Addison Mayor Joe Chow wants to give back to the community

by Minnie Payne

ADDISON — I’m impressed! I was a little early for Addison Mayor Joe Chow’s 1:30 p.m. appointment at his four-star May Dragon restaurant on Belt Line Road on Tuesday. His wife, Chi Chi Lin, who serves as hostess, very graciously seated me and told me that Chow was on his way.

He was right on schedule and out of breath, because he had been playing basketball with city staff at his usual Tuesday’s game at the Addison’s Athletic Club. You see, 52-year-old Chow believes in exercising his mind and body, eating healthily and a rigorous schedule.

He boggled my mind when he told me about the mayoral duties he had been involved in since arising at 6:30 a.m.

Chow is mayor to a 4.3548 total square miles city that, according to their Web site, boasts a 2006 population estimate of 15,300, 22 hotels, 175 restaurants, 11 million square feet of office space and the third busiest general aviation airport in the United States.

Not only is Chow Addison Mayor and owner of May Dragon restaurant that stays open 365 days a year, but he is an agency owner for Allstate Insurance and holds a real estate license.

But you see, there is a secret to this madness. His wife, Chi Chi Lin, works at the restaurant.

“I don’t know what I would do without her,” he said.

And his 20-year-old daughter manages the Allstate Agency.

“I get a $400 allowance for being mayor, so now you see why mayors have to have other jobs,” Chow said.

Chow, whose parents were officers in the Chinese Air Force, was born and grew up in Taiwan.

“My mom was chief nurse,” he said. “My dad was instructor for the telegraph in the air force communications academy.

“Members of the air force lived in villages according to their rank – all the sergeants lived in one village; all the lieutenants lived in one village; all the captains lived in one village.”

Because he started studying English in junior high, all the way through his undergraduate degree in Taiwan, the adjustment to Southeastern Oklahoma University, where he received a master’s in Marketing, wasn’t difficult, he said.

Chow said that he came to Dallas in 1980, and worked for several businesses in the restaurant industry, starting out as a waiter and working his way up.

“I opened May Dragon in 1986,” he said. “My focus is ‘I want to give back to the community.’

“Most ethnic groups who own their own businesses contribute only to their own groups; we [ethnic groups] are in the United States now and should contribute to the United States.”

Chow explained that when he ran for councilman in 2002 a lot of people told him that he couldn’t win.

“I knocked on doors two or three times,” he said. “When citizens had issues, I solved them.

“I worked harder than anyone else; I took care of the people.”

Chow served as Mayor Pro Tempore in 2004, resigning in 2005 so that he could run for mayor, he said.

“This past May I was unopposed,” he said. “I can serve three two-year terms, and I’m serving my second term until May 2009.”

Chow said that most Asian Americans mind their own business and that the first generation has a language barrier, so they cannot run for public office, but they want to support someone who can.

“I represent the citizens of Addison, but when outside Asian Americans give me campaign contributions, that encourages Asian Americans to give back to the United States,” he said.

“They [Asian Americans] see me as a role model of the second generation.”

He said he probably spends 60 percent of his time on city business.

“Joe has great energy that he brings to the job of being mayor and is pretty wonderful, because he is willing to do whatever you need him to do,” said City Manager Ron Whitehead. “He will go from early morning to late evening and that energy is a great gift to the town.

“He loves public service and he loves people; combine that with his energy and it’s fun to be around him.”

Chow married his second wife, Chi Chi Lin, in 2006, and has four children and three stepchildren.

Tease photo under Creative Commons license from Flickr user MovieJulie