Resolutions

Stop the Chinatown Jail

The Grand Street Democrats has voted to sign on to the “Stop the Chinatown Jail” as stated below at our Jan 9, 2024 general meeting with a majority of those voting members present.

We, the undersigned organizations and community members of the neighborhood, demand that you stop moving forward with the Chinatown mega-jail under the City’s borough-based jails plan. For years, our community has been vocal against the construction of this jail because of how it will harm everyone in our community, including residents, workers, incarcerated individuals, and small businesses. The humanitarian crisis on Rikers Island won’t be resolved by building a new jail in Chinatown. 

Chinatown is suffering because of the displacement of the people and small businesses that make up the fabric of our community. Empty storefronts and emptier streets have made us feel less safe. Yet, former Mayor de Blasio and now you, Mayor Adams, are denying Chinatown and the Lower East Side protection – from real estate speculation, high rents and property taxes, and continued displacement – by refusing to pass the community-led Chinatown Working Group Rezoning Plan.

Only one Chinatown-based organization stands behind the City’s racist mega-jail plan: the Museum of Chinese of America (MOCA) accepted $35 million from the City in exchange for providing support. However, MOCA’s selling out does not represent us – that’s why people from across our community have picketed and boycotted MOCA for over two years!            

Building the mega-jail will only exacerbate the displacement already hurting Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side. Preparation for the mega-jail’s construction has already displaced several Chinatown businesses, including Jaya 888, Nha Trang Centre, New York Bo Ky, and more; and it will loom over Chung Pak, a housing complex specifically for the elderly in Chinatown.

We do not want a seat at the table to design the criminalization and displacement of our own community. Instead of using $3 billion of our taxes on building the tallest jail in the world in Chinatown, the city must invest this money to support the small businesses, organizations, workers, and residents hurt by displacement and the pandemic. Our community has made itself clear in a petition with over 10,000 signatures, all of which were physically delivered to the Mayor. Our three demands are:

  1. Stop the mega-jail’s construction.
  2. Re-invest the resources poured into the mega-jail project ($3 billion for the construction, alongside the $35 million allocated to MOCA) to fund recovery for workers, residents, organizations, small businesses, and more community members most affected by the pandemic and ongoing displacement.
  3. Stop displacement by passing the FULL Chinatown Working Group plan to protect the entirety of Chinatown and the Lower East Side.

Instead of using our tax dollars to destroy Chinatown and further criminalize communities of color by building the mega-jail, we demand that Mayor Adams protect our community by safeguarding jobs, small businesses, and affordable housing and commercial spaces.

Accessible Delancey Subway Station

  • On September 28, 2023, the Grand Street Dems full membership unanimously voted to support the Resolution for Making the Essex-Delancey Subway Station Fully ADA-Accessible”.
  • Currently, the Essex-Delancey the subway station is not at all elevator accessible. The closest elevator accessible subway stations to our neighborhood are:
  • The L Train at First Avenue and 14th Street;
  • The Broadway-Lafayette Station (B, D, F, M, 6)
  • Canal Street (6 train only)
    All of these are far from the Lower East Side / Two Bridges neighborhood.
  • We need to back up the politicians’ letter with more community support, partially to keep
  • the elected officials convinced this is an important community issue. We also want to bring in Senators Schumer and Gillibrand to our effort. We need to talk it up as much as possible in the community. Resolution:
  • 1) The executive committee of the Grand Street Dems supports the community’s demand that the Essex-Delancey Subway Station be made fully ADA- accessible in the next immediate round of subway station modifications.
  • 2) We request that our elected officials bring their influence and authority to bear on the MTA, the DoT, and the management team of Essex Crossing to include plans for an elevator-accessible station in the upcoming re-design of the neighborhood transportation and traffic infrastructure;
  • 3) We request Community Board 3 bring its influence and authority to bear on the MTA, the DoT, and the management team of Essex Crossing to include plans for an elevator-accessible station in the upcoming re-design of the neighborhood transportation and traffic infrastructure.

No More 24” Home Attendant Bill

  • On August 11, 2022, the Grand Street Dems full membership unanimously voted to support the “No More 24” Home Attendant Bill (Int #0175) introduced to the City Council by CM Christopher Marte. As passed, this will become part of the GSD package of resolutions.   Below is the plain language summary for the bill. For more information, you can review the full text of the bill, which is available online at https://on.nyc.gov/38Xtige. The Maximum Working Hours For Home Care Aides bill would set the maximum working hours that an employer may assign to a home care aide. The hours would be limited to 12 hours for any one shift, or within any 24 hours period, and 50 hours within a week. A home care aide could be assigned additional hours in the event of an emergency.

Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5WTC

  • On December 20, 2021 the membership of the Grand Street Democrats voted to sign on as members of the Coalition for a 100% Affordable 5WTC to build a fully affordable residential building with a preference for 9/11 survivors, first responders and their families who currently reside across New York State.

 THE PLAN

  • On December 20, 2021 the membership of the Grand Street Democrats voted to sign on as supporters of the THE PLAN, a community-led rezoning plan that protects the Chinatown & Lower East Side neighborhoods from over-development and displacement by setting rules on how land can be used. The Chinatown Working Group Plan:
    • limits the height of new buildings
    • requires all housing built on NYCHA land be affordable to low-income residents
    • requires significantly more housing to be truly affordable to the community by using the local income level to determine the rent of new units
    • limits the number of hotels that can be built in the area