- Facing a Wednesday deadline, Senate Republicans offer a short-term rent law extender (Daily News).
- As the rent battle escalates, tenant advocates say Governor Cuomo has few opportunities left to “establish his credibility as a Democrat.” (Gotham Gazette)
- Another Karl Fischer-designed condo building is planned for the Bowery (Observer).
- A Buddhist nun is arrested on Canal Street for selling beads (DNA Info).
- Bees swarm in Chinatown (NY1).
- Feds say they need more authority to pull bad intercity bus operators off the road (AP/WSJ).
- Once again the Chinatown Working Group can’t muster a quorum (Our Chinatown).
- The Tao of 9 Second Avenue, a documentary film, offers a window into the neighborhood’s rich cultural past (Jeremiah).
re: Once again the Chinatown Working Group can’t muster a quorum (Our Chinatown)
From the perspective of a long time community organizer what
looks to some as a discouraging lack of progress or a too lengthy process is
actually quite the opposite. In the meeting that you mention, a few of the
quiet, long-time community members spoke up. They had been drowned out by those
of us who know how to talk and take up space. They spoke up with the common
sense approach that you get when you actually live the job of organizing. This
was/is very different. And there are members who are beginning to come from
tenant’s organizations.
Â
There is a core group and others who share a commitment to
the principles of Chinatown not falling to mindless overdevelopment, insuring
the protection of tenants and small business while having sound policies for
development that preserves Chinatown’s essential character and caters to the
community as well as to the economically necessary tourist trade.
Â
As I said elsewhere: we aren’t making McDonald’s hamburgers,
we are building a collective effort from very different viewpoints and time is
exactly what it takes.