Chinatown and Lower Manhattan business owners fear negative impact with congestion pricing

CHINATOWN, Manhattan (WABC) — Inside the walls of Hwa Yuan in Chinatown lie decades of memories.

“People have had weddings here. People have had funerals, bar mitzvahs, get-togethers, happy occasions, sad occasions to us as a family,” said James Tang, Owner of Hwa Yuan.

The business has been in James Tang’s family since the 1960s, through 9-11, Hurricane Sandy, and the pandemic.

But Tang and other business owners fear congestion pricing will pose yet another threat to their neighborhood.

They fear that their clientele, tourists, and people who travel from other parts of the city will avoid coming into the congestion relief zone south of 60th Street.

“A lot of folks come here from out of town, from all over the world. They don’t know how our subways work. They take Ubers here. They take taxis here. They get dropped off at the gateway to Chinatown. And then they walk around this neighborhood on foot, exploring the mom and pops places, exploring the restaurants, venturing into Little Italy,” Tang said.

Susan Lee is the president of a grassroots organization called New Yorkers Against the Congestion Pricing Tax.

The group has filed a class action lawsuit, saying the plan fails to take into account the negative economic and environmental impacts on neighborhoods on the Lower East Side.

Lee also says the plan will do little to help the areas struggling to bounce back from the pandemic.

“Right now, the vacancy rate in New York is 11% in Manhattan is at 14%. Chinatown is that 20%,” Lee said. “And you look at the top 20 neighborhoods with the highest vacancy rates, ten of them are in the central business district. Five of them are in Lower Manhattan.”

But the MTA says the vast majority of the people who go into areas like Chinatown use public transportation, and the traffic relief will only help pedestrians navigate the area.

She also says studies show traffic ends up costing businesses more money.

“If you own a business and you need to drive from point A to point B you are in traffic wasting time and oftentimes, labor is the most expensive part of a business’ budget,” said Juliette Michaelson, MTA Deputy Chief of Policy and External Relations.

Kathryn Freed, a former New York City councilwoman and state supreme court judge is a plaintiff in this lawsuit.

She says ultimately the residents of Chinatown and other Lower East Side neighbors will feel it in their wallets.

“Because they can’t afford to pay higher amounts for their food or services or deliveries because trucks are going to get charged a lot more money and they get charged every time they come into the zone on like cars and get charged once,” Freed said. “It’s about the fact that your cost of living is going up and the only sin you’ve committed is that you live in a zone that they decided was a central business zone.”

ALSO READ: Concern over air quality with congestion pricing in South Bronx, some parents say

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