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Chinatown Group Uses Street Cleaning as Carrot and Stick

By Patrick Hedlund | December 16, 2010 7:53pm | Updated on December 17, 2010 5:02am
A map of the proposed Chinatown BID, which is seeking final approval from Community Boards 1, 2, and 3.
A map of the proposed Chinatown BID, which is seeking final approval from Community Boards 1, 2, and 3.
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By Patrick Hedlund

DNAinfo News Editor

CHINATOWN — Trash will begin piling up on Chinatown streets in the new year unless a group pushing to create a business improvement district in the neighborhood gets its way.

The city grant that is currently funding street cleaning runs out on Dec. 31, but proponents of the Chinatown BID said on Thursday they would pay for street cleaning  through next year, just as long as their contentious plan is approved.

The Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, which has cleaned streets in Chinatown since 2006 under a multimillion-dollar grant from the city, has been pushing hard to create a BID in the area that would charge property owners a fee to fund beautification efforts for the neighborhood's historically unkempt streets.

If the BID ultimately earns approval from the city — it has already received initial support from Community Boards 1, 2 and 3 — the Partnership has pledged to pay for street cleaning through July after its grant money runs out at the end of this year.

"We're encouraged by the support we've received from the community boards, and want to ensure that the community's sanitation doesn't deteriorate while waiting for BID services to begin," said Patrick Y. Yau, chair of the proposed BID's steering committee, in a statement.

Funding for the services has already been raised by the Partnership, with help from the Chinese American Medical Society and Chinese American Independent Practice Association, and would pay for street cleaning from Jan. 1 to July 1 of next year. If approved, the BID would take over sanitation services at that time.

"We are willing to build a bridge to the future, but we will not build a bridge to nowhere," stated David Louie, chair of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce and co-chair of the BID's steering committee, of the Partnership's funding being conditioned on the BID's approval.

Despite receiving near-unanimous approval for the BID from the three community boards, which will offer a final vote on the proposal in the coming weeks, some Chinatown property continue to oppose the plan they see as unnecessary.

Jan Lee, a local property owner and a leader of the Coalition Against the Chinatown BID, reserved comment on the Partnership's funding plan for a Friday press conference with business owners opposed to the BID.

Lee has disputed findings by the Partnership showing 97 percent support among Chinatown property owners polled, claiming that stakeholders he's spoken to roundly oppose the plan and that street cleaning could be better achieved by employing an outside service.

The press conference will take place Friday at 1 p.m., 22 Chatham Square, third floor.