On June 8, the Lower East Side and Chinatown Coalition held a rally to protest the neglect that workers and low-income residents have endured under the state government’s effort to rebuild Lower Manhattan. The coalition unveiled its own rebuilding proposal demanding that more money should be invested in health care, the environment, affordable housing, sustainable land use, and the creation of jobs. The coalition is sending the proposal to Governor George Pataki, State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Speaker Joseph Bruno, and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC).
The Lower East Side and Chinatown Coalition is composed of several community organizations, including the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and the Chinese Staff and Workers Association. The coalition said it represents the interests of the groups that have been left out in the rebuilding effort, such as workers, clergy, community organizations and small business owners.
Since Sept. 11, the coalition has interviewed more than 7,000 people who live and work in Lower Manhattan. The survey results show that most of them suffered some form of respiratory disease due to the pollution in the air and the environment.
At the rally, Cao Shoun, a Chinese medical practitioner in Chinatown, said that he and many Chinatown residents suffer from respiratory diseases. Cao demanded that the government stop pretending air pollution does not exist.
The coalition asked that the government set up a long-term health study and health care project that includes people who live and work outside the strictly defined “Ground Zero” periphery. It also asked for health care for all New Yorkers who suffer from the effects of Sept.11 and compensation for anyone who can show long-term health damage.
The coalition criticized the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s “Residential Grant” program for being too narrow and cited a recent study, “Seward Park City Renewal District,” which shows that many low-income families in the Lower East Side has been forced to move out of the area because of rent increases and gentrification. It said that the “Residential Grant” should be used to help people who sustained economic and health loss because of Sept.11, and proposed that the government set aside money to preserve and construct affordable housing and prevent residents from being forced to move out.
The coalition’s proposal requests that the government set up a new disaster remedial project to tackle employment and economic issues. They say that laborers who suffered the most after 9/11 should get basic living aid and medical assistance, as well as employment priority in jobs created during the rebuilding period.
Furthermore, the coalition said that there should be a new land use regulation to create affordable housing, to protect the garment industry and small businesses, and to solve the unemployment problem in the area.
Pastor Lo Kin Len of the Chinese Methodist Church on Madison Street lambasted the government for ignoring the needs of low-income people. Lo said that the rebuilding money is mostly used to build luxury housing. Lo pointed out that the Lower East Side and Chinatown Coalition not only will present the proposal to the state government, but will also demand meetings with officials to discuss it.
