BY LUKE TABET
Newly approved lines have made City Council District 23 the most ethnically diverse in all five boroughs, a lawmaker said.
“If you were to travel with me on any given weekend, you might go to five different continents,” said Councilmember Mark Weprin, who represents the district.
He said the claim is based on statistics from the 2010 census. Nearly 70 percent of the district is made up of minorities, many of them first- or second generation immigrants.
Weprin said almost 40 percent of the district is Asian, the largest single group. According to the nonprofit Asian Americans for Equality, 14 percent of the district is South Asian or Indian, 12 percent Chinese and 10 percent Korean.
The district is 14 percent Hispanic, 12 percent African-American, 15 percent Jewish and 15 percent white ethnic, a group that includes Italians, Greeks, Polish people, Irish and others.
Weprin said representing such a diverse community is a source of pride, though it comes with unique challenges.
“It is challenging in that you have to learn how to segue into a lot of different languages and cultural traditions,” he said. “We might be the most diverse [district] in the country, being that Queens is the most ethnically diverse county.”
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