San Francisco's Chinatown clings to roots amid tech boom

[yuiyoshida]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For a century and a half, San Francisco's Chinatown, the nation's oldest, has sheltered waves of immigrants seeking a new life.

It's the birthplace of Chinese America, and to some extent, the broader Asian America that descended from immigration over the Pacific Ocean throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Now, Chinatown faces powerful economic and demographic challenges that could upend its identity as the city undergoes an unprecedented growth in tech jobs.

Rising rent elsewhere in the city has entrepreneurs eyeing Chinatown for offices, entertainment and housing. A $1.6 billion subway set to open in 2019 could provide an economic boost, bringing customers from outside while taking residents out to jobs. But speedier transit also brings added development pressures, especially in a pocket of the city coveted for its location.

http://www.sfgate.com/news/us/article/San-Francisco-s-Chinatown-clings-to-roots-amid-6405440.php

[KamaAina]

1. The T Muni Metro line along Third Street, of which the Central Subway is an extension,

is what opened up the Bayview, the heart of SF's African American community, to gentrification.

[Throd]

2. I was in Chinatown a few weeks ago wondering "How long will this last?"

[NBachers]

3. I love the neighborhood; I hope it can retain it's structure, it's population; it's character.

I have a friend who lives above a produce store in a little carved-up building in Chinatown. I'll drop her and her son off at night, and then drive across town to my place in The Mission, another threatened neighborhood.

I drive up the steep, narrow night-time hills with the fog and the cable-car tracks. I open up my windows and put on our local jazz station. And the history and architecture and character blend with the saxophone jazz and create a rare moment of perfection.

We went to a little park at the top of Nob Hill today, and enjoyed Chinatown barbecued chicken skewers and sesame balls. The day couldn't have been better.

My friend has been here around nine years. Her son took some flack in his early school years for being an FOB, Fresh Off the Boat. She works two jobs, and spends her spare time tutoring him in math and engineering. His summer consists of summer school classes, SAT and ACT prep academy, and Chinese reading and writing classes. No time off.

We were driving up the hills today and I was admiring the buildings. She stated, with some accuracy, I'm sure, that if China was able to develop these neighborhoods, they'd knock everything down and put up high-rise residence buildings. That's what they do where she comes from. God knows we need the living units, but something would surely be lost.

In my job at the hardware store, we have older Chinese men and women coming in for building materials. Some of them, in their work clothes, look like they're just working for food. But they are people who came here, worked hard, bought property in the neighborhood, and have grown children who are professionals with good jobs.

This neighborhood is an incubator for people to launch from when they come to America; it is a refuge for those who remain attached to their culture, their language, and their customs. I hope it can continue to be so.

The city is becoming infested with what I call squat 'n' drop buildings. Some real-estate combine comes in, puts up a sidewalk to sidewalk glass-panel building, and then harvests the lives of people who live there. We need the living units, but somehow they seem sterile, corporate, and character-less.

Maybe Chinatown should be spared that.