Getting to know this Councilwoman
Interview by Christopher Nyerges
Altadena council member Dorothy Wong is a
community leader and avid bicyclist with an interesting history.
She grew up in Aiea high above the sea in the
Ko'olau Mountains, above Oahu. “In Hawaii,” she says, “the mountains
are respected. They’re regarded as gods.” As a young girl in the
islands, Wong would backpack and hike the mountains as a Girl Scout and learned
to respect the power of the ocean, pointing out that everything was part of a
greater story.
“In Hawaii, through traditional education, lore,
and daily life, we were reminded of the power of the mountains as sacred, and
the ocean as respected places. Of course, many people who don't
respect it, can die! This is all part of the Hawaiian lore -- Madam
Pele', the volcano goddess, for example. And the land is respected as
resources for the people. The irony of it all, as modern
times-tourism and big city life and overtaking of the Hawaiian ‘Kingdom’ led
the way to the Hawaiian Constitutional Convention in 1978 and today's
renaissance with activism to protect Mauna Kea,” she explains.
Wong came to the mainland for school, and wanted
to be involved in media and music as a career, so she majored in TV production
at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. During college, she worked
multiple jobs getting around by transit and bicycle until she could afford a
car. She also worked on a documentary film project about orcas in
captivity, and then moved on full time into TV work as production
supervisor-associate director) for 20 years. She often bicycled from Burbank to
her job in Hollywood leaving her car at home. “Bicycling was a great therapy to
get outside,” she says, as her job required her to sit for long hours confined
in the studio. A cameraman told her that she’d probably like
mountain bikes, and showed her a flier about Big Bear Bicycling. Wong
purchased her first ever mountain bike in 1995 and never looked back.
She spent the next 15 years organizing numerous
bicycle events and racing her bicycle, winning multiple national medals.
“My love of athleticism played right into this,” explained Wong, who adds “It
changed my life when I became a pro-mountain biker.”
By 2005, says Wong, “I thought, what’s next?”
and she learned about the League of American Bicyclists (formerly the
Wheelmen). She got certified as an instructor in Washington D.C. “I
was working in TV, and the sport of cyclocross required me to do multi-tasking.
I was a professional multi-tasker,” she laughs. She’s also become a
LCI certified league cycling instructor. “I became an advocate now
for bicycling safety,” said Wong, who notes that she’s seen many friends of
hers injured or sadly killed in collisions that could have been prevented
with safer complete streets.
Because of her certification, she worked for
Metro LA as a bicycle safety advocate. She teaches bicycle safety to
adults in the San Gabriel Valley, spending about 60 days out of the year
teaching bicycle safety.
Wong points out that she learned about advocacy
when she became a board member for CalBike, and she was more involved in
legislation advocacy. She was also involved with Nature for All
Leadership Academy protecting public lands, create community and connect
underserved populations to nature, which is a coalition of organizations.
“I learned how to lobby for the causes I believe
in, thanks to these organizations, and then I met Tim Brick of the Arroyo Seco
Foundation,” she recalls, where she began to go on the California water tours.
Wong states that she realized that it’s the politicians who have the power
to change things. “I’ve always wanted to know why things are the way they are,”
stated Wong, and with her advocacy work she’s gained a practical insight into
the workings of politics.
These interests dovetailed with her becoming a
councilwoman for Altadena’s 4603.01 Census tract district, the seat she
currently holds.
“It was a natural progression for me to put on
bicycle events,” says Wong. “Remember, you can’t get anything done
without getting the community behind you. What’s wrong with politics today is
that they don’t get the community behind them first. For me, it’s
necessary for my work to be a good community organizer. As a bicyclist who gets
marginalized, I have to stand up for bicyclists who get hit or killed.”
Wong started a traffic safety and mobility
committee of the Town Council prioritizing safe routes to schools and to get
people thinking about human powered ways to get around town, and to encourage
biking and other sources of transportation.
“For me, the bicycle really tied into so many
things that there is a need to advocate for, like being healthier, going to
work, not having to use a car, and being a part of the environmental solution,”
she says.
Wong points out that her discovery of the Arroyo
Seco began as a bicyclist, and through the bicycle she discovered Altadena, and
the Arroyo Seco, and the San Gabriel Mountains, and Hahamongna. It’s
also how she met her husband.
She’s been actively involved with Tim Brick’s
Arroyo Seco Foundation in the efforts to reduce the scale of the L.A. County’s
“Big Dig” of the Hahamongna Watershed Park north of Woodbury Road, and to
reduce the number of trees that are still slated to be cut down.
“Trees benefit the health of our
bodies and our environment in many ways, and it doesn’t matter if the tree is
native or non-native. It’s best to be mindful of what we are doing with all
these projects locally, and look at how they benefit us today and in our life.
Some of the projects might seem to be mindful, but they destroy so much now for
the presumed long-term benefit, and too many of these agencies are doing their
own thing.”
She points out that with so many trees gone in
Hahamongna north of Woodbury, “the magic is gone, and I don’t go
there as much anymore. I went there to feel the magic, which is
something innate in all of us, that desire to feel close to nature. We need to
restore balance, and it doesn’t necessarily have to be all native, because the
bees go to the mustard too, and the birds make nests in the eucalyptus and ash
trees. Plus, have you heard the sounds of a rich
forest. That’s not there anymore since they took all the trees out.”
“It’s really important in all these things that
we work together, and be mindful of each other, take time to breathe, and not
rush too quickly. If we really look at things a little deeper, then I know we
can come up with sustainable solutions. Much of that information comes directly
from the observation and study of nature, and from the Indigenous peoples’
understanding of nature. That’s the balance that I want to bring back,” she
states.
