June 30, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

John A. Keith, a local real estate agent and owner of the Boston Real Estate Blog (great blog btw) posted:

Here are the immigration patterns for the past thirty-plus years. Foreign-Born Change: Top Ten Countries 1980-2000…  if you add up the #’s from the top ten, the number of people coming from Western Europe still outweigh the number of people coming from “non-Western European” countries.

Chinatown Blogger’s Grade School Math Calculations

Top 10 Immigrant Group totals from European Countries (includes Soviet Union)
1980 - 250,355
1990 - 238,150
2000 - 160,596

Top 10 Immigrant Group totals from non-European Countries:
1980 - 9868
1990 - 58685
2000 - 215,073

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June 26, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Things to do to avoid donating to the City Budget (how not to get a parking fine)

Have you not already heard that the City budget is short or that the State needs another gazillion dollars to fix bridges and highways? The City of Boston has an answer to that problem: You! Or more specifically, handing out those orange color parking tickets. Disregard paying that fine? The powers that be has a Terminator-like seeking SUV that will wreck tow your vehicle.

Many people visit Chinatown each year. For those who do not have access to public transportation, driving and parking in Chinatown is their only means of getting here. However, some may not be aware of the rules of parking in the neighborhood. Just because a meter space exists, that does not mean a vehicle can be parked legally. Please check the parking signs at all times. The Blogger has a rule of thumb for parking: when in doubt of the space, do not park in the space.

1. Peak Hours Ban on Parking
Certain streets are barred from parking during weekday peak hours of 4pm-6pm. This is true for Kneeland and Essex Street. The Boston Transportation Department tow trucks and parking enforcement will be on these streets by 3:45pm waiting for the next sucker offender. Someone’s gotta pay the bills, right?

2. Watch out for Residents Parking Only and Street Cleaning signs
To avoid a ticket, watch out for resident parking only signs. Most of the signs are confusing to outsiders but take the time to read them and don’t assume anything. The difficulty with these types of parking spots is that during the day the spaces are available to anyone but at a certain time flips to resident parking only. Here is an example at Marginal Road. Between 10pm-6am the left side of the street is for resident parking only.

3. Out of Order Meters
When the meter is Out of Order you can legally park in the space unless there are posted signs indicating otherwise. The Out of Order meter will give you a 1 hour grace period, unless the meter is fixed within that time you were away and your vehicle may still be liable for a ticket. This applies only when the meter says “Out of Order”. Even if the meter is malfunctioning (after you deposited several quarters) but displays the blinking time of 0:00, you will still be ticketed. Do not even attempt to place a brown paper bag or paper saying meter is out of order. The parking enforcement officer’s job is to write tickets, not check if meters are functioning properly. FYI: meters only take quarters which gives increments of 15min, so make sure you have enough.

4. Do Not Leave Vehicle Unattended or Double-Park
Do not leave your vehicle for even 5 minutes (unless emergency). Do not think that you can outrun the enforcement officers. The Boston Transportation Department drives a van around the block with 4-5 Terminators officers inside. The Chinatown Blogger has seen them cover a whole street block with tickets in a minute and then disappear.

5. Park in a Lot
Sometimes the best way to avoid a parking fine is to well… pay for a parking lot. There are many parking lots around Chinatown and when you need a space quick, that may be the best bet than to risk the wrath of the parking enforcer. Drive and park safely.

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June 25, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Rule #1: Do not move if you do not want to get hurt.

This was the first time the Chinatown Blogger had seen anything like this. He had heard about it, but has never witnessed one in person. Yesterday, at the JFK/UMass Red Line stop going towards Boston around 7:30pm, a man with a portable CD player walked in and shouted, “Who wants to see a single Black man dance?” He laid out 3 rules: 1) Do not move if you do not want to be hurt, 2) Clap if you see something good, and 3) Donate money if you like what you saw. He cleared the aisles and proceeded to… dance. (OK, so this blog isn’t exactly about Chinatown but the train was going towards Chinatown.)

Rule #2: Clap if you see something you like.

Rule #3: Donate if you like what you just saw.

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June 25, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

There are 2 housing-related terms that are commonly misunderstood: luxury housing and affordable housing. For this post, we will talk just about affordable housing.

Last year, the Chinatown Blogger conducted 10 focus groups in Chinatown with 93 participants. (And what!? You thought the Chinatown Blogger was some ET dropped from space to blog about Chinatown?) To gather diverse opinions and views, focus groups included a broad segment of the community organized by age groups, different occupations, and Chinatown residents/non-residents. There was one common mis-interpretation when participants in the focus groups were asked about what they thought was affordable housing? The most common (and incorrect) answer was: Whatever that I can pay!

The problem with understanding what affordable housing is due to the complicated formulas drawn up by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). When a developer says: “We are building 15% affordable on-site with an income of 80%-120%…” most people would scratch their head at that statement. To understand these terms, let’s look at the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s figures on affordability. The table can be accessed from the City of Boston’s website.

By using the 100% as the barometer in the 1st table, a single person making up to $60,050/yr is eligible for an affordable unit. In the 2nd table, a maximum set price is given for a home purchase based on the number of bedrooms. The 3rd table is maximum rent the developer is allowed to charge for a rental unit. Again, using the 100% as the barometer for a rental unit, a developer can charge $1,501/month for an affordable studio apartment. Developers have the option to increase the income guidelines from 100% up to 120% of the income limits for an affordable unit (vice versa they can decrease to 30% of income if they wish).

Based on the 120% income guidelines, a single person can make up to $72,050/yr and be charged a maximum of $1,801 for a studio apartment. To summarize, if at 100% income limit the maximum rent for a studio is $1,501 or if at 120% of income limit, the maximum rent is $1,801… that doesn’t sound too affordable considering that the average median household income for Boston residents is ~$40,000/yr.

The problem with some of the affordability data is because Greater metropolitan Boston communities with higher incomes are included to compute the guidelines.While we have highlighted just a single person, how would these affordability guidelines affect, say, a young couple/family of 2 working adults. The 100% income is $68,650/yr, which is plausible if each adult worked full-time and made $34,325/yr ($82,350/yr combined if at 120%). A 1 bedroom at 100% eligibility would equate to $1,716/mo. Can this young couple afford the rent? Yes, because $1,716 x 12 and then divided by $68,650 equals to 30% of their income. But can a 1-bedroom asking $1,716 still be considered affordable? That is a decision this hypothetical young couple would have to decide.

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June 24, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

In about May 2007, Tufts University grad students Emily Cohen, Amy Mattlage, Matt Reardon and Chia-Hui Shen from the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program conducted a Chinatown housing inventory report titled “Housing in Chinatown: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”.

The students and the Tufts University program worked in collaboration with a community group, the Chinese Progressive Association, for guidance and input. The purpose of the student’s work was to combine both classroom learning and field work. The Blogger makes this note here because some of their findings will be used in this post. (Can’t upload the report here as file is too big).

The previous post we had wondered if inclusionary zoning was good or bad? Inclusionary zoning is the policy of setting a percentage of the total housing development for affordable units in exchange for density exemptions or fast-tracked permitting. Commercial developments are governed by a policy called linkage.

The Tufts students’ report gave a breakdown of affordable units built since 2000. The 1st number are market-rate, the 2nd in parentheses are the affordable units through inclusionary zoning.

Archstone: 365 (*10)
Lincoln Plaza: 76 (11)
Metropolitan: 136 (115)
32 Boylston: 16 (2)
*Lofts Avana: 29 (3)

Total: Marke-rate: 622 (Affordable: 141)

*Archstone was originally obligated to provide 30 affordable units, but negotiated a payout for 20 units with the Hong Lok House.
* At the time of the report in May 2007, Lofts Avana was not completed.
Source: “Housing in Chinatown: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow”

There are other projects in the pipeline that will eventually boost the number of affordable units created by inclusionary zoning (120 Kingston/Dainty Dot, Parcel 24, Rogerson Communities/Hong Lok House) but as of right now Chinatown has seen an increase of 141 more affordable units. Chinatown recorded a total of 3,274 housing units in Census 2000.

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