October 2020 - Page 2 of 2

I’m sitting on a ZOOM call one balmy October afternoon with two Harvard students, Felicia Ho, who just turned 18, and Sabrina Chok, one of the lucky students who graduated college in the middle of a pandemic. They are one part of the team behind Sticky Locals, a grassroots organization formed by five Ivy League students designing and selling stickers to fundraise and raise awareness for AAPI charities, non-profits, and businesses affected due to COVID-19.

For the past few months, they’ve launched punchy “sticker drops” for Chinatown establishments – ranging from old school favorites like Pearl River Mart to off-the-grid establishments like the 30-year-old Ming Qi Apothecary. The stickers have added a much needed “cool” factor vitality to some of the older non-English speaking, non-Instagrammed establishments that have been struggling due to Covid.

But more so, they’re defining a new cultural norm, where indifference is looked down on, and copping a sticker and popping it on your shirt, laptop or bag is the catchphrase of the year – “We came. We saw. We made a difference.”

Today, the team of 20+ college and local HS students have shifted their focus to spread the word about voting. With less than a week before Election Day, they’ve partnered with another grassroots organization Welcome to Chinatown, and ciaooo! (hey, that’s us) to sell stickers to support voters in the Asian American Pacific Islander community – you can get them HERE for $5. Designed by Harry Trinh and Sonya Lei from the Welcome to Chinatown team, the 3 stickers represent the MTA, food insecurity, and the Asian American vote.

This sticker, designed by Sonya Han, features a lion dancing performance typical in Chinatown’s Lunar New Year Celebrations. This year, COVID-19 tore through these celebrations and made what should have been a prosperous and exciting time one of anxiety and confusion. Beloved business after business shuttered in the months following. Take this year’s elections as the first step to celebrate once more. Voting is an act of triumph, a clear, jubiliatory statement that you will be heard.

While New York has been historically, a blue state – the Nov 3rd elections go beyond simply a presidential election on the ballot.

“It’s about voting for the state and town elections. It’s about the referendums. It’s about making your voice heard because every decision made will affect your life – and the life of many generations to come” Felicia said, “It’s such a unique opportunity for every single American to have a chance and opportunity to change the course of our history. It connects us, no matter what race or party you are, and it brings us all together to the mailbox or polls”.

At the age of 18, this will be the first time that Felicia votes. I think back to my first time voting, over 10 years ago, casting my vote for Barack Obama. Did I have the knowledge or passion to be so invested in my community? Honestly, I was much more interested in boys and whatevernondescript screamo band was making a comeback.

Why, does it seem that today’s young people, seem to be so much more involved and engaged? Sabrina Chok had this to say,

“What is the type of world that we want to live in? And if it doesn’t look like that now, what can I and my friends do to make it the world I want to live in and be represented?”

To the outside world, stickers may seem like a silly venture. In the world of startup though, they’re the perfect minimum viable product (MVP). They’re fast to design, quick to market, and easy to scale. It’s the perfect test to see if the idea has legs to stand on.

On top of that Sabrina says, “We chose stickers because they spark offline conversations. When someone sees a sticker – they ask questions. They’ll talk about the vote, or talk about the business. It’s almost a badge of honor”.

To me, it sounds like the start of a revolution, but how do you bring an idea to life? Sticky Locals started out as just an idea amongst a few college students, after all.

Harry Trinh, design lead at Welcome To Chinatown offers up, “Start small. When we started with Welcome To Chinatown all we did was help Chinatown businesses. We’ve been able to grow from that one route and THEN expand”.

Sabrina says, “Throw your ideas out there. We started with a Squarespace and everyone contributed $50. We sent out 100 emails overnight to every business in the NYC area telling them how we would help THEM. Of the 100 we canvassed, only five would respond, but then they’d tell their friends and they’d tell their friends”.

Since launch, Sticky Locals has gotten orders from all across the country, from Alabama to NJ. Whether it’s helping Chinatown or small businesses or simply encouraging people to vote – the message is sticking.

You can follow Sticky Locals here on Instagram.

You can purchase a sticker here.

You can follow Welcome to Chinatown here.

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Election day is coming up, and voting in NY is no joke. With more ways to vote than ever – absentee ballots, early voting, and in-person voting – it can get a little confusing.

In this article, we’ll break down: how to easily find out who is on your ballot, where and how to vote early, and even what to say to folks who think your vote doesn’t count in NY (spoiler alert: it does). Want to support voters? Grab our limited edition VOTE stickers made in partnership with Sticky Locals and Welcome to Chinatown HERE.

WHY SHOULD WE VOTE?

First up, your vote counts. No lie. Even though NY is a highly liberal/blue/democratic state and most likely to swing Joe Biden, you’re not only voting for president, you’re voting for state, and local officials as well.

Beyond what the presidential election outcome means on a national scale, the additional candidates on the ballot are the leaders that have a DIRECT impact on your community – from State Assembly members passing legislation (like this one passed in July to protect New Yorkers from discrimination by real estate brokers and agents) to Supreme Court Justices* ruling on cases (re: Eric Garner shooting).

Your ballot could mean electing an official who decides whether or not justice is served. If you’ve ever joined a protest, donated to a fundraiser, reshared an Instagram post – you’ve made a difference before, and you will again, simply by voting.

HOW TO RESEARCH YOUR CANDIDATES

Before you vote, you’ll want to know who’s on your ballot and what they stand for.

This election, we will be voting for:

President
Congress
Supreme Court
Civil Court
State Senate
State Assembly

(Allot yourself an hour or so for this exercise)

Step 1: Make a copy of our Google Sheet (use our template HERE) to input your information.

Step 2: Find your district by typing in your zipcode here. Once you know what district you live in – you can start researching.

Step 3: Research the candidates using the 2020 General Election Voters Guide or Ballotopedia, where guides where candidates submit their own information. While these guides are helpful, there is no singular site that will have all the information on your candidates, you WILL have to do some of your own research.

CONGRESS

CONGRESS consists of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives, with members chosen through direct election. Find your candidates HERE.

Depending on which party is in power, one serves as the majority leader and the other as the minority leader. The leaders serve as spokespersons for their party’s positions on issues. The majority leader schedules the daily legislative program and fashions the unanimous consent agreements that govern the time for debate.

Today, Mitch Mcconnell serves as the Majority leader and Nancy Pelosi as the minority leader. They’ve both been leading the discussions in the second Stimulus Package that still. hasn’t. passed.

Congress has the power to:

Make laws
Declare war
Raise and provide public money and oversee its proper expenditure
Impeach and try federal officers
Approve presidential appointments
Approve treaties negotiated by the executive branch
Oversight and investigations

STATE SENATE

There are 63 seats and every seat is up for election every 2 years. Research your candidates HERE.

The upper chamber of the state legislature.
They write and have a vote on legislation.
They set state spending levels.
They determine when to raise or lower taxes
Have the ability to uphold or override gubernatorial vetoes.
Confirms the Governor’s appointments of judges and state officials.

STATE ASSEMBLY

There are 150 seats and every seat is up for election every 2 years. Research your candidates HERE.

The lower chamber of the state legislature.
They write and have a vote on legislation.
They set state spending levels.
They determine when to raise or lower taxes
Have the ability to uphold or override gubernatorial vetoes.

QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT

Only for residents of Queens. This was pushed back due to Coronavirus. Research your candidates HERE.

They have influence over land use and development projects in their borough
Appoint members to community boards and other boards
Can spearhead legislation at the City Council in partnership with a council member, but cannot vote on it
Are respected representatives of their borough and have the ability to speak out about anything.

NYC COUNCIL

The city council consists of 51 members, each of whom are elected in partisan elections by the city’s fifty-one districts. Click here to see the district that you live in and the appointed council member.

They are responsible for adopting the city budget
Approving mayoral appointees
Overseeing the use of municipal properties
Levying taxes
Making or amending city laws, policies, and ordinances

NYS SUPREME AND CIVIL COURT

New York State Judicial Candidate Voter Guide

While the Appellate Court (the highest court in NY) is appointed by the governor and others are appointed by the mayor – you, as a voter get to vote on The NY Supreme Court and Civil Court.

The Supreme Court (not to be confused with the Federal Supreme Court) is the state-wide trial court with the broadest jurisdiction, both in criminal and civil matters. The Supreme court justices are appointed to 14 years terms. You can research your candidates HERE.

They handle civil matters over $25,000, divorce, separations, and annulment proceedings
Criminal prosecutions of felonies in NYC

NYC CIVIL COURTS

Judges of the Civil Court serve terms of 10 years, and they sit in civil, criminal, or family court and can be acting Supreme Court justices. You can research your candidates HERE.

The Civil Court has monetary jurisdiction up to $25,000.00,
It has jurisdiction of real property actions, such as partitions, and foreclosures, within the monetary limit.
The Civil Court also has equity jurisdiction limited to real property actions, ejectment actions, and actions to rescind or reform a contract not involving more than the $25,000.00 jurisdictional limit.

WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING TO VOTE

If you’ve voted in New York before, you don’t need to provide an ID to vote.
If you’re a first-time voter who registered by mail and didn’t provide a copy of your ID with your registration, you may need to show ID to vote. Acceptable forms include a current and valid photo ID; or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or another government document that shows your name and address.
Voters without ID: If you are unable to provide ID, you will be able to vote an affidavit ballot.

HOW TO VOTE

MAIL-IN VOTING (Must be postmarked by November 3, 2020 BUT the USPS suggests mailing at least 1 week BEFORE Election Day)

Mail-in voting was implemented across the state earlier this Summer by Governor Cuomo so that people could vote safely and not worry about the spread COVID. He said, “Voting is the cornerstone of democracy and we want each and every voter to feel safe and secure in the exercise of voting”.

Absentee Ballots have their fair share of controversy. Earlier this month, over 100,000 ballots were mistakenly printed with the wrong return address. While many, including President Trump, have warned of “Voter fraud”, others have claimed that there hasn’t been enough evidence in the past to verify that claim.

Experts and the USPS claim that there are too many restrictions put in place (like ensuring envelopes come from the appropriate address and signature checking) for voter fraud.

Pros: You can vote without changing out of your pajamas, waiting in line, or catching the ‘Rona at polling sites. You can also STILL vote in person if you’ve already received your absentee ballot. No, we are not telling you to vote twice, but in the event that your absentee ballot was not tracked, you think you made a mistake (like you forgot to sign and date it), you CAN still vote in person. The Board of Elections will VOID any absentee ballots and ONLY accept your in-person vote. Plus, if you want, you can also drop off your absentee ballot at the polls, or have someone else drop it off for you as long as it’s signed, sealed, and dated (with a kiss). We’re kidding about that last part.

Cons: If your ballot was lost in the mail, signed improperly or kidnapped by spies, well, you may have lost your vote. You can find ballot tracking information here.

Need to Know: Your ballot MUST be postmarked by Tuesday, November 3, 2020, and received no later than Tuesday, November 10, 2020. You may also return your ballot in person by Tuesday, November 3, 2020 by 9:00 p.m. However, the USPS has openly stated that they will need more than a week to process the ballot so if you send it out now – it may be too late.

EARLY VOTING

New York has been SHOWING UP. Within the first 4 days, over 450,000 New Yorkers have turned up to early polling sites. Some have waited for hours, including Mayor de Blasio who waited for three.

The early voting period started on Saturday, October 24, and runs till Sunday, November 1, but dates and hours may vary based on where you live. New York City has 88 early polling sites for five million registered voters.

These poll sites may be different from your regular election day poll site.

Pros: As long as you are registered to vote, you can head to an early voting poll site. No need to sign up! PLUS – hours have been extended! All early votes will be counted on Election Day. And remember, if you have an absentee ballot you can drop it off at any early voting or regular poll site till Election Day. Search for an early voting poll site and their dates and hours in your neighborhood by using this site Find My Poll Site.

Cons: Long lines. Some have reported voter intimidation with 3+ hour long lines, cops removing volunteers handing out PPE and more. Either way – the lines on Election Day may be worse so you may as well try and do your part. If you’ve ever waited for a cronut, Supreme drop, or boozy brunch – you can wait in line to vote.

IN-PERSON VOTING

Voting poll sites will be open on November, 3, 2020 from 6 AM – 9 PM. You can find the poll sites HERE. There have been claims that there will be long lines and voter machine errors – but the majority of Americans are expected to vote on November 3, 2020.

WHEN WILL THE BALLOTS BE COUNTED?

Let’s just say Election night is going to be…confusing.

Due to the mix of in person, absentee and early voting – ballot counting is going to get weird. We won’t know who will win until every ballot is counted, and with different mail-in ballot deadlines by state, there could be a huge discrepancy between results on election night and the days and weeks after. For example, New York and Alaska will not report any mail votes on election night at all. Wisconsin has a mail-in ballot deadline for Election Day at 8 PM, as do most states. NY’s mail-in ballot deadline to be received is the 10th.

According to the BBC, “In 2016, the final vote total took more than a month to count. Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton stretched her lead in the nationwide popular vote, but Mr. Trump had already won enough states to secure the presidency.”

A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE

Let’s do a quick recap on the Electoral College which was implemented over 200 years ago, the Electoral College is supposed to ensure all states have equal representation in voting, regardless of population size.

In order for a presidential candidate to win they need to win the electoral vote, not the popular vote. This is going to be confusing but bare with us.

There are 538 votes in the electoral college. This is equal to the 435 representatives in the House of Representatives aka Congress, 100 senators, and 3 members from the District of Colombia. The candidates are meant to represent each state. In order for the presidential candidate to win they need to win over half or 270 electoral votes.

Each state has a certain allocation of electoral votes. This is based on the population of each state. States with larger populations have more electoral votes. California for instance, has 55 electoral votes whereas Rhode Island has 4. New York has 29.

Side note, this is why the US Census is SO important! Having an accurate representation of the population will dictate how many representatives each state gets in Congress – the electoral college.

If a candidate wins a state, they get all of the electoral votes of that state. States with large populations and electoral votes – like California, NY, Texas, Florida, Penn, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, NC, Georgia, Virginia – are often sought after by presidential candidates. A candidate could win the vote in these 11 states, LOSE in all 39 and still WIN the entire election.

In 2016, Hillary won the popular vote, but Trump won because of the states with higher electoral votes.

SOOOO…WHO’S GONNA BE PRESIDENT?

Election night results will be delayed due to the delay of mail-in ballots. Whether we’ll see another 2016 popular vs electoral debacle, who knows? When asked whether he would step down if he lost, President Trump suggested he would take the case to the Supreme Court for a recount. Expect a nail-biting few days as ballots are counted and mailer fraud is called. In the meantime, go out, get your vote out, and wear your mask!

*The New York Supreme Court is NOT to be confused with the Federal Supreme Court which has been in the news lately because of the Amy Coney Barret debacle. The Federal Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of cases. ).

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In New York, it’s estimated that 1/3rd of all small businesses will close permanently due to Covid. We’re doing our part to prevent that from happening. Every week, we’ll be profiling a different local to highlight so that we can all support their business. Know a small business we should feature? Email us at hello@ciaooomag.com.

Golden Stories is a jewelry subscription box company by New York native, Gwen Beloti. Her designs have been recognized by QVC & HSN, one of the top accessory platforms. Launched in 2019, with hand-selected and local, hand made golden jewelry – Golden Stories is our pick for the next up and coming subscription box.

If you’re a fan of jewelry and are looking for an affordable, golden luxury box – well, here you go! Check it out!

Where are you from and where did you grow up? If you are comfortable sharing your ethnic background – feel free to dive into that.

Brooklyn, NY. I am African American, my generation, and my parents for the most part are born and raised NY’ers (shoutout to Brooklyn #BKallday). My grandparents and theirs were from the South, mainly Alabama.

How did you start Golden Stories? (Feel free to dive into college, and the early days, any funny or tough anecdotes are fine )

So picture this, you’re 16 years old, in Jr. High and you and your girls play hooky to go to the mall for the latest jeans that this cool designer just came out with. Y’all get there, get to the jeans, look for your sizes, and head to the fitting room to try them on…. except you (me) are standing there twiddling your thumbs because they don’t have your size. Not fun right.. yea story of my life. With my weight fluctuating for most of the early part of my life, finding stylish clothes that fit well was a challenge. That’s when I fell in love with accessories.

I hung out in that section of the store because it didn’t size discriminate. My love and appreciation for accessories and jewelry prompted me to start Golden Stories. Golden Stories is a seasonal box of stylish minimalistic golden jewels designed to build out a perfect and complete collection for our members. It’s for the busy woman overwhelmed with all the choices out there. We take the guesswork out and ensure you have what you need for your daily style looks, and at an affordable price. This way you’re not standing anywhere twiddling your thumbs ;).

https://www.instagram.com/p/CGlC7OohprV/

How has your business changed before and after COVID?

COVID has forced me to focus more on what was working well prior to COVID. We sent out members feedback surveys, we wanted our community to know that their voice matters. We looped them in on our growth plan and asked what their preferences were, what they wanted to see from Golden Stories.

We made it our mission to not just be a community in the literal sense but to really engage and connect.

For me, that meant that I would lean 100% into our jewelry line and Golden Stories. With the attention, I’ve been able to pay to it and the connection I’ve made with current members, we’ve been able to grow the membership over 300%.

You can find Gwen’s business here at Golden Stories .

You can follow her on Instagram here.

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here was a point in my life where I thought politics were reserved for old, sophisticated white people who hosted dinner parties, drank Bordeaux by the case, and laughed at plebeians.

Politics never truly made sense to me. At home, my family never talked about it, and growing up in a city as overwhelmingly liberal as New York it seemed like I rarely needed to dig beneath the surface. The country and the lens I watched it through (a pair of extremely liberal, quirky specs bought off the sidewalk vendor on St Marks Place marred with pizza grease) condensed the world of politics into two things: Democrat – good. Republican – bad.

As COVID wrapped its wiry fingers around the world, the blue and red lenses that used to make sense, no longer did. There was simply too much nuance to subjugate an entire group of people as “racists” or “snowflakes”, and doing so felt as hypocritical as calling all people of one group, “terrorists”, “drug dealers” or “lazy”.

Understanding and being involved in politics has now become as essential to me as the air we breathe, because what the government does and how the media portrays has a DIRECT effect onmy life.

Not to say that it hasn’t in the past, but the repercussions of a stimulus package or lack thereof mean that there are now more FOR RENT signs on Bleeker Street, that my Linkedin feed is filled with posts like, “I’ve been unemployed for six months. I have a newborn. I’ll take any media, ad sales, writing job. Please share if you have leads”, and worse, hundreds of thousands of people’s lives have been lost.

Avoiding politics used to be a luxury that I could afford. But now, it’s so tied to everyone’s lives that it should be everyone’s duty to understand, REALLY understand what the fuck is going on. Not just skim the title of some random article you saw on a Facebook feed, or rehash the argument from The Daily Show or that podcast – but to actually dive in and question all of your sources.

The media, ourselves included, will always be biased (though we try our best NOT to) we encourage you to do your own research, form your own opinions, and then, figure a way to take action to help spur the change that you want to see in the world. No matter how small.

Now onto the details:

STIMULUS TALKS – Nancy Pelosi Gives the Senate a 48 Hour Deadline to Make a Decision on the Stimulus Package (EOD Tuesday, Oct 20, 2020)

Sometimes it feels like the Senate and the House are like Rachel and Ross in Friends the way they arguedt back and forth over the “We were on a BREAK!” debacle. It’s been dragged on for way. Too. Long.

In order to fully understand what is going on right now with Pelosi’s deadline, we’ll need to rewind a bit to see exactly WHY the second Stimulus Package still hasn’t passed yet, six months later. There are three important characters here:

Nancy Pelosi / The Democrats (House)
Mitch McConnell / The Republicans (Senate)
Donald Trump / White House (Twitter)

Negotiations for the passage of the second Stimulus Package have ongoingsince April, after the first $1200 Stimulus checks were sent out as part of the $2 Trillion dollar CARES Act (largest in US history). Nearly 6 months later, there still has been no agreement – despite many contentious conversations behind closed doors between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell.

A Second Stimulus Package (and a general rundown of what’s been going on all Summer)

The Democrats proposed the HEROES Act, a $3 Trillion bill that included the FPUC $600 extended to January 2021 was denied by Senate Republicans, who instead opted for a dramatically smaller $1.1 Trillion HEALS Act.

The decision is so hard to agree upon because of the fundamental differences in ideologies between the Democrats and the Republicans. While Republicans advocate for fiscal conservatism (reduced government spending and national debt), the Democrats favor more government regulations to support community and social responsibility. This site breaks it down very easily.

In its simplest terms – Republicans think the Government should be more hands off in terms of offering a relief package, allowing for individual capitalism to fix itself. Democrats think the government needs to pay up, and be more involved.

Hence, conversations have been happening throughout the summer, extending into the month long Senate recess in August (which was postponed) but a decision was never made. Check out our last article HERE to get the full scoop on the differences.

Fast forward to October, as the election looms closer and closer, President Trump turned to Twitter to tell his team to hold off ALL talks of the Stimulus Package until AFTER he wins the election in November. The focus switched from Stimulus Package to the appointment of Amy Coney Barret as Supreme Court Justice. Consider it a power play to get more supporters on his side as his approval rating has dropped.

The stock market dropped over 400 points immediately after this tweet.

Side note: WHY are our government decisions that affect millions and millions of lives being told via Twitter again!

With global backlash, his approval rating shrinking, a brief stint of COVID and cases on the rise, Trump reversed his decision and decided to offer up a larger stimulus package, his OWN $1.8 trillion package which would offer up $400 in unemployment benefits per person. To make things more confusing, Senate leader Mitch McConnell and Republicans disagreed with THIS package as well because…well, like we said…they don’t want to be further invested into more national debt.

In turn, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected this offer and gave the Senate 48 hours to make a decision on a stimulus package worth between $1.8 trillion and $2.2 trillion. She said Trump’s package was lacking and asked for the Senate to agree by EOD, Tuesday, Oct 20th to pass a deal in order to make it before the Election. It’s estimated that they will instead be pushing forward again the same HEALS Act that was rejected by the Democrats last month.

As negotiations continue, states across the country are you guessed it…running out of money. In New York, October 20th (UPDATE: AS OF OCTOBER 20TH – THIS HAS BEEN EXTENDED TO JAN 1, 2021) marks the deadline of the Eviction Moratorium on commercial businesses. Unemployment is on the rise and over 1.5 million New Yorkers are unable to afford food according to the New York Times. As of now, who’s to say what will happen next but we’ll hope for some clarity in the upcoming presidential election this coming Thursday at 9pm EST between President Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. Make sure to vote!

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