downtown ®
VOLUME 24, NUMBER 20
PROTEST GROUPS OCCUPY WALL ST., PG. 2
express THE NEWSPAPER OF LOWER MANHATTAN
SEPTEMBER 28 - OCTOBER 4, 2011
Chinatown B.I.D. opponents vow to keep fighting
Downtown Express photo by Milo Hess
Running in a hero’s footsteps On Sunday, Sept. 25, over 30,000 runners took part in the annual Tunnel to Towers Race in honor of Stephen Siller, the fallen firefighter who ran through the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in full-gear on 9/11 to get to the World Trade Center site. Turn to page 16.
BY ALINE REYNOLDS After a highly contentious debate among community members, the City Council unanimously voted in favor of the Chinatown Business Improvement District at its meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 21. Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s signed the legislation on Tuesday night. More than three-quarters of the B.I.D.’s first-year budget, which totals $1.3 million, will be allocated to supplemental sanitation services, while the remaining funds will finance holiday lighting, maintenance of street lampposts and furniture and other area services. Assessment fees range from $1 for condominium owners
to up to $5,000 for large property owners, the majority of whom will pay $700 annually. Approximately three-quarters of the district’s 2,300 property lots will owe $1,000 or less per year. With respect to trash, the Council advised the future B.I.D. to increase garbage collection prior to 8 a.m. based on concerns raised by local business and property owners. “The B.I.D. will enhance and retain business in Chinatown by supplying very significant sanitation services within the B.I.D.’s boundary,” said Council Speaker Christine Quinn at a Sept. 21 press conference announcing the City Council vote.
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Photo exhibit at future site of Park51 showcases children of the world BY ALINE REYNOLDS Pristine white walls splashed with photographs of playful children now make up the 4,500-square-foot remodeled space at the future site of the proposed Islamic community center known as Park51. The art exhibit, entitled “NYChildren,” features a series of 169 photographs of first-generation or immigrant youths ages 12 and under that now live in New York City. The youngest child is a 34-day-old toddler from Ethiopia, who is shown sleeping peacefully on her parents’ bed in their New York home. The exhibit has been showcased
at a dozen other locations domestically and in Denmark, according to the photographer, Danny Goldfield, who has 24 children left to photograph to complete his project. When finished, there will be one child from every country in the world. The inspiration behind Goldfield’s project was Rana Sodhi, brother of Balbir Sodhi, a Sikh in Arizona who was shot and killed in front of his family-owned gas station four days after 9/11. Sodhi’s death was one of the first post-9/11 hate-crime murders in the country, Goldfield noted. It was Sodhi brothers’ innovative and good-hearted spirit that inspired
Goldfield to take on the daunting project, the photographer said in a speech he made at the exhibit’s opening at 45-51 Park Place on Wednesday, Sept. 26. Goldfield described Balbir as a generous individual who gave away candy to customers and their families and, hours before he was murdered, emptied his pockets at a local fundraising drive for 9/11 victims’ families. Goldfield admired Balbir’s brother, Rana, who despite his loss, had a desire to open his heart to others. “He had this simple prescription of making the world better by meet-
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OH, THE HORROR! Frightening prospects for Downtown Halloween happenings. See page 23.