Momentum Builds for a Community Waterfront in Chinatown and the Lower East Side!

On March 22, 2009, the Chinatown Justice Project held a successful waterfront visioning workshop, with more than 50 residents, the majority of them from Chinatown. This workshop was the first in a series of three workshops planned by the O.U.R. Waterfront Coalition to get local community residents’ input on the development of the East River Waterfront.

After receiving a brief overview of the history of the East River waterfront, participants split into four small groups to discuss and develop their ideas for what types of businesses, services, and programs should be developed on the waterfront that would best benefit the local community.

Participants developed ideas in two general groups: services, programs, and activities that would be free, and businesses. For uses of the waterfront that would be free, participants prioritized open green space, recreational activities and facilities such as free handball and basketball courts, educational activities for youth, and social services such as translation and legal services. Many participants felt that the waterfront could be a place for the residents to access recreational facilities that often do not exist in Chinatown.

For businesses, participants were strongly in favor of small vendors and low-cost businesses that would be accessible to low-income residents, such as food carts and fruit and vegetable stands.

An overarching theme that all participants emphasized was that the waterfront should be accessible to low-income immigrant residents who make up the majority in Chinatown, in order to avoid further gentrification of the area.

CAAAV will take ideas, along with the ideas and input from the other two visioning workshops, and create a People’s Plan for the Waterfront that will result in a community waterfront that ALL residents can enjoy!