Video: Meet Chicago’s newest city council member, Nicole Lee, who replaces convicted Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson in the 11th Ward. (Produced by Marc Vitali)

Three weeks after taking office, 11th Ward Ald. Nicole Lee said Thursday during an interview for “Chicago Tonight” that she hopes the fact that she is Chicago’s first Chinese American City Council member helps combat a wave of anti-Asian crime that has frightened residents of Chinatown.

“The rise in anti-Asian hate has been a really terrible thing across this country,” Lee said. “I live here in Chinatown and we’ve also seen a rise on that front as well. I think that being a representative on the Chicago City Council is the first really big step in really putting a face and humanizing us in a way that maybe residents haven’t seen us before, and just seeing us as regular people just them and not some other group.”

Lee said public safety is her top concern.

“It is the top of everyone’s mind in the city,” Lee said.

Lee is the first Chinese American, the second Asian American and the first Asian American woman to serve as an alderperson.

Former Ald. Ameya Pawar was the first Asian American to be elected to the Chicago City Council, representing the North Side’s 47th Ward for two terms from 2011 to 2019.

Lee said she has faced a steep learning curve after joining the council nearly two months after 11th Ward Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson was removed from the Chicago City Council after being convicted of lying to federal bank regulators and filing false tax returns.

“I’m learning something new, actually, I’m learning probably seven new things a day as I go along here,” Lee said. “I’m doing a lot of listening right now. My focus in the first couple of weeks has really been just getting my arms around all of what the residents need and what the backlog has been.”

Lee said she has not yet taken a position on whether to support the proposal from Neil Bluhm’s Rush Street Gaming to build the Rivers 78 Casino on vacant land between the South Loop and Chinatown along the Chicago River set to be redeveloped by Related Midwest into a new development known as The 78.

Lee said she attended the community meeting on the project on April 7, where developers heard concerns that residents of Chinatown would be uniquely vulnerable to casino advertising and suffer from gambling addiction. Other Chicagoans said they were concerned the casino would bring noise, traffic and reduce the value of nearby property.

But Lee said she has also heard from business owners eager for the casino to boost their operations.

“There are concerns on both sides,” Lee said. “The casino is coming to Chicago. We’ve got a lot to weigh.”

Lee also said she has not decided whether to run for a full term in February 2023. If Lee does run, she will have a leg up on the competition to represent what is likely to be a very different 11th Ward once a new ward map is adopted.

Both proposed ward maps backed by the Black Caucus and the Latino Caucus would redraw the 11th Ward to include a majority of Asian voters, which would be the first of its kind in Chicago, and comes as Chicago’s Asian population surged by 31%, according to the 2020 census.

Lee said she has not studied either map in detail but will consult community residents before making a decision.

Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]