Chatham Towers and Chatham Green Withdraw from The Chinatown Working Group

Chatham Green co op photo: midcenturymundane

Chatham Towers co op photo: condodomain

In an emailed letter today two residential co ops informed the CWG co-chairs that their properties and volunteer boards are formally withdrawing from the planning exercise known for the last two years as "The Chinatown Working Group". Danny Chen submitted the following statement:

"To: Members of the Chinatown Work Group

With this letter we would like to announce the withdrawal of our two buildings, Chatham Green and Chatham Towers, from active participation in the Chinatown Work Group. We each have our reasons for withdrawing but we have common hopes and concerns which we would like to share with you.

Two years ago, when presented with the opportunity to participate in what appeared to be a

ground breaking effort to bring the minds and voices of our community together, we deliberated on the pros and cons of participating. The pessimistic view said that the effort would be mired in politics while the optimistic view saw a wonderful opportunity to amplify our own voices to get the City to focus on the right issues for our community. Looking back, we can say there were elements of the CWG that both the optimists and the pessimists could point to in support of their views.

As members of volunteer boards for our respective co-ops, we are forced to choose where

we focus our time and attention. Despite our best efforts to open the organization to different

modes of communication and participation, CWG participation remains constrained to the once monthly in-person meetings - with alternate meetings occurring during business hours. Our calls to open up the CWG mail list to facilitate member to member communications have been met with puzzling resistance. There is no better example of this than this very letter - which we are forced to route through the co-chairs for distribution. We also note that our suggestions for weighted voting for “decision making” seems have fallen off the agenda for discussion.

Despite all this, we feel that our participation in the CWG has been worthwhile. We have met

some truly dedicated people who sacrifice much for our community. On the flip side, we have

also met people from outside of our community with a disproportionate voice in the CWG.

Navigating the politics of trying distinguish altruistic volunteers from potential carpet baggers

has been an interesting experience.

The draft Preliminary Action Plans represent a good amount of work and captures some of

the issues that are relevant to our community. And while we have often objected to co-chairs

stepping beyond their roles as “facilitators” and instead acting like former President Bushstyle

“deciders”, we commend all co-chairs, past and present, for taking on the facilitator role. It

is a difficult role but we should all remember that when one makes a unilateral decision, voices

are being silenced.

We end this letter with well wishes and a note of caution. Even though much work has gone

into drafting the various Preliminary Action Plans, even more work is required to keep these

documents “alive”. These documents should have an “expiration date”. Otherwise, future

decision makers may be basing their direction on ideas that have gone “rancid”.

Respectfully,

Danny Chen, Chatham Green

Jeanie Chin, Chatham Towers

NYers still living behind post-9/11 checkpoints - Washington Post - CCRC contributorsParlk

By EVA DOU

The Associated Press
Wednesday, July 7, 2010; 3:06 PM

NEW YORK -- The street below Danny Chen's window in lower Manhattan has changed over the last decade from a bustling four-lane thoroughfare to an empty road lined with police barricades.

To get home each day, Chen has to present his ID at a police checkpoint. When the officer lowers the metal gate into the ground to let him in, he drives through as quickly as he can. More than once, the barricade has risen too soon, lifting his wife's minivan into the air.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the New York Police Department barricaded off its headquarters on Park Row. About 2,000 residents in two apartment complexes found themselves living inside a security zone.
Nine years later, they still are.
Many vehicles, including commercial traffic, are forbidden on the street, which used to be a key link between the Financial District and Chinatown.
"This used to be a bustling area," said Chen, a 52-year-old software engineer. "Now, it's ghost-townish."
In big cities across the country, security planters, metal gates and the concrete slabs called Jersey barriers have sprung up near government buildings.
Washington, D.C., is littered with bollards. Nearly half of Los Angeles' financial district is now partially restricted, according to a study at the University of Colorado Denver. Roads across dams have been closed to traffic for security concerns.
"I don't want us to lose a way of life that we've had, but sometimes we have to consider security, too," said Pace University Professor Joe Ryan, whose daily commute has been rerouted because of a road closure over the Kensico Dam in Valhalla.

The restrictions are especially noticeable to those sharing a backyard with the NYPD.
Park Row residents say ambulance response times have risen and traffic has become bottlenecked since they began living behind barricades.
Business owners say foot traffic has plummeted. Paul Lee says his family's 113-year-old general store folded in 2003 because of the new security measures."The suppliers don't want to come down anymore, and you have no more customers," Lee said.

Those who live and work behind the barricades say 9/11 is when everything changed, but, in a way, their struggle started long before.
John Ost, who lives near Park Row, says community members opposed the arrival of the police headquarters in the 1970s. They fought the transformation of a public parking lot to a police-only lot. They filed a lawsuit against the NYPD for constructing a $30 million command center next door, which they say makes the neighborhood an even bigger terrorism target.
Local elected officials also want Park Row reopened. Last month, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., and other politicians sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urging that the street be reopened.
"Right after 9/11, you say, 'OK, fine,' but nine years later, people are saying, 'How much longer am I going to have to suffer?'" Nadler said.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Amy Kudwa said the department has received the letter and will respond directly rather than through the media.

Residents have had some wins, such as when a judge ordered police to stop using a park as a parking lot.
But for the most part, the interests of police - and ostensibly, public security - have won out. The eastern half of the street, from the Brooklyn Bridge to Chatham Square, has been closed to commuter traffic even as other spaces have reopened. Three other streets near headquarters have been blocked off entirely or partly.
Police officials say most of Park Row must be blocked off to protect its headquarters against terrorist threats, especially truck bombs.
One problem is that the security interests of police and the community don't always align.
The barricades, for example, stand right outside the Chatham Towers apartments. Resident Jeanie Chin, 61, said any bombing attempt to disable the barricades would occur at a safe distance from police headquarters - but right on her doorstep.
"They seem to be completely disregarding the safety of people who are living here and actually providing a human shield," said Chin, who works at a PR firm.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said he understands residents' frustration, but the street will remain closed.

"People are burdened by it, they're inconvenienced by it," he said. "And we're sensitive to that issue, but unfortunately I can't see opening it."
Besides the practical inconveniences, some residents dislike the emptiness of the street. Park Row today has an abandoned air, with a rust-streaked median and thistles creeping out of cracks in the asphalt.
"It feels like a war zone," Ost said.
There are some residents who like the tight security. Elaine Nachanis, 76, has lived on the street for 48 years and says she feels safer.
"As long as there's the word 'terrorism' in the dictionary, we need it," she said.
But Ost says the police brought the security risks along with them when they set up headquarters in the neighborhood, about a mile south of their old home in Little Italy.
"We thought we could coexist with the police department, but they're making it difficult," he said.
Residents say they are angry that their neighborhood is being sacrificed for a greater security cause.
"If this were Park Avenue, not Park Row, this wouldn't have happened," said Chen, referring to the more prestigious Manhattan address.
Chen says despite the inconveniences, he isn't considering moving.
"My parents moved into Chatham Green in 1963," he said. "I got my own place here in '95. I'm just trying to defend home."
(This version corrects that politicians' letter was sent last month.)

John Gambling Radio Show - Jeanie Chin, CCRC

SLIDESHOW

  Previous        Next    

This Thursday, July 1, 2010 photo barricades placed in the middle of Park Row in New York. Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the New York Police Department barricaded off its headquarters. About 2,000 residents in two nearby apartment complexes found themselves living inside a security zone. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)(Mary Altaffer - AP)