LOS ANGELES -- Real estate values are falling but taxes will be going up for some property owners in the Chinatown district of Los Angeles, where city officials recently approved an expansion of the local Business Improvement District (BID).
That might sound controversial, but it appears that the economic doldrums have swept aside any strenuous objections over the expansion of the BID, a non-profit organization made up of property owners in the ethnic enclave. Indeed, some tenant merchants in the area are now doing their own cold calculations on whether Chinatown makes sense for them anymore--with or without the BID.
The BID's recently approved expansion takes in chunks of territory on the southern and western flanks of Chinatown, strips of streets that had been left out of the group's original boundaries. Now those addresses are part of the organization, which has been in operations over much of the rest of the neighborhood for eight years, using extra property taxes from its members to pay for security and maintenance teams to supplement city services.
The BID has won plaudits for making Chinatown safer and cleaner over the years, and backers say the efforts have led to a more vibrant retail scene for merchants. But the organization has also become a handy target for the frustrations of some merchants who believe that the extra taxes paid by property owners to BID's services eventually get passed along to them in the form of rent increases.
Add it up and you'll see that absence of much fuss over the recent move to expand the BID might actually be bad news for the organization, pointing to a larger problem. That's because many merchants in the ethnic enclave are knee-deep in the economic slump along with everyone else--and that has some of them thinking about leaving Chinatown regardless of what goes on with the BID.
Donghao Liu is one of the them. He runs the Niming Bookstore on Hill Street, with his wife. The couple spent a recent day with a store full of books but no customers.
"Nobody buys books these days," said Liu. "The only books that can somewhat sell are textbooks."
It's enough to make the couple conjure up thoughts of other options--plans that don't include Chinatown. They own a house in their hometown of Wuxi in China's Jiangsu province, and have retained their Chinese citizenship through more than 20 years of living in the U.S.
"If the economy doesn't get better, we'll close the store and go back," Liu said.
Liu's doubts about the economy find him with company among the merchants of Chinatown--a crowded field that includes everything from a host of restaurateurs, trinket hawkers, shopkeepers offering bargain clothing, and purveyors of live poultry.
"I pay $3,000 a month for my small shop space," said one merchant who sells bargain clothing and purses and identified himself only as Chen. "I opened the door at 9 a.m.--now it's 10:30 and nobody has bought anything from me so far."
Chen came to Chinatown from Guangdong province in China four years ago, helped by family members already in the U.S. A recent day found him sitting besides racks of outfits and purses with designer labels, his eyes chasing pedestrians as they passed by.
The slow shopping scene provided Chen with time for occasional chats with neighboring merchants. A woman selling everything from colorful fabrics to small statuary next door offers a gloomy review.
"A couple of stores down the street are closing," she said. "But they couldn't find people to take over their leases."
Stephen Tong said that business at his Lee's Travel Service is holding up thanks to a strong reputation he and his wife have earned while operating the shop over the past 20 years. A booking on behalf of a large tour group from China has helped recently, although Tong's wife noted that the visitors made their plans early this year, well before the economic tumult that has shaken markets and consumers around the world in recent months.
The gap between the slowing economy the increased rents that they attribute in part to the BID has some Chinatown merchants express frustration with city officials, arguing that the government should keep the streets safe and clean without any extra taxes or non-profit organizations needed.
That notion, combined with the tough economy, has put the future of several BIDs in areas near Chinatown in doubt. A BID in the Toy District, just a couple of miles south of Chinatown, recently announced plans to end operations. A protracted fight among property owners in the Fashion District remains unsettled as the BID there faces a deadline for approval for a new term of operations.
City officials have made it clear, however, that nobody should expect public services to fill gaps left behind if more BIDs in the city shut down--all but waving a white flag when it comes to constituent services in some of the busiest commercial neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
First District Los Angeles City Councilmember Ed Reyes, who represents Chinatown, supported the recent expansion and modification, with its higher tax rates. Reyes pointed to the "very large concentration" of residents and businesses in Chinatown as a reason that the city's regular police patrols and trash pick-ups cannot meet the needs of the neighborhood."
Jun Wang is a writer for New America Media and LA Beez.
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