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From the Executive Director Wellington Chen
Welcome to the first issue of Chinatown Streetscapes, a newsletter designed to keep you up to date on all the activities of the Chinatown Partnership as well as what's going on in the neighborhood. Chinatown Streetscapes will be published quarterly and distributed widely, including by email to an opt-in list.
We have much to report in this premier issue, beginning with Clean Streets, the first systematic and sustainable effort to keep Chinatown clean. As you'll see from the data, the anecdotal evidence and the testimonials from Chinatown residents and business owners, the program is working extremely well so far. The Clean Streets program is a partnership with the New York City Department of Small Business Services.
As our name indicates, we believe partnership is the key to getting things done. A perfect example is our partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation, which has led to the creation of 180 new parking spaces along Canal Street.
Partnering with business owners, we are able to present one of the most anticipated and fun events on the city's calendar: Taste of Chinatown. Working with the NYC Parks Dept., we have been able to create a free event in Columbus Park to showcase the best of Asian culture, Lunar Stages.
With the launch of www.ChinatownPartnership.org, we will be providing essential resources for Chinatown residents, workers and business owners. Our sister site, www.ExploreChinatown.com, is ensuring Chinatown's continued relevance and visibility in the Information Age.
Through the efforts of our accomplished staff and our distinguished board, and in continued partnership with the community, the Chinatown Partnership is committed to working for continued, sustainable improvements in Chinatown and to ensure its vitality in the future. We hope you will be our partner in this important mission.
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Clean Streets at Six Months: Two Million Pounds of Trash and Counting!
"What a pleasure for me to walk through Chinatown on my current visit to New York," Dr. Nelson Ying of the Mahayana Buddhist Temple wrote to us. "Your group, in a short two months, was able to do more cleanup than many of us had been able to do in the last several years...."
Many others have echoed these sentiments, from shop owners to residents to visitors, as they see one or more of our yellow-clad Clean Streets workers in action. The Clean Streets team is on the case seven days a week, from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., sweeping, bagging trash for pickup, power-washing sidewalks, painting street fixtures and removing graffiti.
The Clean Streets Team bags an average of 100,000 pounds of trash a week in 4,000 bags. That's over two million pounds of trash to date, and counting! Over 1,400 lamp posts, mail boxes, fire hydrants, alarm boxes and crossing lines have been painted.
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The Chinatown Partnership has placed 48 new, 200-pound, shot-blasted steel, green litter baskets around Chinatown. A wide assortment of local businesses and individuals joined the effort by sponsoring a litter basket. A plaque on each basket reads "A cleaner Chinatown starts here" in English and "A cleaner Chinatown depends on you and me" in Chinese. Contact David Eng at david@chinatownpartnership.org to sponsor a basket.
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Lunar Stages
Columbus Park in Chinatown has been known to generations of residents and visitors as a central meeting place. To celebrate the park's recent renovation, the Chinatown Partnership launched the Lunar Stages outdoor film and performance series. Over four evenings in the fall of 2006 and three evenings in the spring of 2007, thousands picnicked on the lawn while delighting in onstage acrobatic displays of Peking opera, gentle Hawaiian hulas, or electrifying go-go bands as Lunar Stages celebrated pan-Asian cultures in performance. At nightfall, screens lit up the park with images of ancient warriors and modern day heroes.
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They Came. They Tasted!
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Taste of Chinatown on April 21st was one for the books, as the weather cooperated with the first glorious, spring-like day of the year. An estimated 150,000 tasters turned out—up 50% from last fall's event—to sample $1 and $2 tasting plates from dozens of restaurants, bakeries and specialty food shops. Not only did some restaurants run out of food, but perennial favorite Peking Duck House's ducks were literally carved down to the bone. And people were even buying the bones for soup!
Further evidence of the event's success was its wide coverage in the blogosphere, where fans posted scrumptious photo galleries and gave reviews along the lines of "one of the greatest days there is in the year" and "über cheap and wicked tasty."
For the first time, a roster of international singers, dancers, drummers and lion dancers kept the audience entertained between dishes.
It's fair to say that Taste of Chinatown has put Chinatown on the global map, even as it has provided a favorite event on the calendar for all New Yorkers and increased revenues for the Chinatown business community.
Voted Best of Taste of Chinatown: Spring 2007
1. Peking Duck House 2. Doyers Vietnamese 3. Hong Kong Station
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"Chinatown's Future is in Your Hands": Community Forum Report
On April 12th, Chinatown residents, workers, business owners and property owners gathered at P.S. 124 for a presentation by the Chinatown Partnership titled "Chinatown's Future is in Your Hands." The first in a series of public forums, the presentation took the community through all the activities of the Chinatown Partnership and raised the question of sustainability. Since funding for the Partnership's programs is only temporary, the major question to be resolved is how to fund these programs on a continuing basis. To find out when the next meeting is scheduled, check our community calendar online at ChinatownPartnership.org, or sign up online for our eNews alerts.
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Business Spotlight
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Herbs have been an important part of Chinese culture for thousands of years, according to Frank Lin of Lin Sister Herbs at 4 Bowery. In the heavy wooden drawers behind the counter, there appear to be herbs said to help every conceivable bodily organ or function, as well as concoctions to strengthen the immune system and increase one's energy. Most are brewed as tea or soup. Lin Sister also sells books on traditional Chinese healing practices and offers acupuncture and tui na massage.
Lin Sister Herbs, 4 Bowery (Chatham Square), 10 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., 7 days
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What You Didn't Know About Chinatown
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Did you know that ballroom dancing is popular in Chinatown? There are at least three Ballroom Dance studios in the neighborhood, where you can sign up for lessons in a focused but sociable setting. At Imperial Ballroom Dance Studio at 27 Division Street just off Chatham Square, the world-class instructors come from, among other places, Russia, Bulgaria and Poland. Several of them are among the top-ten ballroom dancers in America, and among the top 50 in the world.
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The Chinatown Partnership's Two Headquarters: Chatham Square and ChinatownPartnership.org
The Chinatown Partnership runs the Clean Streets program from its Chatham Square headquarters at 60 St. James Place. The ground floor houses the Clean Steets workers' equipment, with operations and support services set up in the basement. The ground floor will soon host the Chinatown Partnership's administrative offices as well.
ChinatownPartnership.org
The Chinatown Partnership's other home is online at ChinatownPartnership.org. The site features background information on all of the Partnership's programs, a community calendar and enewsletter signup, among other resources and features.
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Partner With Us
Volunteer
Would you like to help out at one of our events, such as Taste of Chinatown or Lunar Stages? Or would you like to apply your expertise in areas such as law, marketing or business consulting? Tell us what you can do.
Donate
Help support the Chinatown Partnership's programs and projects. Please send your check or money order to the address below or send us your contribution online at www.ChinatownPartnership.org.
Chinatown Partnership LDC, 60 St. James Place, New York, NY 10038
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