Taking Back Our Community: CAAAV & Chinatown Two Bridges Comunity Plan

Based in New York City, Liberation Fund grantee CAAAV: Organizing Asian Communities has been fighting for the Chinatown Two Bridges Community Plan with local grassroots community organizations since 2016, when a plan to build four more luxury towers on the Chinatown waterfront was revealed. As head of the NYC Department of City Planning, Dan Garodnick pushed through 300+ developer and city-led rezoning plans in 2022 but has yet to approve the only community rezoning plan that asked local businesses, longtime residents, and neighborhood organizations what they need in order for their community to thrive. In September 2022, fifty tenants, workers, and students convened at Dan Garodnick’s office to let him know why Chinatown/Lower East Side (LES) is home and why the Two Bridges Community Plan is needed. Despite security being called, CAAAV members pushed through and hand-delivered their letters and are now waiting for a response and next steps. If passed, the Two Bridges Community Plan would severely curtail the ability of developers to use capital to speculate on Chinatown,  artificially inflate rent in the neighborhood, and place control of development more in the hands of the community.