"Equal access to city contracts and equal share in the economic life of the City" – these are some of the promises made by John Liu who, on January 1st, was sworn in as the first Asian American in the city's history to take on the position of comptroller.

The day of the inauguration, Liu, who came to the U.S. from Taiwan at the age of 5, spoke at great length about his immigrant background and expressed his gratitude for the support granted to him not only by Asian communities, but many other ethnic communities as well in the November elections.

"I am grateful for the support I got from the Polish community in this election," Liu told Nowy Dziennik on the day of his inauguration. "This is a very dynamic community. I want all immigrants, including Poles, to benefit from the changes that will be taking place in the City once we start seeing signs that we are coming out of the crisis," he said.

Liu also mentioned that repeating the slogan on how diverse the city is will simply be not enough to make good use of the potential that all New Yorkers have. "We need to make sure that all groups get an equal share of the city economy and have equal chances."

He promised to help small businesses so that they can thrive and employ more people, as well as to join efforts with Michael Bloomberg in his initiative of building a coalition to support immigration reform. "Our city provides an example of how important immigrants are to the history of the country. They have had a tremendous influence in building culture, economy and science in the United States," he said.

Liu, who called his victory "historical," mentioned that it wouldn't have been possible if other minority candidates had not been elected to important positions in the country, like Barack Obama, the first black president, or Sonia Sotomayor, the first Latino woman nominated as a judge on the Supreme Court.

The City Comptroller, one of the most important positions in the city's administration, is responsible for auditing the performance and finances of city agencies, making recommendations regarding proposed contracts, and issuing reports on the state of the city economy. He also manages the city debt, and serves as managing trustee of the public employees' pension funds.