CHINATOWN
RESIDENT ASSOCIATION SERVES AS NEIGHBORHOOD VOICE
The Chinatown
Resident Association will elect eight members to its Steering Committee at its
public meeting on September 2. Any Chinatown resident registered as a member by
its August meeting is eligible to vote in the election.
Nominees for
at-large positions are Arturo Gossage of Hudson Street, Chu Huang of Castle
Square, Run Mei Liang of Castle Square, Hua Quan Liu of Mass Pike Towers, Yoke
Chew Mah of Quincy Towers, Xiu Xing Wu of South Cove Plaza East, Hin Sang Yu of
Oak Terrace, and Pei Ying Yu of Hudson Street. Nominees Ruo Chong Mo of Quincy
Towers and Qiu Qing Yu of Eva White Apartments have declined.
The roster
includes four new representatives bringing a diversity of experiences and concerns. Gossage is a young professional and renter
who has lived in Chinatown for eight years and is concerned with a variety of
quality of life issues. Huang is a bilingual youth worker at the Boston
Chinatown Neighborhood Center who was raised in the community. Wu is a retired
resident who is a frequent participant in community meetings. Yu is a home
health care worker who has resisted displacement from her apartment since
January.
Need
for a Resident-based Neighborhood Council
Chinatown is
host to nearly a hundred different community organizations, from family and
village associations to social service agencies, but, until 1999, none focused
specifically on the interests of those who live in the neighborhood.
Development pressures throughout the 1990s led to a growing awareness that
Chinatown residents needed to amplify their own voice within the neighborhood.
A citywide
system of neighborhood councils to advise city government was established and
appointed by former Mayor Ray Flynn in the 1980s. Chinatown's first
neighborhood council made important gains for Chinatown, such as launching the
Chinatown Community Plan of 1990, which recognized Chinatown as a residential
neighborhood for the first time.
However, as
the Chinatown/South Cove Neighborhood Council (CNC) went on to develop and
administer its own elections, the resulting guidelines and implementation of
election procedures tilted the group in favor of non-resident stakeholders. The
21-member CNC includes 5 resident seats along with 4 business representatives,
4 agency representatives, 4 organization representatives, and 4 other Asian
American representatives. Those who can vote in CNC elections include not only
Chinatown residents but also any Asian American residing in Massachusetts. This
composition translated into CNC support for a number of unpopular development
proposals.
The first major clash between
community residents and traditional leaders was over the hospital parking
garage proposed for the heart of the residential community on a piece of
city-owned land called “Parcel C,” now the site of the Metropolitan. Some
agency and business leaders supported the garage proposal as a way to secure
community benefits, and the CNC voted overwhelmingly in support of the garage. But when four agencies called for a community
meeting to discuss the garage proposal, more than a hundred residents came out
to voice their adamant opposition, leading to an 18-month struggle in which
community members voted 1,692:42 against and eventually ended the garage proposal.
Similar
differences between residents and traditional leaders played out around a
series of luxury tower projects. In 1999, following a series of nine block
meetings held throughout Chinatown, resident activists decided to launch an
organization to specifically represent their interests. In 2002, the City of Boston agreed to
recognize the Chinatown Resident Association (CRA) as a neighborhood council to
advise city government on neighborhood affairs.
Participation
and Collaboration
The mission of CRA is to advance the quality of life of Chinatown
residents and preserve Chinatown as a neighborhood for working families and the
elderly. Its goals include: 1) Promote
resident decision-making over the future of Chinatown, 2) Preserve and expand
affordable housing, 3) Work for a safe and healthy living environment, and 4)
Cooperate with community organizations and businesses to strengthen Chinatown
as a social, cultural, political and economic center.
Through bilingual public meetings held at the Quincy School cafeteria on
the first Wednesday of each month, CRA encourages Chinatown residents to learn
about neighborhood news and participate in making decisions about Chinatown's
future. Recent topics have included proposals for marketing signage, new
development proposals, discussions about the vision for a Chinatown library,
and priorities for use of publicly owned parcels.
While emphasizing the importance of resident decision-making and a
resident voice, CRA also collaborates with other Chinatown stakeholders and
organizations to improve the community's future. For more information, contact
chinatownresidents@gmail.com.
