专访。

【西雅图中文电台报道，翻译：雅秋，编辑：黄昕晴】