A new report just out concludes that gentrification is threatening to destroy the very nature of New York’s Chinatown, reports WBRI.
The study is by the Asian American Legal Defense & Education Fund.
“Gentrification threatens to transform these previously neglected neighborhoods into tourist centers and destroy places were Asian immigrants have lived and worked for decades,” said Bethany Li, the study’s author.
Rising property values are threatening to displace many of the Asian immigrants who have made Chinatown their home. The population of Chinatown has decreased 7 percent between 1990 and 2010, according to census data.
94 percent of land use in Chinatown is devoted to small business. The study found high end stores and students have moved into the neighborhood and have displaced immigrant families.
The study released Friday is a preview of a larger study on Chinatowns in Boston, New York and Philadelphia scheduled to be released in July.
You can find a link to the preview study at WBRI.