By Eduardo Galindo, Copy Editor

Elections are closing in both at the national level, but also here in Millbrae with the city council elections. For the past few months candidates have been spreading their messages and posting up signs to gain support for their campaign. One of these many candidates is You You Xue, who is running for council member in District 3.

Xue was a previous student of Mills and graduated in 2014 at San Mateo high school. While at Mills Xue was very active in clubs, participating in Model UN, Interact, and even starting the Red Cross club. Currently, Xue is a restaurant owner in Millbrae with his Michelin star restaurant Wonderful. 

Now, Xue is running for city council member in the city’s new election format. Millbrae changed its elections from “at large” elections, where anyone can vote for any candidate, to a “district” format in 2022. Millbrae is now split into 5 districts for which candidates must reside in to become council members. District 3, which Xue is running for, has the library and the city hall at its center. 

Xue with his connection of being a business owner has plans to improve Millbrae downtown and reduce the cost of living for Millbrae residents. Also running for the District 3 council member position is Reuben D. Holober, who holds a similar desire to improve Millbrae’s infrastructure. Holober has been elected twice now for council member in previous elections, having more experience than Xue.

However, that shouldn’t count Xue out without considering other factors that are equally important. Ms. Dove, a government teacher in Mills, stated “I personally believe in representatives that put the community first and that are willing to think about what the needs of the community are.” 

Xue shared that Millbrae needs vision instead of leadership, “If we re-elected my opponents, Millbrae would be fine.” But Xue believes that by becoming a city council member he can bring a vision for Millbrae that would improve the city and its residents.

Xue plans to use his council member position to improve downtown Millbrae with a BID (Business Improvement District), following Burlingame’s BID plan which was implemented 20 years ago, “It’s what Burlingame did, Burlingame did it I think, 20 years ago, and San Mateo did 40 years ago for their downtown,” Xue says. Using this BID plan Xue hopes that it will bring more people to downtown Millbrae and the city will receive an increase in funds through the income tax that would be generated. 

A BID is an agreement between the business owners and the city to collect additional tax that will be put back into the district, improving the streets and the area, and hopefully increasing visitors to downtown. Xue states “we’re all interested in expanding the pool, the number of people that we’re competing for. Right now, we’re just competing amongst a very small group of people.” However, the city council has been attempting to implement a BID plan for several years now so Xue wants to limit the area for which businesses are included so that a small BID is started which can be expanded later. “They’re asking people who are near Capuchino High School, and I’m like, no, let’s start by asking a smaller area. Let’s start by asking just our downtown,” Xue said.

In addition to the BID plan, Xue plans to bring the cost of living down for the residents of Millbrae by decreasing utilities costs to manageable and stable prices for residents. “I view utilities as a public right,” Xue states, “like everybody has the right to water, everyone has the right to electricity. And not everyone would agree, but I think everyone has a right to the internet.”

Specifically, he wants to reduce the control that utilities companies, such as PG and E and Comcast, have on pricing and wants to pursue more local infrastructure for Millbrae. “I’m going to be someone who has an extra degree of attention to that, because I want to harness regional power to apply pressure to private corporations,” says Xue. 

Although Xue has these ideas to reduce costs the process will take longer than one might think. “With economic development,” Xue says, “there’s no short term solution. So nobody should expect that I can go into the office and fix it like tomorrow morning.”

Although Xue has these ideas to reduce costs the process will take longer than one might think. “With economic development,” Xue says, “there’s no short term solution. So nobody should expect that I can go into the office and fix it like tomorrow morning.”