Chinatown BID Hearing May 26th 10:am PUBLIC HEARING

CHINATOWN BID STEERING COMMITTEE

On behalf of

THE CITY COLNCIL

NOTICE OF A PUBLIC HEARING

The City Council, by resolution adopted on May 11,2011, set May 26,2011 as the date, 10:00 a.m. as the time, and the City Council Hearing Room, 16th Floor, 250 Broadway, New York, New York 10007, as the place for a public hearing (the "Public Hearing") to hear all persons interested in the proposed legislation which would establish the Chinatown Business Improvement District (the "District") in the Borough of Manhattan. The District shall be established in accordance with a district plan (the "District Plan") on file at the Office of the City Clerk.

The City Council has authorized the Chinatown BID Steering Committee to mail, on its behalfl this notice of the Public Hearing containing the information required by Section 25-406(c) of the Administrative Code of the City of New york and summarizing the resolution adopted.

The District Plan provides that the proposed District shall include properties in an area generally bounded by Broome Street to the north, Broadway to the west, Allen Street to the east, and Madison and Worth Streets to the south. Services in the District shall include, but not be limited to sanitation, holiday decorations, marketing, transportation management

and parking, advocacy, administration ofthe District and additional services required for the enjoyment and protection of the public and the promotion and enhancement of the District (hereinafter "services").

Pursuant to the District Plan, capital improvements (hereinafter "lmprovements") may include, but shall not be limited to: streetscape improvements;

sidewalk amenities such as lighting and street furniture; trees and plantings; open space enhancements and traffic calming improvements; and new trash receptacles. The Improvements shall be implemented on an as-needed basis.

During the existence of the BID, the maximum cost of the lmprovements, if any, shall not exceed $6,500,000. The District shall be managed by the chinatown District Management Association, Inc.

To defray the cost of Services and Improvements provided in the District, all real property in the District shall be assessed in proportion to the benefit such property receives from the Services and Improvements. Each property shall be assessed at a rate, determined annually by the Chinatown District Management Association, Inc., to yield an amount

sufftcient to meet the District's annual budget. The annual budget for the District's first year of operation is $1,300,000.

Those properties within the District which are devoted in whole or in part to retail, commercial or professional use, or mixed used with commercial and residential components shall constitute Class A properties and shall be assessed in accordance with the following formula:

Rate l: 0.5 xBudget-(TotalAssessmentsofClassB andC+Total$200&$5.000Assessments)

Total Class A, D, E, (0.5*F) & M Linear Front Feet (FF) Rate2: 0.5 xBudeet-(Total Assessments of ClassB andC +Total $200 & g5.000Assessments) Total Class A, D, E, (0.5*F) & M Assessed Value (AV)

Individual Assessment: (Rate I x Individual Property FF) + (Rate 2 x Individual Property AV)

For Class A property, there shall be a minimum assessment of $200 per annum. In addition, there shall be a maximum

assessment calculated as follows:

Maximum Assessment: Current Year Assessment Budget x $5.000

FY 2011 Assessment Budset For the first contract year, Rate I shall not exceed $15 per individual property linear front foot, and Rate 2 shall not exceed 0.0015 per each dollar ofindividual property assessed value.

Those properties within the District devoted in whole to residential uses shall constitute Class B properties and shallbe assessed at one dollar ($1.00) per tax lot per year.

Govemment and not-for-profit properties within the District devoted entirely to public or not-for-profit use shall constitute class C property and be exempt from District assessment. Govemment or not-for-profit owned property devoted in part to commercial or for-profit uses shall constitute class A property and the portion ofthe property devoted

to commercial/for-profit uses shall be assessed in the same manner as those properties listed in class A.

All vacant properties within the District, without structure or any commercial use, shall constitute Class D properties and shall be assessed at the Class A rate until such time as they receive a temporary certificate of

occupancy.

All properties within the District. used as parking lots shall constitute Class E properties and shall be assessed in the same manner as the Class A property.

All properties devoted in whole or in part to retail, commercial or professional use, or mixed-used with commercial and residential components, and located on one tax lot and within two business improvement districts, shall constitute class F properties and shall be assessed at 50-percent ofthe class A property rate.

All properties within the District devoted in part to commercial use and in part to residential condo or coop use shall constitute Class M propefty. The proportion ofthe property devoted to residential use shall be assessed at one dollar ($1.00) per annum. The proportion of the property, as determined by the Finance Department, devoted to commercial

use shall be assessed at the same rate as the Class A property.

The amount, exclusive ofdebt service, assessed and levied in any given year against benefited real properly within the District may not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the total general City taxes levied in such year against such properties.

Copies of the resolution adopted by the City Council, which include a copy of the District Plan, are available for public inspection from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Monday through Friday at the Office of the City Clerk located at 141 Worth Street, New York, New York 10013. In addition, copies of the resolution are available free of charge to the public at the Office of the City Clerk.

Any owner of real property, deemed benefited and therefore within the District, objecting to the District Plan, must file an objection at the Office of the Cif Clerk, on forms made available by the City Clerk, within thirty (30) days of the close of the Public Hearing concerning the establishment of the proposed District. If owners of at least fifty-one percent

(5 1%) of the assessed value of benefited real property situated within the boundaries of the District proposed for establishment, as shown on the latest completed ass€ssnieiit roli of the Ci6r, or at least fifty-one percent (5104) of the owners of benefited real property within the area included in the District proposed for establishment file objections with

the City Clerk, the District shall not be established.

PRESS CONFERENCE - Former Chinatown Partnership LDC employees speak out against a Chinatown Business Improvement District

we received this press advisory today from Chinese Staff and Workers:

What: Press Conference

Who: Chinese Staff & Workers' Association

When: Monday, December 20, 2010 at 2pm

Where: Chinese Staff & Workers' Association (55 Chrystie Street b/t Canal & Hester)

Why: On Monday, cleaning workers of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation (CPLDC), who is pushing the BID in Chinatown, will speak out against the BID and also against the management and gross misuse of public funds by CPLDC.

If the Chinatown “Business Improvement District” BID is successful, it will clean the Chinese people out of Chinatown.

“We all want a cleaner, healthier environment for our community, but not at the expense of displacing people who work and live here. We are in an economic crisis now. The City is already forcing us to pay higher fees and taxes. Now they want us to pay for services the City should be taking care of! They don’t care about small businesses here. They don’t care about working people here. They won’t be satisfied until all the Chinese are gone,” said Xiu Yun Guo, resident and worker in Chinatown.

“I was fired after working at CPLDC for two years, because I did not give a red envelope to the management. Only those who bribed the management got to keep their jobs. My co-workers couldn’t take any time off to take care of their family. They pushed out those who were older. And the management doesn’t do anything all day except goof around. Are these the kind of people who can really improve Chinatown?!” said Mr. Sun a former cleaning worker at CPLDC.

Click here to hear Phil Grossman -Coalition Against the Chinatown B.I.D. re: complaint filed with LMDC against Chinatown Partnership LDC

On November 10th 2010 Phillip Grossman, an attorney representing the Coalition Against the Chinatown B.I.D. sent a letter to the Lower Manhattan Development Committee alerting them to what amounts to be a "Grossly wasteful expenditure of your $5,400,000.00 Clean Streets program-grant", by the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp. The Coalition's complaint is based on an analysis of the "Partnership's" 990 forms which are required for non-profits to file with the IRS. CPLDC's 990 form 2006 2007 2008 that The Coalition Against the Chinatown BID obtained through a "Freedom of information Law (FOIL)" request, since the Chinatown Partnership does NOT post their 990's on their own website, is a serious point of contention for years by business and property owners in Chinatown.

Click here to hear a podcast of Mr. Grossman's testimony.

The letter reads as follows:

PHILIP J. GROSSMAN

ATTORNEY AT LAW

NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10013

November 10, 2010

Lower Manhattan Development, Corp.

One Liberty Plaza

New York, NY 10006

ATTN: David EMIL, President

Re: Grossly wasteful expenditure of your $5,400,000.00 Clean Streets program grant to CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

Dear Mr. David Emil:

I represent various local property owners and the groups known as the coalition of Business And property owners, and The Coalition Against The CHINATOWN B.I.D., in connection with this complaint to your agency. The local property owners whom I represent, and whom are affiliated with the above-mentioned groups, have been adversely affected by the gross waste of the $5,400,000.00 clean streets program grant to the CHINATOWN PARTNERSHTP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP.

In support of our complaint of grossly wasteful expenditures, I enclose our "ANALYSIS OF CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION CLEAN STREETS EXPENDITURES under AGREEMENT #: M07-571* For PERIOD FROM January 01, 2006 to June 30,2009, with supporting schedule and documentation. Our analysis is limited to the period from January 01, 2005 to June 30, 2009, because financial statements for the period

after June 30 , 2009, are not yet available from the CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP.

The basis of our complaint, is that based on the above described analysis of financials for the period from January 01, 2006 to June 30, 2OO9 in which the CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP. expended $2,025,352.00 of your agency's clean streets program grant, it appears that only $633,608.00 was actually expended on street cleaning and maintenance, which is only 31.3.percent of the total funds expended for the period.

Furthermore, under: the 8/I/2008 addendum to the contract between the CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP. and the street cleaning sub-contractor BLOCK BY BLOCK (copy attached, ) the parties to the contract agreed that the sub-contractor BLOCK BY BLOCK, would be reimbursed for it's street cleaning management personnel, and which reimbursement in fact did occur. See copies attached of BLOCK BY BLOCK invoices.

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Therefore, in view of the fact that the street cleaning sub-contractor Block By Block was managing Chinatown street cleaning crew, it is astounding and amazing that, the "CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP. expended $583,266.00* on management personnel, out of total expenditures of $2,025,352, for the period from January 01,2006 to, June 30, 2oo9, or 28 percent of the total fund expended for the period.

Furthermore local property owners, and. store owners, have been damaged by the gross waste of your agency's street cleaning grant by the CHINATOWN PARTNERSHIP LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP., in fact they have not derived the full benefit of your agency’s street cleaning grant, as only 31.3 percent of the grant was actually expended on street cleaning and maintenance.

Therefore, we respectfully request that your agency investigate, what appears to be, a gross waste of the clean streets grant money by the CHINATOWN LOCAL DEVELOPMENT CORP., and we also respectfully request that you seek recoupment, of what appears to be,

grossly wasted grant money.

Philip J. Grossman

Lower Manhattan Development Corp., One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor,

York, NY 10006, ATTN: Avi Schick, chairman Board of Directors

*The Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp. at one time had a staff of four, and currently has a staff of only two. The Executive Director's salary for several years has been over $100,000.00 annually. The cleaners hired by Block by Block number only ten people.