January 26, 2010 by Chinatown Blogger.

The Asian Community Development Corporation, a Boston Chinatown-based CDC non-profit, is expanding their development portfolio to Quincy, MA. ACDC is known in Chinatown as the community developers for the mixed-use buildings Metropolitan at 1 Nassau St. and Oak Terrace at 888 Washington Street. As growth in Chinatown is limited by the parcels available for development, ACDC has been actively looking at projects outside of Chinatown. The project at 6 Fort Street reflects an ongoing trend of Chinatown-based businesses and agencies expanding into Quincy to serve the growing Chinese and Asian American population. Examples of this trend include the China Pearl Restaurant on Quincy Avenue and the South Cove Community Health Center on Hancock Street

The Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) recently announced it will be providing funding for 6 Fort Street, Quincy, MA as part of a $153.9 million effort aimed at building and preserving affordable rental housing statewide.  The awards to Asian Community Development Corporation include $2,048,502 in DHCD subsidies, $765,000 in federal tax credits, and $554,000 in state tax credits.

Six Fort Street is an approximately 34-family rental residential development in Quincy, MA. The project will represent the adaptive re-use of a partially historic building in a transit-oriented, Downtown Quincy Center location. The program responds to the new Quincy Center Zoning District’s Design Guidelines, while remaining sensitive to the surrounding, smaller-scale commercial and residential neighborhood.

Community Benefits
• Restoration of a predominantly vacant and neglected
building into a vibrant residential community
• Creation of 34 new smart growth, transit-oriented rental opportunities located near schools, retails services, and public ransportation
• Activation of Fort Street with ground floor community/
commercial space
• Enhancement of the pedestrian environment along Fort
Street through improved design of street-level facade
• Careful rehabilitation of an existing structure with a
sustainable, green design
• Long-term investment in the local community through ACDC’s continued ownership and community focused
management of the property
• Consistent source of property tax revenue for the City of
Quincy

http://www.asiancdc.org/content/6-fort-street-quincy-ma

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January 22, 2010 by Chinatown Blogger.

Boston Redevelopment Authority public notice for
275 Albany Street, Boston MA

On Monday, February 8 & 22, 2010, at 6:30pm the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s will conduct a community meeting, at the Project Place, 1145 Washington Street, to discuss the 275 Albany Street proposal.  BH Normandy 275 Albany Street LLC, proposes to construct a hotel development on the 1.27 acre parcel at 275 Albany Street, between Traveler and East Berkeley Street in Boston’s South End.   The project site, which was formerly used as a parking lot by the Teradyne Corporation, is currently vacant.   The proposal suggests two (2) hotels.   One a 16-story select service hotel with a restaurant on its first floor and the other a 9-story extended-stay hotel plus a 3-level, above grade parking garage with approximately 137 parking spaces, proposed to serve both hotels uses.   The hotels together will have approximately 408 rooms.   While the split between the two types has not been finally determined, current plans anticipate approximately 210 rooms in the select service hotel and approximately 198 rooms in the extended stay hotel.  The select service hotel will include an approximately 4,000 square-foot (approximately 267-seat) restaurant in its first floor.

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January 16, 2010 by Chinatown Blogger.

Dear Storefront Library Patrons, Supporters and Sponsors,

The last day of the Storefront Library at 640 Washington St. will be Sunday, January 17, 2010. If you haven’t had a chance to come by, please do! This weekend, in addition to storytime and a special science activity, we’ll be giving tours for the American Librarians’ Association Midwinter Conference.

Thank you to Archstone for extending the donation of the storefront space into 2010. The extension let us serve more patrons, gather more evaluation data, and capture the attention of librarians nationwide coming to Boston. We’re optimistic about what happens next—both for Chinatown and for other experiments in the model of the Storefront Library.

Click the link below for a detailed description of how we will disperse some of the components of the Storefront Library to seed emerging projects in the neighborhood, including a new community reading room in development by Friends of the Chinatown Library. We’ll continue to report on the progress of these projects and ongoing efforts to bring library services to the neighborhood at storefrontlibrary.org.

Although it’s time for us to move on from this space, Boston Street Lab is already working on several new ideas that build on what we’ve learned. Watch for a new outdoor project based on the language learning programs and translation services you experienced in the Storefront Library. So, although we’re moving on, we’re not going away—let’s keep in touch.

It has been a thrill and an honor to work on this remarkable project with all of you.

Leslie and Sam Davol
Boston Street Lab

http://www.storefrontlibrary.org/2010/01/15/time-to-move-on/#more-3062

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January 13, 2010 by Adam.

This morning I gave a Kung Fu Demonstration for the ABCD Headstart Church Health Fair.

The purpose of the fair was to educate local parents and there children about various health services and programs that are available to them. The languages provided were Spanish Mandarin and Cantonese as far as I know.

I was asked to perform there by a friend of Master Ng, a school teacher turned Feng Shui Master who has been in the states for a couple of years. He had a friend that works at the Head Start church, which is located 112 Shawmut Ave by the way. He said I should take this opportunity to show the non-Chinese the health benefits of Kung Fu and Chi Gung.

After that I was contacted by the director who had a very go get ‘em attitude and a mandarin accent. I would perform at 10:00 am and get a gift card in exchange.

So, this morning four month old son woke up at 2:30 then 4:00 and then finally at 7:00 am.  I fed him each time, but didn’t start getting ready to leave until 8:00am. Finally at 9:15 I started on the subway toward New England Medical Center stop. Here I got off and rushed over to 112 Shawmut Ave. It was somewhat of a pain to get over here in the cold with a child, but I guess all the other parents had already arrived by 8:45am . The flyer said that is when the fair had started, showing a child doing the lion dance with the words “Free Stuff” in big underlined letters.

I watched on as  some toddler girls did a chinese dance with tamborines. Very cute. I picked my son out of the stroller to watch too. The dance teacher was a staff member. I looked around at the audience and saw that most were Chinese immigrants. When it was my turn I spouted which school I was in English to blank faces, and then switched into Cantonese, which impressed at least a few people in the front. (By the way I appear to be fully Caucasian though I am half Chinese.)

After two forms and gasping out where my school was etc. at the end again, I went over to the stroller to sweat with my son in the corner. After resting and being offered breakfast and gift cards I relaxed a little, and everyone started coming over to see my son. “Is this yours? Boy or girl? So Handsome, you should have more. At least two more. Maybe a girl ” and so my son got past around happily to a bunch of Chinese moms. He had more fun than he has had in a while and I got to practice my chinese.

I was struck by the energy in the room. It’s an energy that I tend not to feel when I am in older Chinatown organizations. Maybe its a generational thing. Maybe its a mainland China thing. The Chinese Immigrants that have just come over seem more ready to do things, fight for things,  take action. I  was impressed by the crowd and the general energy of the organization.

I was told to bring my son there at three years old to learn Chinese.

We’ll see, but in the mean time if you happen to be from Chinatown and have young kids, check it out. 112 Shawmut Ave.

To learn more about Lion Dance and Kung fu Contact Adam Cheung at

acheung-whitecrane@hotmail.com

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