M’Finda Kalunga Community Garden
Debra Jeffreys-Glass
with Shweta Patwardhan and Aja Gyimah organizers of this years Juneteenth.
with thanks to Chinatown Partnership for lending us the tents!
And ALL these folks!
The Chinese Progressive Association Mae Lee’s advocacy for democracy is long standing and constant.
This day she and volunteers were out in front of the M’Finda Garden’s gate Offering information with ballots for our preferences for where NYC should spend its money:
“The People’s Money 2025”
A beautiful day and a beautiful play.
Presented by The Remote Theater Project
Written by Carmen Rivera
Directed by Alexandra Aron
featured: Christopher Bisram, Darlenis Duran, Yike (Coco) Huang, Andy Law, Johnny Rivera
With Po Ling’s Open Door Senior Center
Inside Change Arts
“Master Li” Artist
and a host of onlookers… provided a beautiful, funny, loving play – for free – in the park.
The Remote Theater Project Presents:
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING ’25! They have returned to Sara Roosevelt Park with funding from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
With thanks to the NYC Parks Department.
“Working with Chinese seniors at the Open Door Senior Center, new migrant families at the Hanbee Hotel, and with unhoused folks around the park, we have heard some incredible stories.
Join us FRIDAY, JUNE 20th, shows at 1pm and 3pm, for a memorable site-specific performance in “The Pit” at Broome St (between Forsyth and Christie Streets).”
Written by Carmen Rivera
Directed by Alexandra Aron
featured: Christopher Bisram, Darlenis Duran, Yike (Coco) Huang, Andy Law, Johnny Rivera
Thank you for Listening ’25’ builds on work that delved deeply into the stories of the people in our neighborhoods.
Ordinary and distinct real people surviving in a harsh place, often set against each other, yet still daring to make common cause in the midst of a splintering world.
Albert Schweitzer said, “Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown into a flame by another. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”
We thank The Remote Theater Project for these brilliant sparks along our paths.
– K. Webster, President Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition
Testify in support of PEP at the 6/23 Public Safety Hearing
Next week, the City Council’s Committee on Public Safety is holding a hearing on public safety in parks. This is an opportunity to call for the urgently needed restoration of funding for our Parks Enforcement Patrol (PEP) officers.
When: Monday, June 23 at 10:00 AM
Where: City Hall Council Chambers (and via Zoom)
Testify: Click here to submit testimony, or register to testify virtually/in-person
As we know, PEP officers are not NYPD—they are uniformed Parks staff who play a vital role in keeping our parks safe, particularly through de-escalation and community engagement.
We invite coalition members to submit written testimony or testify in person or virtually to show strong support for PEP staffing.
See the talking points below and reach out if you’d like support drafting testimony or strategizing your message. And please let us know if you plan to participate!
Talking Points: Oversight – Law Enforcement’s Role in Keeping City Parks Safe.
City Council Chambers – Monday June 23, 2025, 10:00 AM
Thank you and don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or comments.
Best,
Kathy Park Price (she/her)
Director, Advocacy & Policy
New Yorkers for Parks
Phone: 212-838-9410 (ext. 705)
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The Remote Theater Project Presents:
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING ’25! They have returned to Sara Roosevelt Park with funding from NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.
With thanks to the NYC Parks Department.”Working with Chinese seniors at the Open Door Senior Center, new migrant families at the Hanbee Hotel, and with unhoused folks around the park, we have heard some incredible stories.
Join us FRIDAY, JUNE 20th, shows at 1pm and 3pm, for a memorable site-specific performance in “The Pit” at Broome St (between Forsyth and Chrystie Streets).”
Written by Carmen Rivera
Directed by Alexandra Aron
featured: Christopher Bisram, Darlenis Duran, Yike (Coco) Huang, Andy Law, Johnny Rivera
Thank you for Listening ’25’ builds on work that delved deeply into the stories of the people in our neighborhoods.
Ordinary and distinct real people surviving in a harsh place, often set against each other, yet still daring to make common cause in the midst of a splintering world.
Albert Schweitzer said, “Sometimes our light goes out, but is blown into a flame by another. Each of us owes deepest thanks to those who have rekindled this light.”
We thank The Remote Theater Project for these brilliant sparks along our paths.
– K. Webster, President Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition
Absurd (see below DOT proposed months, days, hours):
July to December Monday to Sunday 5pm- 11pm
Fire hydrant on right appears to be blocked. School in background photo:Think!Chinatown
Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition
Opposing Open Streets application Forsyth from Canal to Hester Street From July 1 to December 1, 5pm-11pm – every day.
In Sara Roosevelt Park we have long fought to keep this park safe, beautiful, and activated for the people who live and work here, as well as for the larger public. For those with little or no agency we oppose actions that ignore their presence and common sense needs.
Probably the most compelling argument not to use this area as an “Open Street” was best made by a recent GQ article about “this slice of Chinatown” -the Canal/ Forsyth Street area.
“surveying the scene unfolding in front of him…looks downright Bourdainian.”
-GQ article
Not quite. Anthony Bourdain consistently “demonstrated a sincere interest in the cultures and people he encountered, fostering empathy and understanding.”
Not this.
The article hypes a presumption that if you’ve never been somewhere, it’s a barren landscape – now ‘discovered’ – a blank pallet for the newcomer’s reinvention.
“this slice of Chinatown was simply where different creative scenes found common ground in heavily relaxed attitudes around drinking on public asphalt”. -GQ article
The neighborhood is proclaimed as an edgy scene with outlaw vibes:
Names are dropped, enticements for newcomers abound: “amazing”: a “hotspot” “for the “loitering culture” …“the crowd is attractive” “sky-high summertime block party” “handsome Italian bartenders” “hangout for the city’s creative class” “I live mostly in LA” “Tesla..in the middle of the crowd” “a crowd of people wearing vintage designer outfits.” “This place is popping, and it’s a fucking Tuesday night.” “the concept of “seeing and being seen”. -GQ article
And it clarifies that this crowd functions with a different set of rules than ‘locals”:
“Legally speaking, the concert wasn’t associated with the bar,” Poe says with a grin. “But spiritually, it was.” -GQ article
Meanwhile…
This “open” area is used for parking for teachers in three schools at 100 Hester Street, (aka 36 Forsyth Street): Pace HS, Emma Lazarus HS, and MS 131:
It would be in the ‘backyard’ of this student body: Asian: 8% 45% 81%, Black 33% 10% 6%, Hispanic 51% 33% 11%, White 4% 9% 2%, ELL 2% 80% 33%, Special Needs 20% 0% 25%. These are all good schools, but they are working with tough odds.
This area is in an official NYC Environmental Justice Area.
The poverty rate in Lower East Side/Chinatown was 24.8% in 2023.
Most residents are renters.
As to this claim:
“Crucially, the nearest residential buildings are far enough away to avoid too many noise complaints” -GQ article
Apparently this isn’t true. “their sound radiates as far as Hester Street [a block away] and beyond.” (for more see https://www.neighborsoncanal.com/ )
In photos, the seating appears to block a fire hydrant.
Three schools with ELL, Special Needs, and a vast majority students targeted by racism, a troubled park full of volunteers struggling to keep it safe and beautiful, local arts organizations offering works that illuminate the area as well as feed the soul while offering local merchants a venue, a vegetable/fruit market, a Chinatown community of small businesses, working/middle class/poor residents and workers who are trying to stay afloat – vs a scene that is not for any of them.
Back to Bourdain: “If you’re twenty-two, physically fit, hungry to learn and be better, I urge you to travel..Sleep on floors if you have to. Find out how other people live and eat and cook. Learn from them — wherever you go.”
Good advice for any of us seeking an interesting and respectful existence?
The people who live here, work here, go to school here, teach here, have to get up in the morning and go to work, school, or shop, or live, not glamorous, but important?
“We have nowhere else to go… this is all we have.”
With thanks,
K Webster
On behalf of The Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition
GC article “The Hottest Club In NYC Is a Parking Lot On Canal Street”
From: Alliance for Community Preservation and Betterment
Dear Community Board 3, Elected Officials, NYC Department of Transportation, and NYS License Authority:
My name is Susan Lee and am a community advocate working in Chinatown.
I am writing to express my strong opposition regarding the Full Closure Open Streets program application for Forsyth Street from Canal Street & Hester Street by the bar TIME AGAIN (under “Neighbors on Forsyth” and “Time Cafe LLC”). I am deeply concerned by a bar-ran Open Streets permit for a bar that operates from 5pm-2am on weekdays and 2pm-2am on weekends taking over the parking space that is used by teachers and staff of the school located at 100 Hester Street. This is an unfair use of a public space for a private entity that promotes late night drinking and partying while providing ZERO public benefit to the community at large.
Loud amplified music outdoors coming from the TIME AGAIN bar can be clearly heard across the adjacent Sara D. Roosevelt Park all the way to Hester Street. This is in VIOLATION of sound permit stipulations which state that sound permits should not be issued where a sound device “will deprive the public of the right to the safe, comfortable, convenient and peaceful enjoyment of any public street, park or place for street, park or other public purposes.” The Lower East Side is designated as an official NYC Environmental Justice Area, meaning this neighborhood has experienced disproportionate negative impacts from environmental pollution due to historical and existing social inequities without equal protection and enforcement of environmental laws and regulations. I fear that the constant noise pollution from a Full Closure Open Streets program operating daily between 5-11 pm from July 1-December 1, 2025 WILL ONLY WORSEN THESE SOCIAL INEQUITIES. For the Open Streets program to truly center “public spaces for all”, DoT must create an equitable framework that includes the needs of the local residents, and most importantly, enforce these regulations.
In recent years, we’ve seen the PROLIFERATION of restaurants and bars that abuse the Open Streets program in Chinatown to occupy and aggressively privatize public space for public consumption of alcohol while alienating neighbors in this working class and immigrant community. Chinatown is a designated NORC (Naturally Occurring Retirement Community) where there is a high concentration of older residents who have chosen to remain in their homes rather than move into a retirement facility. We must speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. Seniors recreate at the Sara D. Roosevelt Park to connect with friends and neighbors. The park is an extension of their homes. By granting a Full Closure Open Streets program that operates daily from 5pm-11pm from July 1 to December 1st, 2025 will deprive our seniors of a peaceful environment they deserve. To be clear, everyone is welcome to thrive in Chinatown BUT when it turns into a situation where operators are not acting in a neighborly manner, with trash overflows, human defecation, noise disturbances and overcrowding of streets and sidewalks, then they have worn out their welcome.
Susan Lee
To the CB3, Elected Officials, and DoT:
I am writing on behalf of Think!Chinatown, a place-based intergenerational cultural non-profit organization, which is located at 1 Pike St, to express our strong opposition to the Full Closure Open Streets application submitted by Neighbors on Forsyth and Time Cafe LLC (dba TIME AGAIN), the bar located at 105 Canal. The application is for Forsyth Street from Canal to Hester Streets everyday from 5-11pm starting July 1 to December 1, 2025.
CONCERN ABOUT NEGATIVE IMPACT ON THE ADJACENT PUBLIC PARK: TIME AGAIN bar is directly adjacent to Sara D. Roosevelt (SDR) Park and Pace High School, bringing up strong concerns about the application for a bar-ran Open Streets permit. With limited public space available in Chinatown, SDR Park is a well-used space for community members from day to night with regular gatherings by elders dancing, walking around the race track, young people playing games, and more. Because intergenerational living in small tenement units is very common in Chinatown, public “third spaces” are essential to the community. We’re greatly distressed by the prospect of a bar that operates from 5pm-2am on weekdays and 2pm-2am on weekends taking over the parking space of teachers and staff of Pace High School (and/or other community members) for late night drinking and partying.
We have witnessed loud amplified music outdoors coming from the TIME AGAIN bar which could be clearly heard across SDR Park all the way to Hester Street. This is not in accordance with sound permit stipulations which state that sound permits should not be issued where a sound device “will deprive the public of the right to the safe, comfortable, convenient and peaceful enjoyment of any public street, park or place for street, park or other public purposes.”
Besides our own observations, the bar’s activities have also been described in the press. August 2024, a GQ article quoted TIME AGAIN co-owner Nicholas T. Poe as saying with a grin, “Legally speaking, [a concert that took place inside the bar] wasn’t associated with the bar, but spiritually, it was.” In another GQ article from October 2024, it’s described that “outside Time Again, the Dimes Square-adjacent bar that has spawned nightly neighborhood block parties all summer and into the fall.”
A TRACK RECORD OF NEGATIVE BEHAVIOR: Last month in May 2025, there were 4 noise complaints to 311 for loud music/party, 2 of which were reported after midnight, to the bar’s location on 105 Canal. In 2024, there were 9 noise complaints to 311 for loud music/party. It’s alarming to see that the noise pollution on the site is worsening.
We have witnessed many accounts of patrons coming directly from the bar outdoor seating area to urinate on the doorsteps of local Chinatown businesses. We have also caught bar patrons stealing our stools which we use for the nearby Chinatown Night Market.
OBSTRUCTION OF FIRE HYDRANT: The many pieces of outdoor seating furniture put out by the bar would obstruct a firetruck’s access to the hydrant, putting the adjacent school and residential building at risk in the case of emergency.
[taken Tuesday 8pm, 6/3/2025]
MISUSE OF OPEN STREETS PROGRAM LEADS TO GENTRIFICATION: As a community group that produces cultural programs for public space activations, Think!Chinatown applauds the Open Street program’s mission to transform “streets to public space open to all.” However, we warn that a permit to the bar TIME AGAIN, which has shown no interest in serving our community, will actually turn outdoor spaces into places of exclusion and negatively impact existing vibrant open spaces — antithetical to Open Street’s mission.
Over the past few years, we have witnessed the rapid gentrification of Chinatown and the pushing out of small Mom & Pop businesses for trendy bars and restaurants that come from the world of large hospitality groups. While we see the value in the Open Streets program as a whole, we have personally observed an abuse of the program in Chinatown by these private enterprises to privatize public space for their sole profit and subsequently accelerating gentrification in our neighborhood. For example, the existing Open Streets on Canal has negatively transformed our primarily low-income immigrant residential area with a sharp increase in unneighborly behaviors like public intoxication, public urination, major noise pollution, uncontrolled crowds and other issues enumerated here with written, photo and video testimonies.
WHO IS THIS OPEN STREETS PERMIT FOR? Since there is no neighborhood or online presence of the “Neighbors on Forsyth” group, we ask the CB to inquire about the membership to better understand who these individuals are and what their connection is to the bar.
While the Open Streets program intends to transform “streets to public space open to all”, the aggressive privatization of public space and related disruptive behaviors have given the Chinatown community good reason to fear accelerating gentrification and displacement of longtime businesses and working class, immigrant families. A strong framework is needed by DoT to create a vibrant and equitable streetscape. Left unchecked, our public space is becoming privatized by profit maximizing large hospitality groups and restaurateurs at great cost to the local Chinatown community.
Yin Kong,
Executive Director, Think!Chinatown
1 Pike St, NYC 10002
You don’t want to miss this production in Sara Roosevelt Park!!!
From an earlier Lo-Down podcast on Traven Rice‘s the Lo-Down:
Playwright Carmen Rivera: “We’re living in this divisive time when everyone is screaming at each other,” she said, “so let’s take a step back and remember that we are living on the same planet. Everyone wants to be heard – giving space to their stories, and giving space to the idea that we should all listen to each other was the work…’Open your heart’ is what we want to say with the piece.”
Alexandra Aron Director
(Founder and Artistic Director of The Remote Theater Project)
“a community engagement project…based on conversations and workshops with…different communities that intersect in the park; the unhoused community, Chinese seniors and more recently, migrant workers who are temporarily living in hotels near the park.”
If you feel a lack of hope, nothing makes that better than spending an evening at FABnyc for the annual Community Hero Awards.
Everyday Lower East Side and Chinatown neighbors making a difference in the lives of others – and transforming their own life in the process.
Frank Arroyo presenter Wendy Brawer
Jeanie Chin presenter Jan Lee
Jenny Deida presented by Jamie Hawk
Terron Lemons presented by substitute
Margaret Yuen presented by Amy Chin
Trever Holland (absent) Ryan Gilliam presented (stay tuned for next year)
