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Delicate Balance Between Old and New in Manhattan’s Chinatown
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((PLAYBOOK SLUG: CHINATOWN RECOVERY / GENTRIFICATION
HEADLINE: Delicate Balance Between Old and New in Manhattan’s Chinatown
TEASER: Creeping gentrification means some small businesses thrive while others struggle to find their footing post-pandemic
PUBLISHED AT: 06/26/2023 at 9:20am
BYLINE: Tina Trinh
CONTRIBUTOR: Ting-Yi Hsu
DATELINE: New York
VIDEOGRAPHER: Tina Trinh, Mostafa Bassim, Alexander Barash
VIDEO EDITOR: Tina Trinh
SCRIPT EDITORS: Stearns, Megan Duzor
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:20
VID APPROVED BY: Reifenrath
TYPE: TVR
EDITOR NOTES:))
[[((INTRO)) In New York City’s Chinatown, creeping gentrification means some small businesses are thriving while others are struggling to regain their pre-pandemic footing. VOA’s Tina Trinh has our story.]]
((NARRATOR))
Business is good at Mabu Café. The newly opened eatery in Manhattan’s Chinatown had customers lining up on this Friday afternoon, eager to try its Hong Kong-style street and comfort food.
It’s a far cry from what local business owners experienced only a few years ago, when New York City was the American epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic . . . and Chinatown could more aptly be called a ghost town.
Manager Cecilia Huang (pronounced “hwong”) says it was a shock.
[[FOR RADIO: Huang says the impact on business was severe. Tourists and diners suddenly disappeared.]]
((Cecilia Huang, Mabu Cafe Manager (female, Mandarin))
“The impact of the pandemic to us was very severe. All of a sudden there were no tourists anymore, and no diners were coming.”
((NARRATOR))
Storefront vacancies swelled during the pandemic. A city survey of major retail corridors found that Chinatown’s Canal Street experienced a 26% increase in retail vacancies from 2018 to 2020, making it the third most affected area in New York City.
That was compounded by anti-Asian bias and by a lack of access to federal funding, says Jacqueline Wang of Welcome to Chinatown, an advocacy group for local businesses.
((Jacqueline Wang, Welcome to Chinatown)) ((English))
“They weren't getting access to funding coming from the city, from the state, for many reasons — the two main reasons being language barriers and technology barriers.”
((NARRATOR))
Huang says she used the time during the pandemic to renovate and was ready to go when other businesses were shutting down.
((NARRATOR))
This is still a neighborhood in flux, balancing longtime residents and legacy businesses against the creeping gentrification of newer, trendier enterprises.
((Jacqueline Wang, Welcome to Chinatown COO))
“We cannot lose the legacy of this neighborhood. I think that's why people gravitate towards Manhattan Chinatown specifically . . . because it has stayed, you know, so true to itself. And on the opposite end, you don't want it to be a neighborhood that is paused in time and kind of becomes a museum.”
((NARRATOR))
Here on Doyers Street, one of Chinatown’s oldest blocks, the juxtaposition of old and new draws a steady stream of visitors.
[[For radio: Huang says it’s one reason why she picked this location.]]
((Cecilia Huang, Mabu Cafe Manager (female, Mandarin)) (In Mandarin)
“We chose to open in Chinatown because it really has a diverse range of customers. It has tourists from overseas and also locals. And why did we choose Doyers Street? Because the street has a very, very long history that we like very much.”
[[FOR RADIO: Huang says she chose to open in Chinatown for its diverse range of customers and chose Doyers Street specifically for its long history.]]
((NARRATOR))
With a nod to the past, a new generation of community members are shaping Chinatown’s future.
((Tina Trinh, VOA News, New York))
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