John So - Melbourne Mayor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Chun Sai So
102nd Lord Mayor of Melbourne
Assumed office June 2001
Preceded by Peter Costigan
Born October 02, 1946(age 60) Shunde, China
Nationality Australian
Political party Melbourne Living
Spouse Wendy Cheng
John Chun Sai So (Traditional Chinese: ???, pinyin: Su- Zhèn Xi-; born 02 October 1946 in Shunde, China) is the Lord Mayor of City of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city's history to be directly elected by the people; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the Councillors. In office since 2001, So is currently the longest-serving Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
Many regard So as the most important figurehead of Victoria's Chinese community. He is also a successful businessman, with substantial investments in the Chinatown of Melbourne. On 8 June 2007, John So received an honorary degree as Doctor of the University from Victoria University in recognition for his contribution to Melbourne.
Background Information
So was born in Shunde, a county in the south of China. At a very young age, his family moved to Hong Kong. When he was 17 years old, he moved to Melbourne and completed his secondary education at University High School. He then went on to his tertiary studies, obtaining a Diploma of Education and Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne. During this time, he campaigned strongly against the White Australia Policy and helped found the University's Overseas and Chinese Students Association. After graduating, he taught physics at Fitzroy High School. He became a business operator in 1973 and is renowned for running numerous restaurants and bars in the city, most notably the Dragon Boat Restaurant Group. He is known as the '10% man' for having a stake in many of Chinatown's restaurants.
So's political career has included positions as Director of Melbourne Water Corporation, Commissioner of Victorian Ethics Affairs Commission, Vice-President of the Melbourne Chinatown Traders' Association, Chairman of the Asia Pacific Racing Carnival and Chairman of the Victorian Chinese Welfare Centre. He is also a Justice of Peace and a Knight of the Order of St John.
So is also actively involved in Australia's major sporting events. He is the number one ticketholder for the Melbourne Demons Football Club (Australian Rules Football) and number two ticket holder for Melbourne Victory Football(Soccer) Club. He does not take an interest in rugby, but is an ardent supporter of the Melbourne Storm.
He has been married twice and has four children. His wife, Wendy Cheng, is the Lady Mayoress of Melbourne and chairs the Lady Mayoress' Committee.
Term as Councillor, 1991-1993, 1996-1999, 1999-2001
So was first elected as a Councillor for the City of Melbourne in 1991. So claims he did not expect to be elected and only stood for election after several residents and small business operators expressed concern about the Council's weak policies in a time of economic downturn. To many's surprise, So polled the highest number of votes in the election and was comfortably elected as a Central Ward Councillor. So's term was plagued with numerous problems, including consistent undermining of the Lord Mayors. Under the system at the time, the Lord Mayor was elected by the Councillors. Initially in 1991, the majority of the Councillors supported Richard Meldrum and Meldrum was elected as Lord Mayor.
However, in 1992, several of Meldrum's supporters withdrew support and he was replaced by Desmond Clark as Lord Mayor. In 1993, Clark's supporters again shifted their positions and Alan Watson was elected as Lord Mayor. Like his previous predecessors, Watson was consistently undermined by the Councillors. Upset by the instability in the Council, then Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett dismissed the Council and So's term came to a premature end. Kennett appointed Kevan Gosper as Chief Commissioner of the City of Melbourne, effectively assuming the responsibilities of Lord Mayor. The Councillors were replaced by government-appointed Commissioners.Gosper served in this role until 1996, when the Kennett Government decided to call for new elections after a revamp of the system.
So contested the 1996 election and polled the second highest number of votes, behind Ivan Devenson. He was elected as a District Councillor. With the support of Councillors, Devenson was elected as Lord Mayor. So was elected as Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Finance Committee. So's second term as Councillor ended in 1999.
In the 1999 election, So was re-elected comfortably as a District Councillor, again polling the second highest number of votes. He was nominated as Lord Mayor and came within one vote, losing to his predecessor Peter Costigan by a majority of 5-to-4. Despite competing for the Lord Mayor position, So and Costigan became close friends and So gave his utmost support to Costigan. Nevertheless, Costigan was continually undermined by other Councillors and by the administration of the Council.
Sensing the problems, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks prematurely ended the Council in 2001 and called for new elections to be held. Bracks reformed the system so that there would be a closer working relationship between the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, and also to mitigate the problem that Lord Mayors could be removed from office during their term. Under the new system, Melburnians will directly elect a leadership team consisting of the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, in a style similar to US Presidential Elections. The new reforms gave the Lord Mayor and the Deputy a mandate, as they are directly chosen by the voters. Under this system, the Councillors were to be elected from a separate ballot paper and candidates who stand for Lord Mayor or Deputy Lord Mayor cannot run for Councillor positions.
First Term as Lord Mayor, 2001-2004
In the 2001 elections So formed a leadership team with his deputy, Susan Riley, and together ran for Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor. On polling day, So and Riley polled the second highest number of primary votes with 14.9%. The candidate with the most primary votes received 15.2%, just slightly above So's votes. After the distribution of preferences, So comfortably defeated the other contenders and became the first directly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne. So defeated a number of other high-profile candidates including Don Chipp, a former Federal Minister and the founder of Australian Democrats.
So has generally been a popular Lord Mayor and has been credited for re-establishing confidence and unity in the Town Hall, after several years of being labelled the 'Clown Hall' for its internal conflicts. So also presided over a prosperous term in which Melbourne was voted World's Most Livable City on more than one occassion. Observers commend So on his humble, low-key approach to the job and applaud him for choosing to walk to appointments whenever possible. Along with television presenter Livinia Nixon, So has been the face of the "That's Melbourne" campaign to encourage tourism. He has campaigned strongly against crime, and is a member of the Police Minister's Crime Prevention Council. He has also pushed for the Federal Government to build a national indigenous museum in Melbourne.
So has been criticised by some sectors over his time as mayor. Some see him as a poor communicator, partly due to his heavily accented English. A restaurant with ties to So was also fined $75,000 for breaches of the Food Act by his own Council.
In 2002, he snubbed the Dalai Lama during his Australian visit, and it was left to Geelong Mayor Barbara Abley to welcome him. More recently, the Council was punished by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for leaving the Falun Gong out of the city's annual Moomba parade.
Second Term as Lord Mayor, 2004-present
Though he had been a relatively popular mayor, So was widely expected to be defeated at the 2004 elections. While he had been elected in 2001 as a result of strong preference flows, this time all the major candidates had preferenced against him. As a result, he needed to triple his primary vote if he were to retain the mayoral position. This challenge was further complicated by widespread allegations of dummy candidates preferencing one or more of his rivals, and one candidate admitting to being a stooge for John So.
There were more than a hundred candidates for the nine positions on Council. Despite this, So polled 42.2% of the primary votes (compared to the second highest-poller who received 9.2%), and was re-elected in a landslide with his new deputy, Gary Singer, who replaced the retiring Riley as Deputy Lord Mayor. So's ticket for the Councillor positions was also successful, winning a historical majority which gave him unprecedented control of the Town Hall.
During his second term, fans of the Lord Mayor have created a web site paying tribute to So's work as Mayor. The web site, [url="http://www.john-so.com.au"]http://www.john-so.com.au[/url] was created by Melbourne web agency urban expression and features a collection of news articles and images and has becoming increasingly popular over recent times with many fans leaving their wishes for the Mayor.
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games, John So was warmly welcomed by Melbourne as a figurehead of the city, on most occasions more so than Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and Prime Minister John Howard. This has led to "John So, he's our bro'" t-shirts and "John So for PM'" shirts and stickers being manufactured and worn by some Melburnians as a testament to the city's tolerance and multiculturalism. John So has since been raised to near-cult status, with the mere mention of his name enough to invoke cheers and chants from many people.
At the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, at every mention of So's name, there was a tremendous applause from the crowd, which got progressively louder with each occurrence. This 'in joke' was a good example of Australia's sometimes 'off-beat' humour, but also a subtle means of supporting So, who had been pushed out of the limelight by Premier Bracks during official celebrations throughout the Games.
Recently a parody of the Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. hit 'Walk This Way' was played on the Nova 100 Station in Melbourne. It was called the 'John So Way' and had John So repeating "share your fish with everyone" and other comments he had made. It can be downloaded at the Nova 100 website. The Music Men, a Melbourne rap trio, launched a song called "John So, He's My Bro" on 3AW at 7:40 on the 7th April 2006. It has lyrics that say "we like his style" and that "there's no disputin' he's the new Bert Newton".
On the 20th April 2006, Australian film and music website Xdafied launched 'The John So Birthday Project' to celebrate the Lord Mayor's 60th birthday in October 2006. The creator of Xdafied purchased the domain name [url="http://www.birthdayproject.net/"]http://www.birthdayproject.net/[/url] for the project. The website invited people to send in messages, cards, poems and any other creative birthday wishes; most of which can be viewed online. In 2005, So was also the subject of a painting by Jiawei Shen, which was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in 2005. The portrait is currently displayed in the Town Hall.
So's second term has had its share of controversy. There have been allegations that Melbourne City Council's CEO, David Pitchford, is closely aligned with So and that despite Pitchford's underperformance, So has continued to support him as CEO. In 2007, Pitchford was unanimously returned as the CEO by the Councillors, Deputy Lord Mayor and Lord Mayor. Critics accussed So of using his position to convince Councillors to support Pitchford. So denied this and said that each Councillor voted in accordance with what they believed was in the city's best interest and that the issue had undergone an open, accountable and democratic process like all matters that come before the Council.
World Mayor, 2006
John So's continued and unprecedented success during his term in office has resulted in him being named World Mayor for 2006 ahead of Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen, who placed second, and Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed who was third. World Mayor cited, amongst other things, the successful staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games and So's immense popularity among the young population of Melbourne as their reason for choosing So. In its verdict, the judging panel described So as 'possibly the first city leader to enjoy 'cult status'".
So was humble after the results were revealed: "I am delighted to be elected World Mayor 2006," Mr. So said. In his closing statements to the media, he added "the honour belongs to the amazing people of this wonderful city and the hard working team at the City of Melbourne".
Source: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_So"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_So[/url]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Chun Sai So
102nd Lord Mayor of Melbourne
Assumed office June 2001
Preceded by Peter Costigan
Born October 02, 1946(age 60) Shunde, China
Nationality Australian
Political party Melbourne Living
Spouse Wendy Cheng
John Chun Sai So (Traditional Chinese: ???, pinyin: Su- Zhèn Xi-; born 02 October 1946 in Shunde, China) is the Lord Mayor of City of Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, Australia. He was the first Lord Mayor in the city's history to be directly elected by the people; previously, Lord Mayors were elected by the Councillors. In office since 2001, So is currently the longest-serving Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
Many regard So as the most important figurehead of Victoria's Chinese community. He is also a successful businessman, with substantial investments in the Chinatown of Melbourne. On 8 June 2007, John So received an honorary degree as Doctor of the University from Victoria University in recognition for his contribution to Melbourne.
Background Information
So was born in Shunde, a county in the south of China. At a very young age, his family moved to Hong Kong. When he was 17 years old, he moved to Melbourne and completed his secondary education at University High School. He then went on to his tertiary studies, obtaining a Diploma of Education and Bachelor of Science from the University of Melbourne. During this time, he campaigned strongly against the White Australia Policy and helped found the University's Overseas and Chinese Students Association. After graduating, he taught physics at Fitzroy High School. He became a business operator in 1973 and is renowned for running numerous restaurants and bars in the city, most notably the Dragon Boat Restaurant Group. He is known as the '10% man' for having a stake in many of Chinatown's restaurants.
So's political career has included positions as Director of Melbourne Water Corporation, Commissioner of Victorian Ethics Affairs Commission, Vice-President of the Melbourne Chinatown Traders' Association, Chairman of the Asia Pacific Racing Carnival and Chairman of the Victorian Chinese Welfare Centre. He is also a Justice of Peace and a Knight of the Order of St John.
So is also actively involved in Australia's major sporting events. He is the number one ticketholder for the Melbourne Demons Football Club (Australian Rules Football) and number two ticket holder for Melbourne Victory Football(Soccer) Club. He does not take an interest in rugby, but is an ardent supporter of the Melbourne Storm.
He has been married twice and has four children. His wife, Wendy Cheng, is the Lady Mayoress of Melbourne and chairs the Lady Mayoress' Committee.
Term as Councillor, 1991-1993, 1996-1999, 1999-2001
So was first elected as a Councillor for the City of Melbourne in 1991. So claims he did not expect to be elected and only stood for election after several residents and small business operators expressed concern about the Council's weak policies in a time of economic downturn. To many's surprise, So polled the highest number of votes in the election and was comfortably elected as a Central Ward Councillor. So's term was plagued with numerous problems, including consistent undermining of the Lord Mayors. Under the system at the time, the Lord Mayor was elected by the Councillors. Initially in 1991, the majority of the Councillors supported Richard Meldrum and Meldrum was elected as Lord Mayor.
However, in 1992, several of Meldrum's supporters withdrew support and he was replaced by Desmond Clark as Lord Mayor. In 1993, Clark's supporters again shifted their positions and Alan Watson was elected as Lord Mayor. Like his previous predecessors, Watson was consistently undermined by the Councillors. Upset by the instability in the Council, then Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett dismissed the Council and So's term came to a premature end. Kennett appointed Kevan Gosper as Chief Commissioner of the City of Melbourne, effectively assuming the responsibilities of Lord Mayor. The Councillors were replaced by government-appointed Commissioners.Gosper served in this role until 1996, when the Kennett Government decided to call for new elections after a revamp of the system.
So contested the 1996 election and polled the second highest number of votes, behind Ivan Devenson. He was elected as a District Councillor. With the support of Councillors, Devenson was elected as Lord Mayor. So was elected as Chairman of the Corporate Governance and Finance Committee. So's second term as Councillor ended in 1999.
In the 1999 election, So was re-elected comfortably as a District Councillor, again polling the second highest number of votes. He was nominated as Lord Mayor and came within one vote, losing to his predecessor Peter Costigan by a majority of 5-to-4. Despite competing for the Lord Mayor position, So and Costigan became close friends and So gave his utmost support to Costigan. Nevertheless, Costigan was continually undermined by other Councillors and by the administration of the Council.
Sensing the problems, Victorian Premier Steve Bracks prematurely ended the Council in 2001 and called for new elections to be held. Bracks reformed the system so that there would be a closer working relationship between the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, and also to mitigate the problem that Lord Mayors could be removed from office during their term. Under the new system, Melburnians will directly elect a leadership team consisting of the Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor, in a style similar to US Presidential Elections. The new reforms gave the Lord Mayor and the Deputy a mandate, as they are directly chosen by the voters. Under this system, the Councillors were to be elected from a separate ballot paper and candidates who stand for Lord Mayor or Deputy Lord Mayor cannot run for Councillor positions.
First Term as Lord Mayor, 2001-2004
In the 2001 elections So formed a leadership team with his deputy, Susan Riley, and together ran for Lord Mayor and Deputy Lord Mayor. On polling day, So and Riley polled the second highest number of primary votes with 14.9%. The candidate with the most primary votes received 15.2%, just slightly above So's votes. After the distribution of preferences, So comfortably defeated the other contenders and became the first directly elected Lord Mayor of Melbourne. So defeated a number of other high-profile candidates including Don Chipp, a former Federal Minister and the founder of Australian Democrats.
So has generally been a popular Lord Mayor and has been credited for re-establishing confidence and unity in the Town Hall, after several years of being labelled the 'Clown Hall' for its internal conflicts. So also presided over a prosperous term in which Melbourne was voted World's Most Livable City on more than one occassion. Observers commend So on his humble, low-key approach to the job and applaud him for choosing to walk to appointments whenever possible. Along with television presenter Livinia Nixon, So has been the face of the "That's Melbourne" campaign to encourage tourism. He has campaigned strongly against crime, and is a member of the Police Minister's Crime Prevention Council. He has also pushed for the Federal Government to build a national indigenous museum in Melbourne.
So has been criticised by some sectors over his time as mayor. Some see him as a poor communicator, partly due to his heavily accented English. A restaurant with ties to So was also fined $75,000 for breaches of the Food Act by his own Council.
In 2002, he snubbed the Dalai Lama during his Australian visit, and it was left to Geelong Mayor Barbara Abley to welcome him. More recently, the Council was punished by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal for leaving the Falun Gong out of the city's annual Moomba parade.
Second Term as Lord Mayor, 2004-present
Though he had been a relatively popular mayor, So was widely expected to be defeated at the 2004 elections. While he had been elected in 2001 as a result of strong preference flows, this time all the major candidates had preferenced against him. As a result, he needed to triple his primary vote if he were to retain the mayoral position. This challenge was further complicated by widespread allegations of dummy candidates preferencing one or more of his rivals, and one candidate admitting to being a stooge for John So.
There were more than a hundred candidates for the nine positions on Council. Despite this, So polled 42.2% of the primary votes (compared to the second highest-poller who received 9.2%), and was re-elected in a landslide with his new deputy, Gary Singer, who replaced the retiring Riley as Deputy Lord Mayor. So's ticket for the Councillor positions was also successful, winning a historical majority which gave him unprecedented control of the Town Hall.
During his second term, fans of the Lord Mayor have created a web site paying tribute to So's work as Mayor. The web site, [url="http://www.john-so.com.au"]http://www.john-so.com.au[/url] was created by Melbourne web agency urban expression and features a collection of news articles and images and has becoming increasingly popular over recent times with many fans leaving their wishes for the Mayor.
During the 2006 Commonwealth Games, John So was warmly welcomed by Melbourne as a figurehead of the city, on most occasions more so than Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and Prime Minister John Howard. This has led to "John So, he's our bro'" t-shirts and "John So for PM'" shirts and stickers being manufactured and worn by some Melburnians as a testament to the city's tolerance and multiculturalism. John So has since been raised to near-cult status, with the mere mention of his name enough to invoke cheers and chants from many people.
At the closing ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games, at every mention of So's name, there was a tremendous applause from the crowd, which got progressively louder with each occurrence. This 'in joke' was a good example of Australia's sometimes 'off-beat' humour, but also a subtle means of supporting So, who had been pushed out of the limelight by Premier Bracks during official celebrations throughout the Games.
Recently a parody of the Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. hit 'Walk This Way' was played on the Nova 100 Station in Melbourne. It was called the 'John So Way' and had John So repeating "share your fish with everyone" and other comments he had made. It can be downloaded at the Nova 100 website. The Music Men, a Melbourne rap trio, launched a song called "John So, He's My Bro" on 3AW at 7:40 on the 7th April 2006. It has lyrics that say "we like his style" and that "there's no disputin' he's the new Bert Newton".
On the 20th April 2006, Australian film and music website Xdafied launched 'The John So Birthday Project' to celebrate the Lord Mayor's 60th birthday in October 2006. The creator of Xdafied purchased the domain name [url="http://www.birthdayproject.net/"]http://www.birthdayproject.net/[/url] for the project. The website invited people to send in messages, cards, poems and any other creative birthday wishes; most of which can be viewed online. In 2005, So was also the subject of a painting by Jiawei Shen, which was a finalist for the Archibald Prize in 2005. The portrait is currently displayed in the Town Hall.
So's second term has had its share of controversy. There have been allegations that Melbourne City Council's CEO, David Pitchford, is closely aligned with So and that despite Pitchford's underperformance, So has continued to support him as CEO. In 2007, Pitchford was unanimously returned as the CEO by the Councillors, Deputy Lord Mayor and Lord Mayor. Critics accussed So of using his position to convince Councillors to support Pitchford. So denied this and said that each Councillor voted in accordance with what they believed was in the city's best interest and that the issue had undergone an open, accountable and democratic process like all matters that come before the Council.
World Mayor, 2006
John So's continued and unprecedented success during his term in office has resulted in him being named World Mayor for 2006 ahead of Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen, who placed second, and Harrisburg Mayor Stephen R. Reed who was third. World Mayor cited, amongst other things, the successful staging of the 2006 Commonwealth Games and So's immense popularity among the young population of Melbourne as their reason for choosing So. In its verdict, the judging panel described So as 'possibly the first city leader to enjoy 'cult status'".
So was humble after the results were revealed: "I am delighted to be elected World Mayor 2006," Mr. So said. In his closing statements to the media, he added "the honour belongs to the amazing people of this wonderful city and the hard working team at the City of Melbourne".
Source: [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_So"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_So[/url]