What the CPLDC is saying
There is a lot of rhetoric and out right lies being put forth by the Chinatown Partnership LDC, its supporters and its Board Of Directors. Here are some of the statements from their own literature, interviews, and blog postings:
What the CPLDC says:
1) "70% of all businesses within the BID area will pay on average $84.00 per month"
2) "CHINATOWN is much cleaner from the 5.4 million grant and yes the tourists have returned and their perception of CHINATOWN has been changing for the better. It will cost less for a group of individuals to do massive detailed cleaning, then for one individual building to clean their own. The collective funds will pay for those special water pressure machines that scrub the sidewalks deep down, it will pay for the high pressure machines that take off graffiti from storefronts in less than an hour. A single person trying to scrub that graffiti off, would spend a day, or $30-60 on two cans of paint. "
3) Since Chinatown Partnership is a LDC, thus a not-for-profit 501(c) 3 organization, I think salary information is public, and if you did a little digging, you would find it for yourself. Perhaps try the IRS or the Corporations Division, where all non-profits are required to file an Annual Report yearly? Anyways, what's the point of this? No one is taking money, why would you make such unsubstantiated detrimental comments about a community you say you love and want to protect.
4) " There is an accounting of where they money went and it does prove that the money has made a difference. I'm not sure where I've seen it, maybe if you call the SBS or the Chinatown Partnership office, they would be happy to share that with you. Anyways, such a sheet must exist"
5)"A BID is probably one of the most democratic machines we have in this country that helps the actual communities. "
6) "....as for opposition to the BID being great, the local community LDC has collected 350 ‘yes’ ballots in the past 4 weeks, but because of the lack of good media coverage, they had to do this by a door-to-door method to get the truth out with a staff of 3. This just shows that when a community realizes they need something, they will get it, regardless of the fact that the most powerful entity in this city, “media” is against it."
7) In an interview on NY1 news TV Wellington Chen said ""We hauled away 13 million pounds of garbage, we power washed 7,000 storefronts," says Chen
8) "The City Of NYC does not sweep sidewalks and streets" "The City of NY does not remove grafitti"
The Coalition Against the Chinatown BID response:
1) By hiring a local cleaning service Chinatown can be serviced 8 hrs a day, for 360 days a year for only $30.00 a month, that's a savings of over $50.00 per building per month. Perhaps the extra $50.00 per building per month is budgeted in to pay for the Exec. Dir's salary - which in a BID this large (the Chinatown BID is projected to be the largest in NYC), if we use all 64 BIDS in NYC as a guage, will amount to $75,000-125,000. a year. CPLDC and it's supporters have not explored non-BID cleaning alternatives because it will cut out the need for salaried positions & a board of directors ( a perceived position of prestige).
2) Had CPLDC hired a local 501 3c non-profit cleaning service like ACE (formerly the SoHo Partnership) instead of the "FOR-profit" company "Block by Block" it would not have cost $5.4 million dollars to clean Chinatown streets. Which BEGS the question, 'why was a for-profit company subcontracted to clean Chinatown when a non-profit cleaning service already existed'?
3-4) The message here is "go dig for yourself" and "we still want the government to collect money for our BID even though we chose the BID steering committee behind closed doors." While asking for donations to CPLDC and pushing for a BID - CPLDC and its supporters have no intention of sharing salary information, reports, nor contracts, or LMDC applications - which, in the name of full disclosure and transparency should all be available on their website so the public and media don't have to "do a little digging". All of this should have been made available to the public from the first day, yet since 2005 not a single sheet of financial information has ever been made available by the CPLDC.
5) THIS BID steering committee was selected in the most un-American, un-Democartic way - behind closed doors. The Board of the CPLDC , as reported in Downtown Express was kept a secret all the way up to the announcement of the Organization's formation. Undemocratic. Un-American. For example , the residents and businesses in SoHo and Tribeca are in the CPLDC service area, yet no representation from that community exists, nor was that area serviced by CPLDC's own admission.
6) Where are the 350 'yes' ballots? "a staff of three" requires an Executive Director's salary of $132,000.00 annually? really?
With a budget that rarely exceeded $1.5 million annually and a staff of less than a half dozen people, the Executive Director's salary is disproportionate.
In fact some of the City's most high profile non-profits with annual budgets in excess of $10 mil. a year, have Exec. Dir's with salaries less than Wellginton Chen's. A staff of three simply doesn't require an Exec. Dir. salary of $132,000.00.
7) If the CPLDC did indeed "haul away" garbage they would be violating City law. This must be clarified - CPLDC subcontractors empty City litter receptacles and replace the full bags with empty garbage bags, they do NOT 'haul away' the garbage. This kind of exaggeration is typical of this group.
Furthermore what agency is responsible for these claims of 7000 storefronts cleaned? What criteria is the fiscal source for the public money, LMDC, using to legitimize this claim?
8) In actuality the City of NY does sweep streets, and they do , through the Mayor's Graffiti Free campaign, remove stickers, and graffiti for free in all neighborhoods , including Chinatown. Again, lying to the Chinatown community to try to get a BID established is an indication of just how corrupt and deceitful this BID will be if it is allowed to form.
