By Suzanne Ma
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHINATOWN — Gangs that once roamed the streets of Chinatown extorting local residents and workers for money have mostly been the talk of modern crime novels and history books.
But during a community meeting on Wednesday, one property owner likened the people hoping to implement a business improvement district in the area, to those who ran such secret societies known as tongs.
A business improvement district, commonly called a BID, would impose a yearly tax on property owners within a defined area and uses that money to make improvements on neighborhood streets.
"The tongs did the same thing in the 1960s," said David Eng, a third generation Chinese-American who owns three buildings in Chinatown. "If you didn't pay, they'd come after you. It's being done here and they are trying to legitimize it."
Eng said a BID will destroy small, family-owned businesses already struggling to pay rising rents and heavy city taxes.
"We are being taxed literally up the wazoo," Eng said. "In the past year, under [Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, property taxes have gone up by 33 percent. We can't take anymore."
The proposed Chinatown BID, speaheaded by a group of local professionals, community organizers and property owners, would impose a yearly fee ranging from $200 to $5,000, depending on the size of the property.
The fees would mostly go toward keeping the neighborhood clean: street sweeping, garbage bagging, and the maintenance of lamp posts and lighting.
Currently, an organization known as the Chinatown Partnership already provides services that clean neighborhood streets. But it does not levy taxes on property owners; it operates on funding it received from the 9/11 Fund and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
Now, as public money runs dry, some believe a BID is what's needed to keep the community clean and businesses alive. There's also fear that Chinatown will fall behind surrounding lucrative neighborhoods like Soho and TriBeCa, where there's been talk of establishing BIDS, too.
"In the midst of a bad economy, we need to get Chinatown out of a slump," said BID steering committee member Deborah Chan, who runs a legal practice in Chinatown.
"We ask you to put trust in us and believe that this is what's best for the community."
A BID would also would also serve as an official advocate for the neighborhood to deal with city agencies and the mayor, members of the steering committee argued.
Eng said most of the small property and business owners in the neighborhood oppose a BID, but that he and his colleagues were not notified of Wednesday's noon-hour meeting.
Only Eng and another property owner, Philip Grossman, expressed opposition to the BID during Wednesday's meeting.
Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership, said all property owners should have received an invitation to Wednesday's meeting in the mail. He added that he's observed an "overwhelming" support for a BID.
Ultimately, the decision will be decided by a vote; 51 per cent of property owners must vote in favor of a BID in order to get one started.
"No one ever pointed a gun to your head and said 'you have to do this.' This is democracy at work," said Chen.
The proposed Chinatown district is bordered by Allen and Delancey in the North, Rutgers and Canal in the East, Madison, Pike and Catherine in the South, and Worth and Centre in the West.
