Chinatown - Progress or Gentrification?

I absolutely hate sounding racist, so please forgive me; the problem with Chinatown is that the residents don't interact with the rest of the city. On numerous occasions I have interacted with one of them who claimed to not know what the word "no" meant.

I have no problem with any ethnic enclave in our city, and in fact they make our city great. But please, "Chinatown" is just Beach St. and a project on Tyler St. It's time to say that we should just move on.

oof, I apologize.
 
odurandina said:
^^at least 2 of the 3 hotels absolutely should get built, and resident density done by building tall (re; 1 Greenway treatment) on the remaining blocks.
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None of the hotel locations proposed are great, from an access standpoint.

Two of them are truly horrible, based on the proposed traffic flow. I don't object to the concept of hotels in the area, but you have to site them logically.

The only proposed location that can handle the traffic load increase is the rather small proposal on Harrison. The Beach Street and Oxford (car/delivery access)/Essex Street corner proposals are really bad, and both screw the Beach Street Chinatown business district with traffic flow.
 
Cortes said:
I absolutely hate sounding racist, so please forgive me; the problem with Chinatown is that the residents don't interact with the rest of the city. On numerous occasions I have interacted with one of them who claimed to not know what the word "no" meant.
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Just a question, why do they need to interact with the rest of the city? If they don't want to interact with you, then leave them alone. I typically don't like to talk to strangers on the street either.
 
KentXie said:
Just a question, why do they need to interact with the rest of the city? If they don't want to interact with you, then leave them alone. I typically don't like to talk to strangers on the street either.
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I interact with them roughly twice a month handing out food and clothing on Saturday morning at Park St., where we feed the homeless, which they are not. They cut in line, take more than they are allowed, and pretend not to understand basic English even though they have lived here for god knows how long.

I understand that this is a small slice of the overall population, but believe me, as someone who lives downtown, the "Chinatown" population has little to no interaction with the greater city.

I would be happy to see wealthy Chinese people buy these buildings and fix them up, I don't care. But this section of the city has little real value besides a couple of restaurants and an old folks home or 3.
 
KentXie said:
Just a question, why do they need to interact with the rest of the city?
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funny. i was gonna say this about the hotels these smart businessmen are proposing. :)

i think it's fine that people will walk a few extra blocks when they either venture out to explore, head out for a meeting or visit friends/relatives in the neighborhood.

KentXie said:
I typically don't like to talk to strangers on the street either.
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a fine Brahmin friend told me the same mere days ago!
 
Cortes said:
I interact with them roughly twice a month handing out food and clothing on Saturday morning at Park St., where we feed the homeless, which they are not. They cut in line, take more than they are allowed, and pretend not to understand basic English even though they have lived here for god knows how long.

I understand that this is a small slice of the overall population, but believe me, as someone who lives downtown, the "Chinatown" population has little to no interaction with the greater city.

I would be happy to see wealthy Chinese people buy these buildings and fix them up, I don't care. But this section of the city has little real value besides a couple of restaurants and an old folks home or 3.
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Wow. The Chinatown community has pretty entrenched/deep political roots in the city along with cultural institutions like the various kung-fu/lion dance groups (see the New Years parade today), and many charitable and social groups. Could have said the same things about the Italians when they actually lived in the North End, or the Polish, or any other ethnic/immigrant group from a non-English speaking country/region. To say there is little value there is pretty WTF - I don't live downtown, but I have spent a ton of in Chinatown - even working in and with the community. Really - poor immigrants have nothing to offer and we would be better off with the new wave of nouveau riche mainlanders buying things up? What?
 
bakgwailo said:
Wow. The Chinatown community has pretty entrenched/deep political roots in the city along with cultural institutions like the various kung-fu/lion dance groups (see the New Years parade today), and many charitable and social groups. Could have said the same things about the Italians when they actually lived in the North End, or the Polish, or any other ethnic/immigrant group from a non-English speaking country/region. To say there is little value there is pretty WTF - I don't live downtown, but I have spent a ton of in Chinatown - even working in and with the community. Really - poor immigrants have nothing to offer and we would be better off with the new wave of nouveau riche mainlanders buying things up? What?
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Exactly. People have been selfishly grousing in the same way, with the same words, for two hundred years.

These complaints, about garbage picking or hoarding at a charity givewaway, are textbook stereotyping. One person has bad experiences with a tiny handful of poor, first-generation immigrants and they're ready to cleanse the whole neighborhood.
 
Just chipping in my two cents here, take it for what it's worth. My girlfriend goes to Tufts Dental and lives nearby on Nassau Street. I'm frequently walking Harrison, Washington, Johnny Court, etc. etc. mornings and evening hours after work after finding parking. Unfortunately in my experience I don't have many good things to say about the residents here or at least the people congregating on Harrison near the produce companies. I've been (unintentionally) spit on (smoker), heckled, and hounded without provocation. I'm a 6'5" guy so I've never really feared for my safety, but I have very little sympathy for folks living here. Take better care of your streets and don't stare down "outsiders". Disclaimer: I realize there is spillover from the Tufts ER that has nothing to do with Chinatown residents.
 
mvulch said:
Just chipping in my two cents here, take it for what it's worth. My girlfriend goes to Tufts Dental and lives nearby on Nassau Street. I'm frequently walking Harrison, Washington, Johnny Court, etc. etc. mornings and evening hours after work after finding parking. Unfortunately in my experience I don't have many good things to say about the residents here or at least the people congregating on Harrison near the produce companies. I've been (unintentionally) spit on (smoker), heckled, and hounded without provocation. I'm a 6'5" guy so I've never really feared for my safety, but I have very little sympathy for folks living here. Take better care of your streets and don't stare down "outsiders". Disclaimer: I realize there is spillover from the Tufts ER that has nothing to do with Chinatown residents.
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I can't say I experienced any of this in Chinatown but that's probably because I'm Chinese so they don't see me as an "outsider." There's probably some distrust between them and people they aren't familiar with.

Granted this is basically on par with my experience in Charlestown (a relatively Irish neighborhood) back when I lived there (had a lit cigarette thrown at me, mugged on Bunker Hill, snowballs thrown at me) so maybe this kind of behavior exists where there's a disconnect between the background of the majority and the background of the minority.

Unfortunately, pushing the residents out through gentrification does little to build trust.
 
But find more 1 person who has been pushed out through gentrification. 1.
 
Just to clarify on my stance, I'm not against gentrification as long as there are related projects that provide affordable housing elsewhere in the neighborhood. Feel free to put a hotel in the area but please, stick some affordable housing somewhere so that Chinatown doesn't become a sterilized neighborhood for only the rich.
 
Is a large development possible at this spot? Does it sit above the tunnel or is it on solid ground?
 
Piggy-backing on Kent's question, what are the FAA limits for these sites?
 
KentXie said:
Is a large development possible at this spot? Does it sit above the tunnel or is it on solid ground?
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Terra Firma. I think actually that this garage was actually cut in half to dig the dewey sq tunnel back in the day.

In theory redevelopment could also include air rights over the adjacent on-ramp - either as cantilever or with structural connection.
 
DZH22 said:
Piggy-backing on Kent's question, what are the FAA limits for these sites?
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Looks like 720' and it sits next to the 93-south tunnel, but not over it.

ABoClZ3.jpg
 
720? I see 750-800.

Either way, taller than these sites will ever get
 
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