Leland Cheung
 |
Leland Cheung | |
|---|---|
| Cambridge City Councillor | |
| In office 2009 – December 2017 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1978 (age 45–46) |
| Political party | Democratic Party |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Stanford University (BS, BA, MS) Harvard University (MPA) MIT (MBA) |
| Website | Official website (archive) |
Leland Cheung (born c. 1978)[1] is a former City Councillor in Cambridge, Massachusetts.[2] He served from 2009-2017.[3]
Education and career
[edit]Cheung was first elected to the Cambridge City Council in 2009 while pursuing a Masters in Public Administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to returning to graduate school, Cheung earned a BS in Physics, BA in Economics and MS in Aerospace Engineering from Stanford University. Following graduation, Cheung worked as a Senior Associate at Masthead Partners, a Cambridge-based venture capital firm focusing on digital media, mobile, and internet infrastructure.[2]
From 2000–2005, Cheung served as Chief Information Officer at Space Adventures in Arlington, VA,[4] the only company to have successfully launched private explorers to space.[5] Cheung ran an unsuccessful campaign as the Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2005.[6] Cheung lost a campaign in the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts in 2014.[7] He had been endorsed by The Boston Globe.[8] On September 8, 2016, Cheung lost the Democratic primary for the Massachusetts State Senate in the Second Middlesex district.[9] Cheung announced he was not running for reelection in a statement released August 1, 2017.[10]
As a City Councillor, he advocated for open data, Net Zero Zoning, composting and recycling programs. Cheung was a vocal critic of Harvard University and MIT laying off some workers and cutting hours of others.[11] As City Councillor, he was an early supporter of the Harvard divestment from fossil fuel movement.[12] Additionally, he showed his support for the Responsible Investment at Harvard when they campaigned to end Harvard's management of Argentina Timber Plantations.[13]
His top priorities included shifting the increased burden of property taxes to contractors and developers, completing the green line extension, and implementing universal pre-K. He also supports lifting the charter school cap and overhauling education reform by increasing the overall budget, as Massachusetts ranks 47th in spending on education as a percentage of the total budget.[14] He also proposed anticipating the policy issues of the future, addressing driverless cars' impact on transportation, the gig economy's impact on income inequality, and Airbnb's impact on the housing market.
References
[edit]- ^ "Leland Cheung". Telegram & Gazette. 2014-08-26. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ a b Cambridge, City of. "Leland Cheung's Biography - City Council - City of Cambridge, Massachusetts". www.cambridgema.gov. Archived from the original on 2016-05-25. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
- ^ "That's All Folks! – Featured Items on the Dec 18, 2017 Cambridge City Council Agenda". Cambridge Civic Journal Forum. 2017-12-18. Retrieved 2023-11-29.
- ^ "Leland Cheung". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2016-06-04.[self-published source?]
- ^ "Space Adventures". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
- ^ Laris, Michael (2005-11-03). "This Time, A Choice For Voters". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2016-08-31.
- ^ "2014 Results For Massachusetts Democratic Convention". masslive.com. 15 June 2014. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
- ^ "Leland Cheung for lieutenant governor". The Boston Globe. September 4, 2014.
- ^ "Leland Cheung for State Senate". Leland Cheung for State Senate. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
- ^ "Councilor Cheung releases statement on why he's not seeking re-election". Wicked Local Cambridge. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
- ^ Mena, Elijah L. (September 3, 2010). "Layoffs due to recession stopped after June". The Tech.
- ^ Slattery, Gram (September 2, 2014). "A Semester with Divest". Harvard Political Review.
- ^ Lorch, Kristina D. (April 14, 2014). "Students Rally Against Harvard's Management of Timber Plantations in Argentina". The Harvard Crimson.
- ^ Gustafson, Chris (December 20, 2012). "Public School Funding in Massachusetts: Where We Are, What Has Changed, and How We Compare to Other States". Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center.