The Chinatown Coalition met on Sep 9th at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center to speak with Boston City Councilor John Connolly and follow up with Parcel 24 and Bilingual Ballots Projects. Connolly reiterated his focus of work on education.
Connolly was elected to an At-Large (Citywide) seat on the Boston City Council in 2007 and is in his second term now. “I went to city council for a number of reasons,” Connolly said, “but principally number one is a desire to improve our schools.” A former teacher, Connolly described two initiatives he’s working on presently at the Boston City Council in terms of education.
“The most important issue right now,” as Connolly addressed it, is the now expired contract with the Boston Teachers Union, which addresses a broad range of issues including wages, benefits, work conditions, and career advancement for teachers in Boston. It expired on Aug 31st. The contract not only makes sure all the schools work well, but also governs teacher evaluation and teacher quality and professional development. “This contract is critical to our ability to make our school the best it can be.” Connolly said.
The Boston Public School system, the Boston Teachers Union, several elected officials and interest groups are starting to voice their ideas for the new teachers contract. Connolly has called a City Council hearing on Sep 28th to solicit suggestions.
During the meeting, Councilor Connolly also emphasized the need for an Environmental Science Academy in the Boston Public School system. He claimed that this would prepare our young people for jobs in the Green Economy.
“Let’s have a school that sets national and international standards for green education,” Connolly urged, “not only civic virtues of sustainability, but also practical skills to go out and get a job in the green economy.”
According to Connolly, the program will most probably be plugged into high school, but ideally for all K-12 Boston Public Schools. The task of operating such environmental learning departments poses challenges, but Connolly, who serves as Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Environment and Health, is determined to make Boston a leader in the “green economy”.
Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC)’s acting Executive Director Janelle Chan presented at the TCC meeting about updates of the Parcel 24 Program – a mixed-use housing project in Chinatown – since last meeting in June.
In the original plan of 2008, Chan pointed out, there would be approximately 325 units of much-needed community housing, including 69 affordable rental units, 66-99 affordable condominiums and 156-189 market-rate homeownership opportunities.
But taking into consideration a still-weak economy while also assessing the current marking demand, ACDC has decided to call off the market-rate homeownership opportunities. Instead, 200 affordable market-rate rental units will be added to the plan, and the number of affordable rental units will go up to 95. Only 50 affordable condominiums will be kept.
“The next decade will be a time for renters,” Chan said. “There will be a lot more people renting.” In total, the number of the whole program’s units will be 345, compared to the previous 325. The overall floor space will not change, but each rental unit will be smaller.
The ACDC has already finished applying for rental funding from the city. They will file an application to the Massachusetts’s Department of Housing and Community Development for funding next Thursday.
Lisette Le from the Chinese Progressive Association mentioned in the meeting that after a decade of advocacy by the Coalition for Asian American Voting Rights, bilingual ballots were finally signed into law, which will be effective on Jan 1st, 2011 through 2013.
At the end of the meeting, Nancy Eng of the Chinese Historical Society of New England announced that the 18th annual meeting of CHSNE will be held on Sep 24th at China Pearl Restaurant, with a Sojourner award going to Madeline Wong, the first insurance agent of Chinese ancestry in New England. Plus, CHSNE will hold a book talk with Erika Lee, a co-author of the book Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America on Oct 1st at Chinese Progressive Association event space.
The National Immigrant Integration Conference’s second annual meeting will be held from Sep 29th to Oct 1st at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. www.integrationconference.org
Bo Zhang is a Sampan correspondent.