By Lawrence Watanabe
As the city of San Francisco continues to prepare for the arrival of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, in mid-November, some restaurant owners in Chinatown prepare their businesses and community for the public spotlight it will bring.
According to its website, APEC is “the leading economic forum for the 21 Member Economies of the Asia-Pacific region, facilitating trade and investment, economic growth, and regional cooperation.” 2023 marks the third time the conference has been held in the United States since its inception in 1989, and the first since 2011, when Honolulu hosted. The San Francisco Examiner reports that city officials are expecting over 20,000 people, including several political leaders, to come for the event.
George Chen, the chef and owner of China Live Culinary Emporium, has been a member of the Chinatown community since the opening of his restaurant in 2017. He told AsAmNews that while he has not experienced an uptick in health inspections at China Live, which has never failed an inspection, he was aware of the city’s occasional surprise reviews. Chen noted that “[the Public Health Department] has come around for surprise inspections, especially when someone says you got a problem.”
A number of neighborhood staples, including the historic Sam Wo, have been dealt temporary closures from the city Department of Health due to failed inspections, says the San Francisco Standard. These closures, according to the Standard, have been associated with a higher frequency of inspections, as well as stricter enforcement of previously softer guidelines. Chinatown has received food safety exceptions in the past — Chen highlighted the example of hanging roasted ducks. The neighborhood is already mired in economic struggles dating back at least to the start of the pandemic, and faces additional adversity as a result. “It’s not time to chase people out of Chinatown,” said Chen. “A lot of mom-and-pop businesses have been [struggling] coming back from Covid.”
As a historic neighborhood with many old buildings, businesses in Chinatown are inherently prone to health violations in the form of infestations and even building codes. “[The city] doesn’t want us to gentrify Chinatown,” said Chen. “But at the same time, you don’t want to be imposing unreasonable responsibilities beyond basic health, cleanliness, and sanitation, a lot of which the city needs to provide.”
Most of the temporary closures recently have been associated with infestations, a problem that is hard to solve due to the expensive costs of building renovations that would help to combat them. Chen noted that vermin infestations are an issue throughout the city, not just in Chinatown.
AsAmNews reached out to the mayor’s office, the health department and more than a half dozen Chinatown businesses. None would comment.
APEC listed the history of San Francisco’s Chinatown as one reason why the forum is in the city this year, describing it as “the first and oldest in North America and one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia.” Per The Standard, the Department of Public Health denied a connection between inspections and APEC, saying “no facility is receiving additional or different inspections compared to prior years.”
The recently-opened Central Subway tunnel, an important piece of connectivity for Chinatown, will largely be closed during the week of APEC. Chinatown was once connected to the rest of the city through the Embarcadero Freeway, until its removal following extensive damage from the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. Negotiations between members of Chinatown, led by political activist Rose Pak, and the city ended with the eventual Central Subway tunnel as compensation for the loss of the freeway.
There is some speculation from San Francisco locals on social media that the line’s operations will be greatly altered because of its proximity to the Moscone Center, which contains one of the three stations within the tunnel. The Moscone Center will be one of the main hubs for APEC, and the closures can be seen as a preventative safety measure. ABC 7 News reported that strict security guidelines will be enforced for the entirety of APEC, with a number of checkpoints required to enter the area, part of San Francisco’s push to prepare for the forum.
Chen remarked that the city has made attempts to “tidy up” around the Moscone Center for events such as APEC and Dreamforce, which the Center hosted in September. Users on social media noted that in previous APEC summits, like the 2022 one in Bangkok, the transit lines closest to the location of the summit remained open, and only the station most directly associated with the venue saw closures.
“[Chinatown] should be a vibrant, living community,” Chen said. “There are twenty-two blocks, over ten thousand people. Like any great city, [it is best] when these communities are thriving.”
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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