This information was passed along to me by CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities... In Manhattan's Chinatown, the tenants at 11 Allen Street -- all Chinese immigrants who have lived in the building for ten or even twenty years -- have been fighting with their landlord, who began eviction procedures the moment he bought the building a little over a year ago.
After months of indirect discussion, landlord Fei Wang recently met with the tenants to hear their demands: stop eviction procedures, legalize the building as a residential space, and provide affordable rents so that tenants can stay. But the fight continues -- fight to keep a community intact. Here's a video with some more background:
And here are some more details from the online petition that's been circulating about this issue:
Manhattan's Chinatown is the center of Chinese immigrant history and culture in New York City, but it is rapidly being changed by the forces of gentrification that have reshaped the rest of Manhattan into the luxury capital of the world.For further information, and to lend your support to the tenants of 11 Allen Street by signing the petition, go here: Landlord of 11 Allen Street in Chinatown: Stop Eviction Proceedings Against Tenants at 11 Allen Street!.
Working-class immigrant residents are being pushed out by landlords looking to increase their profit margins and small businesses (who are losing their customers and having their rents raised at the same time) are having a hard time maintaining their livelihoods in the neighborhood.
But residents are standing up and fighting back! At 11 Allen Street in the heart of Chinatown, all of the residents have joined together to fight their landlord's attempt to evict them wholesale from their homes. Many of them have lived there for 20 years or more, and none of them want to move.
Support the tenants' right to remain in their homes! Sign the petition and tell Fei Wang: Stop the eviction proceedings!