Chinatown Acts Out To Save Community
June 7, 2002

A hundred residents and community activists took to the streets in Chinatown today to protest the Liberty Place megadevelopment proposed for Washington and Beach Street in Chinatown. Despite the rain, protesters carried placards and donned costumes to dramatize their concern that immigrant working class residents will be forced out by escalating rents and overdevelopment.

Liberty Place is a 30-story proposed market-rate housing development slated for a half-block parcel owned by developer Kevin Fitzgerald. City zoning guidelines, adopted as part of the Chinatown community's masterplan for development in 1990, call for heights of eight to ten stories. The Chinatown Community Plan also calls for the city to "preserve the working class, family neighborhood." Overdevelopment of the neighborhood is a major concern of Chinatown's mostly immigrant, working class residents, as is the fear that an overabundance of upscale housing will push up rents and force out existing residents. Three new developments slated for Washington Street will bring over one thousand units of upscale housing to a one-block area.

"This is not what our community needs," said Sik-Lun Yan of the Chinatown Resident Association. "We need housing that our community can afford."

"I can't afford to live in the 'affordable' housing," said Kye Leung of the Chinese Progressive Association. A one bedroom apartment in the affordable category would rent for $1,780 a month, considered affordable to an individual with an income of about $64,000. Chinatown's average per capita income is $12,500.

While developers and the City say that Chinatown has an abundance of subsidized housing, community activists say that the subsidized units only replaced former housing lost to urban renewal, highway construction, and institutional expansion. Meanwhile, the "expiring use" problem threatens the future of subsidized housing.

"The waiting lists for subsidized housing are so long," said resident Serene Wong. "The management office in my apartment won't even take applications now, because she tells people the wait is just impossible."

Today's protesters marked the end of a series of discussions coordinated by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, including Chinatown residents, community business leaders, and the developer. Resident and community agency representatives expressed frustration at what they termed "fruitless" discussions and called on the City to support Chinatown demands.

"We have had six meetings of presentations by 'experts' seeking to justify the proposed development," said Sherry Hao of the Campaign to Protect Chinatown. "The ball is in the City's court now. We are calling on the City to support the Chinatown Community Plan and reject the development as proposed."

SOME FACTS THEY'RE NOT SAYING ABOUT LIBERTY PLACE

*398 units of upscale, market-rate housing

*A 30-story megadevelopment in a neighborhood zoned for 8-10 stories.

*Traffic impact will be heaviest on overloaded Essex Street, already identified by the Boston Transportation Department as a problem area. Essex Street is primarily used to get onto the Central Artery.

*Liberty Place would violate the zoning guidelines of the Chinatown Community Plan, adopted by the BRA and Chinatown in 1990. A key priority of the Chinatown Community Plan is to increase affordable housing in order to preserve the working class, family neighborhood.

*Between Millenium, Liberty Place, and the proposed Kensington development, Chinatown will see over 1,000 units of upscale housing on that one-block stretch of lower Washington Street alone. These three developments alone will change over 20% of Chinatown's current population of 5,000.

*Chinatown tenants and small businesses are at-risk from escalating rents and displacement. On the same block as Liberty Place, single-room occupants struggle with rents of $350 a month. What will happen to them? Above the restaurants on Hudson Street, a one bedroom condo advertises for $300,000.

*We are losing subsidized housing in Chinatown and nationwide. Chinatown's large subsidized developments replaced housing lost to urban renewal. But subsidized housing is now at-risk. Some subsidized developments have found it to be more profitable to convert to market-rate units. Waiting lists at some Chinatown developments are so long that they will not even take an application.

*Fifty of the 70 units of so-called "affordable housing" will be unaffordable to most Chinatown residents. Liberty Place is using 120% of the median income, which translates to $1780 for a single bedroom or an annual income of at least $64,000 per year. Chinatown's per capita income is around $12,000. In meetings with the City, the developers admitted that this development will not be for people making $12,000 - $20,000 income levels.

*Combat Zone will not be eliminated. In fact, in a meeting with the community and BRA, developer Kevin Fitzgerald threatened that he can always return to adult entertainment uses if the City doesn't allow him to build Liberty Place. Until the City decides to rezone the Combat Zone, there will be no permanent solution.

The Boston Redevelopment Authority published the original Chinatown Community Plan of 1990, and the Mayor endorsed the community's updated Chinatown Masterplan 2000. But we have yet to see the City stand behind the community in supporting our priorities. Instead, we have had endless meetings in which "experts" attempt to justify the Liberty Place development as proposed.

We call on the City of Boston to support Chinatown by rejecting this violation of the Chinatown Community Plan!