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CHINATOWN ACTS OUT!! AGAINST LIBERTY PLACE
by Chinese Progressive Association
6/7/02
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."
Related Links:
Chinatown Says "Respect the Masterplan" - 1/22/02
Liberty Plaza Developer Will Change Plan - 2/5/01
