Mega Jail and Upzoning: Chu Empire’s One-Two Punch to Lower Manhattan, Part 1
For around three years, our community has been picketing in front of the Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), against the museum and its board member Jonathan Chu (former board co-chair, biggest landlord in Chinatown) for selling out and displacing Chinatown and the Lower East Side. During these years, despite clear evidence, MOCA has vehemently denied that the $35 million it accepted from the City has anything to do with the mega jail. Now, in the face of our long-lasting and growing picket line, MOCA is perhaps getting tired of maintaining this lie.
In a recent interview, MOCA’s Venue Manager Jeffery Reynolds confirms what everyone on the street knows about the $35 million that was given to MOCA because “[former Mayor] de Blasio was looking for some community groups to give money to soften the blow of having this new jail construction down the street.”
Already, we see the visible harm this bribe and jail scheme has inflicted on the community. During construction related to the mega-jail plan, the structural walls of Chung Pak have started to crack. Chung Pak is a building with a health clinic, daycare center, senior center, and 60 units of low-income housing for seniors whose average age is 87.
Because the existing jail has to be demolished in order to build a mega-jail, the commercial tenants of the current building have already been displaced! This included Malaysian restaurant Jaya 888, Vietnamese restaurant Nha Trang Centre, New York Bo Ky, and a pharmacy, Metropharm. The businesses on this block represented the best of what Chinatown has to offer, a place to share food across cultures, a place for the diaspora to connect with their heritage, and a place for people to get vital services in their native language.
Yet MOCA took the City’s money to “soften the blow” of the new jail.
There is further worry about the health risks caused by the demolition, as harmful matter and pollutants are released into the air. The New York Times reports of a lawyer who works out of the Chung Pak building, “The dust ‘sticks on your skin, [...] You get an itchy feeling. It’s grainy and gross.’” This is especially damaging for residents and those working in the area and further resulting in the lack of foot traffic that can be detrimental to restaurants nearby like Nha Trang One. These impacts are exacerbated for 24% of Chinatown residents who are older adults and are more vulnerable to adverse health effects.
Concern over air quality isn’t the only impact this mega jail will have on the health of the community. The Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, a popular health clinic in the area, located in Chung Pak, “moved its pediatric services out of the building last spring, because of frequent noise and leaky ceilings that coincided with the demolition” according to the New York Times. The new location has fewer examination rooms, resulting in “10,000 fewer patient visits across all of its services.” This is a devastating blow to an already underserved community that relies on this health center to provide culturally competent care in many different languages dedicated to serving all patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Yet still, MOCA took the City’s money to “soften the blow” of the new jail!
These empty storefronts, unhealthy air, and even the noise from an active construction site transform a once vibrant area into an area that everyone - residents, visitors, and even tourists want to avoid. They might think - maybe we can meet our friends somewhere else, try a restaurant in a different neighborhood, somewhere where we can eat outside and not worry about the dust. The clinic I frequent in this area isn’t taking as many patients as they used to, I guess I have to find somewhere else where they may not speak my native language or have as comprehensive of services. These small decisions don’t seem very significant, but together, they create a ripple effect of displacement. These impacts are clearly seen now, at the very beginning of what may be a years-long building process of a jail that will literally tower over all the buildings in the area. No matter where you look in Chinatown, you will be able to see this mega jail, serving as a reminder of disinvestment by the city and overlooking yet another dying Chinatown. Our memories and stories are literally being erased through displacement.
Yet MOCA took the City’s money to “soften the blow” of the new jail.
We can’t help but wonder: what does it mean to “soften the blow”? That Chinatown will be seen as cheap and deserving to suffer since they welcome the destruction of their own community with buyouts? That Chinatown can be destroyed by the tallest jail in the world, but at least fund a museum that fetishizes Chinatown as a thing of the past? That Jonathan Chu, who displaced the beloved big Jing Fong dining hall, can continue to claim credit for putting Chinatown into his museum after displacing the neighborhood?
Jonathan Chu, a third-generation rich landlord and real estate developer, owns a bank, a luxury hotel, several high-end restaurants, and numerous glassy office buildings, among many properties in Chinatown, in addition to his position in MOCA. His real estate empire has driven up rent and real estate tax in the surrounding area, raising costs of living and doing business. He and MOCA would like to see Chinatown die if that means more profit for them.
(To be continued)