Some current and former residents said they felt the proposed hotel does not fit with the character of Chinatown and most whom Sampan spoke with said they were opposed to it. Most said they had friends and family who already had to leave the neighborhood because of new luxury developments and getting priced out.
I dont understand the correlation they're trying to make between building a hotel and rent prices going up. Maybe Im wrong but I dont see how one influences the other here. We should make them have to prove the claims that are made. Especially when theyre being cited as the reasons why they are trying to block a proposal. You should have to bring receipts and evidence if your claims are to be submitted to the record and then used to influence a decision like in court. If they cant be substantiated they get thrown out and cant be used.25-Story Hotel Plan Draws Critical Reviews - Sampan
A proposal to raze a vacant and dilapidated building in Chinatown to build a 25-story hotel has sparked a debate over whether the project will further boost housing prices around the neighborhood and exacerbate congestion in the already crowded block. The building’s owner, Sing Ming Chan, claims...sampan.org
Limited space to build in the city.I dont understand the correlation they're trying to make between building a hotel and rent prices going up. Maybe Im wrong but I dont see how one influences the other here. We should make them have to prove the claims that are made. Especially when theyre being cited as the reasons why they are trying to block a proposal. You should have to bring receipts and evidence if your claims are to be submitted to the record and then used to influence a decision like in court. If they cant be substantiated they get thrown out and cant be used.
Limited space to build in the city.
Take this same footprint and height, and make it housing rather then hotel rooms.
Which does the city need more - housing to hotel rooms?
Agreed that the argument being made does not hold together.That is true but the argument that the nimbys are making is not that they should build housing here instead of a hotel, theyre saying in the article that the hotel will cause land speculation and for luxury housing to start going up in response, so they want to kill this project altogether and that will somehow prevent luxury housing from going up in the area. The point I was saying is just that whether they are able to block this parcel from being developed or not the few parcels left in downtown are going to be luxury housing regardless. Them killing this project wont stop that like they say.
So build 50 stories - 25 hotel and 25 residential.Agreed that the argument being made does not hold together.
But every site in the city is a tradeoff of use potential. We have high hotel rates and we have high rents. So support of a given use here is a vote against the alternative use.