The arguments were intense as supporters and opponents of the new plan for a Chinatown Business Improvement District (BID) went head-to-head yesterday at the second public forum held by the BID's steering committee, debating whether the BID's fees on businesses would constitute a tax and the extent to which the plan would burden local merchants.
The plan has many hurdles to leap over before it can become a reality, and the current meeting is just a first step, said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation (CPLDC), which supports the BID. And given how much debate it has incited this early in the game, the BID faces a tough upward climb, Chen added.
You Yinghong, a member of the BID steering committee, explained the manner in which the BID would be funded: every resident living within the BID would pay a dollar a year, and community groups and nonprofits would pay nothing; the cost would be borne mainly by owners of commercial and office buildings, of which 35 percent would pay $200, 43 percent would pay between $201 and $999, 13 percent would pay $1000 to $2000, and 9 percent would pay $2001 to $5000.
During the question-and-answer, David Eng, owner of the Mott Street grocery Fong Inn Too, lashed out against the BID steering committee, saying that the system of fees would be no different from taxation. Committee member David Louie responded that while citizens have no control over how their tax money is allocated, the fees associated with the BID would be distributed according to the wishes of the community, and would be used within the community.
David Eng pointed out that in recent years, the Chinatown Partnership has already instituted a plan similar to the BID, but the local economy has remained at low ebb, with more and more empty storefronts and fewer and fewer profits for businesses. Why then, he asked, should Chinatown consider a BID? Louie replied that the Chinatown Partnership is not to blame for Chinatown's anemic economy, that the improvements in sanitation on Chinatown's streets after the Partnership's founding has been evident to all, and that furthermore, the Partnership has achieved this without using a cent of the public's money.
Eng claimed to represent over 400 property owners who oppose the BID plan and distributed flyers at the event saying that the BID would increase property taxes by 20 percent.
A property owner from Little Italy voiced dissent against the BID, saying that the community already has a voice in Margaret Chin, the Chinese-American City Council member, and that business owners can seek her out if they have problems. Furthermore, every large building has managers who clean up its garbage, making street cleaning services unnecessary.
Chen Xi, manager of Kam Lam Food Products in Chinatown, said that even though he expects the fees on his properties at 200 and 210 Canal Street to increase, he still supports the plan, because it would create more employment opportunities and improve Chinatown's working and living environment.
Both Zheng Qi, head of the Fukien American Association, and Zheng Shigan, co-chair of the United Fujianese of America, said they support the BID.
