Jen Low

Template:TOCnestleft Jen Low is a San Francisco based activist.

Beginnings

September 20, 2016, one day after the death of Chinatown political juggernaut Rose Pak, a new political club is being proposed to honor her legacy and continue her work.

Two of Pak’s mentees have submitted an application with the Democratic County Central Committee to establish the Rose Pak Democratic Club.

The group’s goals include several of Pak’s top priorities: rebuilding the Ping Yuen public housing complex in Chinatown, ensuring the completion of Chinese Hospital, preserving and expanding housing for low- and middle-income families, and reconnecting Chinatown to major thoroughfares.

That last goal is not uncontroversial: Pak was opposed to Union Square merchants’ efforts to turn lower Stockton Street into a pedestrian walkway on the grounds that it would hurt access to Chinatown.

“Rose was our inspiration, our mentor; and she was there at our very first organizing meeting to make this progressive club a reality. Our mission is to carry on the public service to the community, to ensure that the voiceless are heard,” Jen Low and Wendell Lin, co-presidents of the proposed group, said in a statement.

Low is an aide to Supervisor Norman Yee, and Lin is a law student who previously worked for Mayor Ed Lee.

Low and Lin also urged the city to name the Central Subway Muni Metro station in Chinatown after Pak, noting that “she fought long and hard to make the subway extension a reality.”^[1]