By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER EAST SIDE — When members of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side showed up at a rival zoning group's annual townhall meeting last June, things got ugly.
Members of the coalition stood outside P.S. 124 on Division Street, where the Chinatown Working Group was hosting a meeting to discuss "the future of Chinatown," and yelled through megaphones, while waving placards and signs.
The coalition wasn't protesting a developer or a city project. No, this protest was directed at the Chinatown Working Group, which the coalition slammed as "racist" for excluding residents of the Lower East Side.
But after a period of animosity, the rivals may be coming together to fight common foes — high rents and big box developers.
Both groups have spent the last year drafting proposals to rezone the area to guard against those enemies and, at Monday night's town hall meeting, members of the Coalition plan to put their signs and bullhorns aside to attend as participants, not protesters.
But as with all roads to peace, this one is also littered with obstacles.
At a news conference last week, the coalition presented a report, conducted in partnership with students at Hunter College, that calls for stringent rent control and developing more public housing in the area that extends toward the edge of the East River and up along E. 14 Street.
"We want the Chinatown Working Group to adopt this plan if their intentions are to really serve the community," coalition spokeswoman Josephine Lee said.
Yet, as of late last week, the Coalition had not formally contacted members of the Chinatown Working Group about their new report.
So DNAinfo decided to play peacebroker and faxed the report to Chinatown Working Group chair Jim Solomon, who took a quick look.
"I'm confident that all the members of the Chinatown Working Group are open and interested in hearing all ideas related to the future planning of Chinatown," Solomon said.
We "look forward to [the Coalition's] participation in the town hall and beyond."
The Chinatown Working Group's town hall is open to the public and will take place on Feb. 1 at P.S. 130, Hernando De Soto School at 143 Baxter St. The event starts at 7 p.m.
