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Future of Chinatown Debated in Three Languages, But Dialogue is Still Stilted

By DNAinfo Staff on February 5, 2010 8:30am  | Updated on February 5, 2010 8:28am

Cantonese-speaking residents discuss the future of Chinatown at a town hall meeeting on Feb. 1, 2010.
Cantonese-speaking residents discuss the future of Chinatown at a town hall meeeting on Feb. 1, 2010.
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DNAinfo/Suzanne Ma

By Suzanne Ma

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

CHINATOWN — A community meeting this week brought together two rival groups to debate and discuss the future of their shared downtown neighborhoods.

But members of the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side only seemed interested in having a conversation — amongst themselves.

More than a dozen coalition members attended the town hall on Monday night, but they chose not to participate in any of the organized focus groups that the Chinatown Working Group had staffed with volunteer translators for English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese speakers.

Instead, they formed their own group at the back of the room and later made a presentation to the rest of the town hall's attendees calling 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.

Mandarin-speaking residents brainstorm ideas to help improve life in Chinatown at a town hall meeting on Feb. 1, 2010.
Mandarin-speaking residents brainstorm ideas to help improve life in Chinatown at a town hall meeting on Feb. 1, 2010.
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DNAinfo/Suzanne Ma

They also advocated for the protection of small businesses and limits on luxury high rises.

Their presentation was met with scattered applause, and spokeswoman Josephine Lee and Chinatown Working Group chair Jim Solomon agreed to arrange a more formal meeting to share their ideas.

"We don't want to be divided," Lee told DNAinfo. "We just want any plan for Chinatown to be inclusive of the Lower East Side."

Both the coalition and the Chinatown Working Group were formed after the city rezoned over 110 blocks of the East Village and parts of the Lower East Side in November 2008.

Those untouched by the rezoning say the city deliberately left them out of the plans; causing developers to move in and build luxury hotels and high rises in their historically low-income community.

And while both groups are fighting for the preservation of the Chinatown and Lower East Side neighborhoods, the coalition has remained suspicious of the Chinatown Working Group's motives.

They've has slammed the Chinatown Working Group as "racist." Lee complained that board members were either Chinese or Caucasian. No one on the board is Latino or African American, she noted.

The Chinatown Working Group is preparing to submit a comprehensive neighborhood plan to the city later this year, addressing a wide rage of the community's concerns, ranging from big box developers, rising rents, improving neighborhood parks and traffic congestion.

Their meetings are open to the public. They will meet next on March 1, 2010 at the American Legion at 191-193 Canal St. from 4 to 6 p.m.