Chinatown

Members of the state’s Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) held a final listening session Feb. 15 to present and get feedback on the draft of an environmental justice strategy that would govern how departments within the office approach their work.

After years of negotiations, Chinatown and Leather District residents, volleyball players and skate boarders are all calling on the state to honor an alleged agreement to lease the Reggie Wong Memorial Park to community development groups for just $1 in order to make necessary improvements and preserve the space for community use.

A parcel of vacant, publicly owned land in Chinatown leaves local community organizers hopeful for what they say is much needed housing and community space.

Meidan Lin didn’t expect to find a home for her family of four quite so soon. Waiting lists for affordable housing in Boston can take years, and winning lotteries for affordable homeownership can be like, well, winning the lottery.

A new piece of public art has arrived at Chinatown’s historic Hudson Street. Developed by Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) and artist Gianna Stewart, “Storytell & Sway” provides usable space for the Chinatown community while acknowledging the area’s rich immigrant history.

On Feb. 12, a new installation sprouted in Auntie Kay and Uncle Frank Chin Park in the Chinatown section of Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. “The Herd,” by local artist Andy Li, celebrates the Year of the Ox in a text and fiber art piece, a series of banners displaying messages in English and Chinese.

Strings of brightly colored lanterns hang delicately over the public gathering space in front of the Chinatown Gate. The 30 lanterns are part of a temporary public art installation on the Rose Kennedy Greenway called “Lantern Stories” by artist Yu-Wen Wu.

Chinatown is particularly vulnerable to problem gambling because of a high concentration of poverty, low-paying jobs and lack of English proficiency.

Last Saturday, three dozen or so Chinatown residents filed into the Josiah A. Quincy School cafeteria to talk about historical and cultural preservation in the neighborhood.

When taking a tour through Boston’s historic Chinatown, it is clear that the historic sites being pointed out along the way are under threat by developers taking advantage of the building boom.