Business Improvement Zone to Be Created in Chinatown

In an action hailed by some and cursed by others as “terrible,” a majority of Chinatown property owners voted this week to create a business improvement district for the historic area that has been in decline since the 1980s.

“I am ecstatic,” said hotelier Peter Kwong, when notified of the official count Wednesday that showed property owners voted 56-43 to create a BID, as the improvement districts are known. “It’s a great new day for Chinatown.”

After years of neglect and decay, Chinatown is on track to regain shoppers, diners and tourists who have gone elsewhere, said Kwong, whose family owns three hotels in Chinatown and has done business there for three generations. “Finally, I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

But Kenneth Lee, whose family has operated the Jade Tree arts shop on Chungking Road since the 1940s, called the decision a mistake.

“I feel terrible,” he said. “What’s the point of hiring security guards when there is nobody on the street to protect?” he asked.

Even with planned improvements, as long as Chinatown lacks ample, inexpensive parking, Lee said, visitors won’t come.

The decision to establish a business improvement district means special assessments will be levied on property owners, beginning in January, to raise about $1.2 million a year. The money will be used to pay for graffiti removal, private security patrols, sidewalk sweeping, tree and shrubbery planting and other ways to lure visitors to Chinatown and improve the area for 13,500 residents.

Special assessments will range from $50 a year to $94,000--with 75% of property owners paying less than $3,000--said George Yu, coordinator for the Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council, a nonprofit group affiliated with the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

Los Angeles’ Chinatown is the first Chinatown in the nation to approve a business improvement district. It will begin operating in January with a 10-year life, the longest in the state. Assessments will be capped to not exceed yearly changes in the consumer price index or 5%, whichever is less, according to the Los Angeles Chinatown Business Council.

Hardship consideration will be given to property owners who would suffer unduly from additional assessments.

Yu acknowledged that some property owners opposed the move, but said: “We are all in this together, whether we are residents, merchants or property owners.”

Yu said the business council’s steering committee conducted dozens of meetings since last fall to get the project rolling and to explain it to the community.

Some big property owners, such as the First Chinese Baptist Church, initially opposed the plan but came around after meeting with the steering committee, Yu and others said.

“After the district has been implemented, people will receive clear benefits,” Yu said, and property owners will realize how much they will gain by being part of an entity that has “leverage,” rather than individual voiceless property owners.

Ming Chuen Fong, who owns F. See On arts shop in Chungking Court, isn’t convinced. He said he agreed with his neighbor Kenneth Lee that a BID for Chinatown is a “terrible” decision.

Providing complimentary two-hour free parking, as Beverly Hills and Santa Monica do, would attract people to Chinatown, Fong said. Everything else would follow, he said.