Bilingual Ballots?

July 25, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

The last time we had written about the bilingual ballot question was when the Boston City Council passed a home rule petition back on May 14, 2008. We will summarize what the issue is and what is happening now.

The Chinese Progressive Association had filed a complaint in 2003 with the Department of Justice (DOJ) that some voters in Chinatown had their rights violated while inside the polling booths. (The Blogger had heard stories that ballots were altered by poll booth workers, taking advantage of the limited-English skills of some voters, or the elderly being coerced to vote for a certain candidate.) The City of Boston and the DOJ reached a compromise to include Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish ballots available to voters if requested at the polling booth. The agreement was to end in 2008.

In 2007, Secretary of State Galvin opposed continuing bilingual ballots. Galvin claimed that the translations were inaccurate and would increase  costs to the state. The Chinatown community petitioned the City of Boston, the City Council and Mayor Menino to request a home-rule petition from the state. The home-rule petition would allow for bilingual ballots to exist in the City of Boston, but not statewide. The City Council passed the bill unanimously and was signed by Mayor Menino.The bill is currently stalled in the State House of Representatives in the Rules Committee. Time is important as more delays will mean there will be no bilingual ballots for this election year. The past 2 weeks, some Chinatown residents and activists have been waiting outside Chinatown Rep. and House Speaker Sal DiMasi’s office in the State House as well as holding all-day vigils outsides to get the bill moving. While Speaker DiMasi has expressed support, Secretary of State Galvin has also gathered his supporters against the bill.

State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who represents Chinatown and has been an advocate for the community is seeking to broker a compromise. A possible scenario may involve having bilingual sample ballots available, but the sample ballots cannot be used to vote and can only be used as a reference.

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Parcel 12 in Banker’s Tradesman

July 25, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Have to give credit where credit is due. Found this article through John Keith’s Real Estate blog. He posted a link to an article published by the Banker and Tradesman on the Rex Sox interest in purchasing Boston Arts Academy building in Fenway. Now some of the dominoes are starting to fall in place. The Chinatown Blogger suspected there was more to the story than the Boston Redevelopment Authority saying that moving the Arts Academy to Parcel 12 made sense because the site was in the Theater District.

The Red Sox gets the building on Ipswich Street. The City and the BRA gets paid $13.2 million. The school gets a new building and will be nearby Emerson College, one of six colleges that helped found the academy. The community gets a library. Janet Marie, Boston Red Sox staff architect said, “We are watching this with great interest, but the last thing we want to do is appear as though we are pushing the school out.” Is this a win-win situation?

The the entire text of the Banker & Tradesman article has been pasted here:

“Sox Have Eyes On Another Fenway Parcel
By Thomas Grillo
Banker & Tradesman Reporter

A plan to move a Boston performing arts high school from the Fenway to the Theatre District could give the Red Sox a chance to expand their real estate holdings around Fenway Park.

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino wants to build a new Boston Arts Academy on a city-owned parking lot wedged between the Doubletree Hotel and the Tufts Medical Center at Tremont and Washington streets. If approved, the city would sell the high school now located at 176 Ipswich St., behind Fenway Park, and put the proceeds toward the new $100 million school. The 157,146-square-foot Fenway building is assessed at $13.2 million.

“We don’t have anything official to say about it,” said Janet Marie Smith, the Boston Red Sox staff architect. “We are watching this with great interest, but the last thing we want to do is appear as though we are pushing the school out.”

The Red Sox have been buying property around the park since a consortium headed by John Henry bought the team in 2002 for $660 million. Under the name of New England Sports Ventures, the team has purchased the former Sophia’s Latin Bar and Restaurant at 1270 Boylston St., a warehouse at 160-170 Ipswich St., the Town Taxi garages at 154-156 Ipswich St., WBCN’s former headquarters at 1265 Boylston St. and McDonald’s at 1282 Boylston St.

In addition, Michael Dee, the team’s chief operating officer, told Banker & Tradesman last fall that the ball club intends to purchase the parking garage behind the park at 49-67 Lansdowne St.

William Richardson, president of the Fenway Civic Association, said the Sox would be the likely buyer of any real estate on Ipswich Street. “My guess is that the Sox would create office space which would allow them to move people out of Fenway Park to make way for more ballpark-related uses at Fenway,” he said.

Posted on Thursday, July 24, 2008 (Archive on Thursday, August 28, 2008)”

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BRA Public Meeting on P-12 Boston Arts Academy Proposal

July 24, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Kairos Shen, Chief Planner for Boston Redevelopment Authority

The Boston Redevelopment Authority hosted a meeting in Chinatown last night to move the Boston Arts Academy to Parcel 12, a site adjacent to the Double Tree Inn and YMCA. The proposed design includes about 220,000 sq/ft on a lot that is roughly 20,000 sq/ft and includes a community library. Shen emphasized in his opening remarks that this is “not a done deal” but is here today to start the conversation with the community. Shen added that the BRA has looked into other sites in the Theater District but did not name any other sites.

Linda Nathan, co-headmaster of the Boston Arts Academy, talked about the history of the school. The academy was founded in 1998 by a pro-arts consortium of 6 colleges including Berkelee College of Music, Emerson College, and Museum of Fine Arts School. The school is currently located in Fenway on Ipswich Street.

Nathan said the school has 435 students with the student population make-up being 48% African American, 30% Latino, 17% White, 3% Asian, 2% Other. Currently, there are no students from Chinatown attending the Academy, but once the school moves in, Nathan said she will work with the admissions director to increase the Asian student enrollment. By locating the school within the Theater District, this will allow the school close proximity to Emerson College, the nearby theaters,  and easy access to public transportation.

The school received a $400,000 grant from the City to conduct a feasibility study on relocating the school. The estimated financial cost of building the school is estimated to be $100 million which will be funded through a combination of private and public grants. The academy has raised $7 million so far. Scott Butler, architect for the academy, described the layout of the proposed design. The school has been working on this “design for a year now.” The design would allow the school to expand its current facilities and allow for the creation of a theater and stage.

Scott Butler, Architect, for Boston Arts Academy.

Michael Boll(?) from the Boston Public School Operations was invited to attend and talk about the current status of the Josiah Quincy Upper School, which needs funds to finish renovations. BPS explained the process of how funds are allocated for school renovations. Each year a list of schools are submitted for funding and unfortunately the Quincy Upper School was not awarded any funds. He also talked about the complications of finding “swing space” in order to renovate the Josiah Quincy Upper School. Swing space is a temporary space used by the BPS to relocate the students during construction. The Upper School has 660 students. The nearby Quincy Elementary School has 826 students. Combined with the future Arts Academy there will be a total of about 1921 students between Washington and Tremont Street.

(Note: Thirteen million dollars are being held in escrow by the BRA for the Josiah Quincy Upper School renovations but is entangled in the mire called Hayward Place.)

Some notes about the meeting:

1. The Boston Arts Academy has a good mission and purpose to promote arts. The academy has a need for a larger space because it shares its facilities with the Fenway School.

2. Building another school in Chinatown is not a priority for the community, especially when the Josiah Quincy Upper School question is still not solved. (How would neighborhood parents feel: Their children going to a school that is lacking money from the City to renovate the facilities while the City puts up money for a brand new $100 million school next door? Are you kidding me?)

3. Placing the academy in Chinatown seems more of a desire by the City, BRA, Emerson College and the academy than from the community. Also, the Academy does not have a strong relationship with the Asian American community as evidenced by the low-enrollment rate, but to the school’s credit headmaster Nathan promises to work towards increasing Asian student enrollment.

4. BRA is holding $13 million in escrow from the sale of Hayward Place on Washington Street. The $13 million was intended to help with renovating the Josiah Quincy Upper School. Why not transfer Hayward Place from Millennium Partners, who is not doing anything with the site anyways, to the Boston Arts Academy?

5. Logistical challenges to integrating the library needs to be addressed further. For example: how to ensure the safety of students that shares a building where adults will utilize the library?

6. If the Academy really intends to share their theater/performance stage with the community, this could help other Chinatown groups that need the space to perform.

7. Despite Kairos Shen saying this is “not a done deal”, one gets the feeling that by the time the community meetings are held, the deal is already done? State Senator Dianne Wilkerson came out and spoke in support of the Academy and one assumes that Mayor Menino has given the green light. These community meetings may be all just song and dance. Refer to this Boston Globe article on Shen.

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HISTORY OF THE CHINATOWN MURAL - PART 2

July 23, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

Updated 7-24-08: Made minor edits.

The first post on the Chinatown Unity Mural explained the dynamic forces that led to the creation of the mural. The dynamic forces can be summarized as:

- The Chinatown community’s resistance to continued institutional expansion and the desire to preserve Parcel C site for future community use.

- New England Medical Center and Tufts University’s desire to build a garage to serve their needs.

- The City of Boston and the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s shifting stances on how to develop the Parcel C site. In 1988, the BRA sided with the community but changed their position in 1993 on a revised New England Medical Center proposal.

After the mural was demolished to pave the way for the 23-story Metropolitan, a replica was created and stored on the ground floor of the Metropolitan in 38 Ash Street. The images in the mural were meant to tell a story about the history of the community. This blog re-tells the same story the Chinatown Blogger once heard. (Note: One of the 2 artists for the project, David Fichter, has a personal website with photos of the Unity Mural.)

1. Chinatown Unity Mural (replica) -  The mural included images that were meant to represent the journey of the Chinese American experience.  The theme is woven together into a cloth by the seamstress in middle with the sewing machine. The seamstress is weaving the history of the Chinatown community.

2. Laundry men and Telephone Workers - The top portion of the mural tells the history of the Chinatown community. The first large group of Chinese workers came to Boston from North Adams, MA and supposedly lived in tents on Ping On Alley (ping on = peace). Ping On Alley still exists to this day. These early pioneers, all men, later worked on building telephone poles (upper right hand corner), as laundrymen, and restaurants. The elevated train tracks can be seen in picture. The elevated tracks at one time ran along Beach Street until they were tore down.

3. Urban Renewal - Changes in U.S. policies regarding redevelopment of urban centers had a profound impact on Chinatown. Chinatown was considered “urban blight” and major sections of the community were tore down to make way for institutional expansion of New England Medical Center and Tufts University. The construction of I-93 and I-90 also took away significant portions of the community. Chinatown lost between one-third to half of its land during this period. The mural symbolizes this loss with images of the crane with wrecking ball and the highway in the background

4. The Seamstresses - There was debate on what the central theme or image in the mural should be.The image of the seamstress was selected because women were were critical to the survival and continuation of the community. After passage by Congress of the Chinese Exlcusion Act in 1882 and subsequent laws,  limits were placed on the migration of Chinese to the U.S. In particular, women were denied entry to prevent the continuation of Chinese communities in the U.S. The male bachelor Chinatown population was slowly aging and dying. The War Brides Act in 1945 allowed Chinese American servicemen to marry Chinese women from overseas and start families here in Boston. Later bills relaxed the strict immigration quotas and the community was able to persevere. At one time, the garment industry was thriving and many factories employed Chinese women  as seamstresses. In the image, the seamstresses weaving the cloth are the central figures in the muralin terms of size and location.

5. Newcomers to Chinatown - In the right hand corner is a small image of a boat navigating through the storm. Somtimes referred as the “boat people”, the the boat people were refugees from Southeast Asia. Some of the refugees were Vietnamese who were of ethnic Chinese ancestry, but also included Cambodians and Laotians. Many shops and businesses in Chinatown (and Dorchester) today are owned by Vietnamese entrepreneurs.

6. Civil Rights Movement - Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, a younger generation of Chinese Americans advocated for equal rights for Chinatown and Chinese Americans. These young activists went on to form organizations to provide basic services that the community needed, worked to save Chinatown from urban renewal and institutional expansion, and adovcated for justice. The mural image of the sign that says: “JUSTICE FOR ASIANS” was based on an actual event. In 1986, an elderly Chinese man, Mr. Huang who did not speak English, was beaten by an undercover officer and suffered injuries. The police filed assault and battery charges on Mr. Huang.  The community united to protest this incident because they felt this was an extreme example of injustice and discrimination towards Chinese Americans.

7. Blue Van - The blue van is a Chinatown phenomena. As Chinese businesses and restaurants expanded outside to suburban communities, vans came into Chinatown to pick-up workers and transport them to the restaurants.  These vans were an important means of transportation for the workers. The image also shows students learning in school and the diversity of the community. Chinatown had come a long way when the first settlers lived in tents!

8. Community Gardening and Doctor - Many Chinese had strong ties to the earth and many residents planted gardens if they could find the space. Chinatown as a neighborhood has very little open space and parks (Note: Boston Common is not part of Chinatown). On the right hand side is a doctor. The creation of the South Cove Community Health Center in 1972 was an important step to improving the health of the community.

9. Children Playing Volleyball - The last image here are children playing but also represents the future. Hopefully, they will one day lead Chinatown and continue the story of the seamstress cloth.

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Interview: Doug Brugge, Public Health Tufts University

July 16, 2008 by Chinatown Blogger.

The Chinatown Blogger was fortunate to be able to get a few moments from Doug Brugge’s busy schedule for this interview. Dr. Brugge currently teaches at Tufts University School of Medicine at the Chinatown campus. He has done work previously with Native American communities in Oklahoma and Mexico, particularly on impacts of uranium mining on Navajo communities. Recently, Tufts University and 2 Chinatown groups, the Chinese Progressive Association and Chinatown Residents Association, were awarded funding by the National Institute of Highways (NIH) to conduct a study on effects of highway pollution on nearby communities.

Chinatown Blogger: Can you first tell us a little about yourself, where you went to school, how and why you became involved with Chinatown?

Dr. Brugge: I am currently an associate professor of public health at Tufts University School of Medicine.  I went to Washington University in St. Louis for undergraduate and Harvard for graduate school.  When I was in graduate school I met other students who were working in Chinatown and on other progressive political causes.  Amazingly, I maintained these friendships and associations over 25 years and became increasingly involved in Chinatown following the Parcel C struggle.

Blogger: What other previous studies have you done on Chinatown? What conclusions did you gather from those studies?

DB: I have led a number of student research projects in Chinatown.  Most of the studies have focused on asthma, but we have also studied violence, traffic injuries, research ethics with elder Chinese immigrants and other topics.  Until the start of our NIH funded project this year, all our research has been relatively small scale.  Nonetheless, most of it has been published in academic journals and several times we have been the first to publish new findings about Asian Americans and asthma.

Blogger: How would you describe Chinatown as compared to, say other neighborhoods in the City, or other Chinatowns in the U.S?

DB: Chinatown is definitely unique.  It is very dense and, until recently, more homogenous than most neighborhoods.  It is a low-income community, but has some strengths as well, including relatively strong social organization.  The approach of the Chinese Progressive Association (CPA) to organizing and political change is also rare elsewhere from my experience… in that CPA is true to its organizing and advocacy mission and links this work to broader issues of social change.

Blogger: Tell us about the NIH grant. How or who got the idea to do this project? What is the purpose of the project?

DB: Community members from Somerville, especially a guy named Wig Zamore, originally approached me with the idea of studying health impacts of pollution next to highways.  I was a little skeptical at first, but over time became more and more interested.  We pulled together a broader coalition to write the grant which included CPA and the Chinatown Residents Association.  It took over 2 years from starting work on the grant to getting funded.  Now that the project is underway, the main objective is to measure pollution in communities next to highways in the Boston area and to test the hypothesis that this pollution is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular (heart) disease as well as asthma.

 Blogger: How do you plan on conducting the research? What conclusions do you think you will draw from the research?

 DB: It is too early in the process to draw any conclusions.  It will take several years of collecting and analyzing data to do that.  The study will measure air pollution in each target community using a van that we are currently in the process of developing that will be outfitted with multiple monitoring devices.  We will also interview and take blood samples from residents who are willing to participate.

Blogger: If someone was living in Chinatown or say, the Leather District, how would the data affect the residents living nearby?

DB: Good question.  Maybe after we have finished measuring pollution in several communities we will have a better idea how similar or different they are.

End of interview.

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