April 25, 2007 by Chinatown Blogger.

In the November 2006 midterm elections over 400 Asian American voters in Boston’s Chinatown, Dorchester Quincy, and Lowell were surveyed as part of AALDEF’s national multilingual exit poll. The exit poll — the largest nonpartisan survey of its kind in the nation — was conducted in 23 cities in 9 states.

At this special presentation, comparative information will be given about Asian American voting patterns, attitudes on immigration reform, important issues for the 2008 Presidential elections, first-time voters, party enrollment, English proficiency and voting barriers.

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Monday, April 30, 2007 11 AM to 12 Noon
Chinese Progressive Association
28 Ash St, between Nassau and Oak Streets
Chinatown, Boston

Directions:
T Orange Line to New England Medical Center. Around the corner from Emergency Room Entrance. Light refreshments will be served.

RSVP: 800.966.5946 x200 or info@aaldef.org

Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund in cooperation with Asian Pacific American Agenda Coalition, Asian American Lawyers Association of Massachusetts, Chinese Progressive Association, Greater Boston Legal Services, Asian Outreach Unit, MassVOTE, ONE Lowell, Vietnamese American Initiative for Development

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April 25, 2007 by Chinatown Blogger.

First ever Asian Pacific American Heritage Month Celebration held at the Massachusetts State House.

DATE: May 7, 2007
TIME: 11:30 pm - 1:30 pm
LOCATION: The State House, Great Hall
Food from a variety of Asian restaurants will be served

Come meet your legislators and learn about the state of Asian Americans in Massachusetts. Paul Watanabe, the Director of the the Institute for Asian American Studies will be presenting the Institute’s finding , from their recent report, “Far From the Commonwealth, Low Income Asian Americans in Massachusetts.”

Also in attendance will be organizations that work for and represent the Asian American community in Massachusetts. We hope that you will join us for this wonderful event. It will be a great opportunity to meet legislators and other leaders from the Asian American communities of Massachusetts.

Sincerely,
The Asian American Commission
The Asian Community Development Corporation &
The Institute for Asian American Studies

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April 14, 2007 by Chinatown Blogger.

On Tuesday, April 24, the Asian-American Civic Association will host a community forum about Chinatown with Mayor Thomas Menino. The forum is in AACA’s building at 200 Tremont St . , near the Boylston T-station, from 12:30 to 1:30 pm. The forum is free and open to the public, but you must RSVP with AACA to save a seat. You can call 617-426-9492 x312 or e-mail (rsvp@aaca-boston. org) to RSVP.

IF YOU WILL BE AT THE FORUM WITH MAYOR MENINO, PLEASE CONSIDER WEARING YOUR YELLOW CHINATOWN LIBRARY CAMPAIGN T-SHIRT, TO KEEP THE PUSH FOR A LIBRARY VISIBLE TO THE AUDIENCE, AND ESPECIALLY TO THE MAYOR.

If you don’t have it but want to buy a Library Campaign T-shirt, please contact Lisette Le at the Chinese Progressive Association: 617-357-4499, or lisette@cpaboston. org.

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April 12, 2007 by Chinatown Blogger.

Project Description:
Tufts University (Tufts) has submitted an Institutional Master Plan Notification Form/Project Notification Form (IMPNF/PNF) to the BRA for review and approval. Tufts is proposing a vertical expansion of five additional floors above the existing 10th floor of the existing School of Dental Medicine building located on One Kneeland Street at Tufts Health Sciences Campus in Boston.

Meeting Date/ Place:
6:30 PM, Wednesday, April 18, Metropolitan Building, 38 Oak Street, Boston

Close of Comment Period: April 24, 2007 FOR QUESTIONS OR TO SUBMIT COMMENTS CONTACT: MS. SONAL GANDHI BOSTONREDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, ONE CITY HALL SQUARE, 9TH FLOOR, BOSTON, MA 02201
FAX TO: 617-742-7783, PHONE: 617-918-4314
EMAIL: sonal.gandhi.bra@cityofboston.gov

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April 12, 2007 by Chinatown Blogger.

City Council Candidates Responds to Chinatown Issues

Next Tuesday, April 17 is the City Council District 2 elections. District 2 includes Chinatown, South Boston, Bay Village, Leather District and the South End. There are 7 candidates running. After the preliminary election on April 17, the final 2 candidates will square off in May. For those who may be unfamiliar with Chinatown politics, former District 2 City Councilor Jim Kelly passed away recently, thus creating the need for this special election. The candidates running for the City Council seat are:

Robert O’Shea
Bill Linehan
Brian Mahoney
Susan Passoni
Mary Cooney
Bob Ferrara
Ed Flynn

Seven candidates can be confusing. Let’s separate them by the issues. The Asian Pacific American Agenda Coalition (APAAC) submitted a questionnaire for each candidate to answer. There were seven questions in which each candidate can respond with a YES or NO. Some candidates chose not to answer some of the questions – which the Chinatown Blogger interprets as a NO. (Since none of the candidates actually gave a NO on any issue, any questions left unanswered was assumed to be a NO.)

These were the questions (and because the Chinatown Blogger hates cryptic messages, I will also explain in plain English what the implications for supporting each issue will be):

1) Creation of a City Planning Department which separates the planning and redevelopment (of the city)? (Plain English: This is an obvious attack on the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), the development arm of Mayor Menino. The criticism of the BRA is that there is a conflict of interest to act as both city planner and developer – with revenues gained from redevelopment primarily driving the city planning process. A YES on this questions means going against the Mayor.)
YES: O’Shea, Passoni, Cooney, Ferrera
NO: Linehan, Mahoney, Flynn

2) Tenants Right to Organize? (Plain English: Property owners and landlords generally do not like having their tenants organize. A NO means siding with the property owners.)
YES: O’Shea, Passoni, Cooney, Ferrera
NO: Linehan, Mahoney, Flynn

3) No more zoning relief for luxury towers around Chinatown? (Plain English: See question #1. Stop developers from continuing to violate the zoning codes. The BRA generates revenues by encouraging developers to build over the allowable zoning laws in the City – revenues before planning. The BRA would dispute what I just wrote.)
YES: O’Shea, Mahoney, Passoni, Cooney
NO: Linehan, Ferrera, Flynn

4) Retarget affordable housing resources to those most in need? (Plain English: The income affordability guidelines are out of whack, a person making $50k/yr is considered eligible for affordable housing. Use those money to build more low-income housing targeting people making incomes of $30k or less per year.)
YES: O’Shea, Mahoney, Passoni, Cooney, Ferrera
NO: Linehan, Flynn

5) Support Chinatown branch library? (Plain English: No-brainer why any of the candidates would not support it. It’s a safe issue.)
YES: Everyone

6) Support increased bilingual beat police (officers) and emergency medical technicians? (Plain English: Hire more Asian officers and ambulance helpers.)
YES: Everyone

7) Support integrated English ESOL and skills training? (Plain English: Spend money to help bilingual speakers with job training.)
YES: O’Shea, Linehan, Mahoney, Passoni, Cooney
NO: Ferrera, Flynn

Whew, that was a lot. Let me get back later and give some analysis of the candidates position and what people are saying in Chinatown. Also I’ll check in on what the word on the street is.

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