纽
约唐人街向来不以整洁而闻名。明年，那里的卫生状况可能变得更糟。一项用于特殊街道清洁及垃圾收集的540万美元的资金即将用光，并重新引发了将该地区转为商业改善区(BID)的呼吁。
Mustafah Abdulaziz for The Wall Street Journal
上周五在纽约唐人街Forsyth路，水果商贩的纸盒堆在路边。
华埠共同发展机构行政总监陈作舟（Wellington Chen）说，目前尚不清楚我们明年年初做什么。
根据由纽约市长运作办公室发布的街道清洁度等级，2009年唐人街的清洁度已由2001年的64.6%提高到88.5%，但仍低于全市平均的95.8%。
华埠共同发展机构正在抓住机会重新提议将唐人街转变为一个商业改善区以偿付额外清理费。但自上世纪90年代以来，该地区的业主已两次拒绝商业改善区的方案，反对意见依然非常强烈。
陈作舟说，要创建商业改善区需经绝大多数业主投票通过；商业改善区是一种公私合作的伙伴关系，由成员支付评估费。他以布鲁克林区(Brooklyn)的Bedford-Stuyvesant及皇后区(Queens) 的法拉盛(Flushing)为例，指出商业改善区方案可能要经过数十年方能通过。纽约市长彭博(Michael Bloomberg一直是商业改善区的坚定拥护者。目前该市已有64个商业改善区，另有十多个已经提议筹建。
一些唐人街上的商人说，成为商业改善区并非问题的争取答案。他们是这会增加小型经营者的成本，并给予缺席的房主们更大的发言权。他们还说，问题的原因是纽约市数十年来的忽视。
即便业主不想参与，唐人街每家物业的费用可能会达每年5千美元。
唐人街及东下区保护联合会( Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side)的组织者Josephine Lee说，大量的成本将转嫁至低收入的小型经营者。
一直住在唐人街的居民Paul Lee说，自"9.11"恐怖袭击以来，小生意锐减，评估只会使事态恶化。他说，随便问个小生意人就知道他们是否愿意每年额外付1,000美元。
唐人街居民Jan Lee的家族自1920年代以来就在此拥有产业，他一直站在反对设立商业改善区的前沿。他说，这是迄今成立的一个最不民主的半官方机构。
作为市政中心居民联合会(Civic Center Residents Coalition)负责人，Jan Le说，对运行商业改善区有发言权的缺席业主们根本不了解社区的担忧。
尽管有这样那样的批评，其它一些业主支持商业改善区的提议。他们说，唐人街是个交通流量大的旅游区，需要额外关注清洁问题。
在唐人街拥有两栋商业建筑的Benjamin Partners公司的Michael Salzhauer在此经营已有25年。他说，人们已经忘了进行特殊清理前的唐人街是什么样子了。他说，此前，对喜欢唐人街的人来说，清洁是又一个障碍。
Joseph De Avila
Chinatown has never had a reputation for being a tidy neighborhood. Next year, it might get even worse.
A $5.4 million grant that paid for extra street cleaning and garbage pickup is about to run out, reviving a call to bring a business improvement district to the neighborhood.
For four years, the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp., a nonprofit business group, has relied on a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., a city-state agency that handed out federal aid after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
'We don't know what we will do at the beginning of next year,' Mr. Chen said.
Chinatown's street cleanliness grade issued by the mayor's Office of Operations has improved from 64.6% in 2001 to 88.5% in 2009, an improvement but still below the city average of 95.8%.
The Chinatown Partnership is taking the opportunity to renew a campaign to organize the neighborhood into a business improvement district to pay for the extra cleanup. But property owners have twice rejected BIDS since the 1990s, and opposition remains intense.
It takes a majority vote of property owners to create a BID, a public-private partnership where members pay assessment fees, said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership. He said a BID can take decades to pass, pointing to districts in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a strong champion of the districts; there are 64 now and a dozen more are proposed.
Some Chinatown businesses say that becoming a BID is not the right answer. They say it increases costs on small businesses and gives to strong a voice to absentee landlords. They also say that the reason for the problem is decades of neglect by the city.
Fees in Chinatown could run up to $5,000 annually per property -- even if the property owners don't want to participate.
'A lot of those costs are going to be pushed down to the low-income small businesses,' said Josephine Lee, an organizer with the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side.
Small businesses have been decimated in Chinatown since 9/11, said Paul Lee, a lifelong resident in Chinatown. An assessment would only exacerbate the situation, he said. 'Ask any one of these small businesses if they are willing to pay an extra $1,000 a year,' Mr. Lee said.
Jan Lee, a Chinatown resident whose family has owned property there since the 1920s, has been at the forefront of the opposition to a BID. 'It is the most undemocratic, quasi-government agency every formed,' he said.
Absentee property owners who would have a voice in running the BID don't know the concerns of the community, said Jan Lee, director of the Civic Center Residents Coalition.
Despite the criticisms, other property owners are supporting the proposed BID. They say that with the neighborhood being such a high-traffic, tourist area, cleanliness will always need extra attention.
'I think people forget what it was like' before the extra cleanup, said Michael Salzhauer of Benjamin Partners, which owns two commercial buildings in Chinatown. He has been doing business in Chinatown for about 25 years. 'Prior to that, cleaning it was another obstacle to people enjoying it.'
Joseph De Avila
A $5.4 million grant that paid for extra street cleaning and garbage pickup is about to run out, reviving a call to bring a business improvement district to the neighborhood.
For four years, the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corp., a nonprofit business group, has relied on a grant from the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., a city-state agency that handed out federal aid after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
'We don't know what we will do at the beginning of next year,' Mr. Chen said.
Chinatown's street cleanliness grade issued by the mayor's Office of Operations has improved from 64.6% in 2001 to 88.5% in 2009, an improvement but still below the city average of 95.8%.
The Chinatown Partnership is taking the opportunity to renew a campaign to organize the neighborhood into a business improvement district to pay for the extra cleanup. But property owners have twice rejected BIDS since the 1990s, and opposition remains intense.
It takes a majority vote of property owners to create a BID, a public-private partnership where members pay assessment fees, said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership. He said a BID can take decades to pass, pointing to districts in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn and Flushing, Queens. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been a strong champion of the districts; there are 64 now and a dozen more are proposed.
Some Chinatown businesses say that becoming a BID is not the right answer. They say it increases costs on small businesses and gives to strong a voice to absentee landlords. They also say that the reason for the problem is decades of neglect by the city.
Fees in Chinatown could run up to $5,000 annually per property -- even if the property owners don't want to participate.
'A lot of those costs are going to be pushed down to the low-income small businesses,' said Josephine Lee, an organizer with the Coalition to Protect Chinatown and Lower East Side.
Small businesses have been decimated in Chinatown since 9/11, said Paul Lee, a lifelong resident in Chinatown. An assessment would only exacerbate the situation, he said. 'Ask any one of these small businesses if they are willing to pay an extra $1,000 a year,' Mr. Lee said.
Jan Lee, a Chinatown resident whose family has owned property there since the 1920s, has been at the forefront of the opposition to a BID. 'It is the most undemocratic, quasi-government agency every formed,' he said.
Absentee property owners who would have a voice in running the BID don't know the concerns of the community, said Jan Lee, director of the Civic Center Residents Coalition.
Despite the criticisms, other property owners are supporting the proposed BID. They say that with the neighborhood being such a high-traffic, tourist area, cleanliness will always need extra attention.
'I think people forget what it was like' before the extra cleanup, said Michael Salzhauer of Benjamin Partners, which owns two commercial buildings in Chinatown. He has been doing business in Chinatown for about 25 years. 'Prior to that, cleaning it was another obstacle to people enjoying it.'
Joseph De Avila
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