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Rendering courtesy Zero Emissions Transit<\/p>\n
By Garrett Quon, a small business owner whose family has lived and worked in L.A. Chinatown for four generations<\/p>\n
When you walk in my neighborhood, you can feel the pulse of Los Angeles Chinatown \u2014 streets steeped in resilience, pride and history.<\/p>\n
But after some of the toughest challenges we\u2019ve ever had to face \u2013 a housing market gone bust, a global pandemic, and rising inflation \u2013 there\u2019s a new pulse that I haven\u2019t felt in years: opportunity.<\/p>\n
Thanks to benefits secured by L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis connected to the gondola project connecting Union Station, Chinatown, and Dodger Stadium, our area\u2019s history has a real shot at not just surviving, but thriving in the years ahead.<\/p>\n
And now, we need the METRO Board\u2019s help to make that happen.<\/p>\n
My family established roots in this community more than 100 years ago when my great grandmother opened Tuey Far Low, a restaurant in the heart of the community. Four generations later, I continue their legacy \u2013 living in the same community and operating what is now known as the Grand Star Jazz Club. It\u2019s through this first hand experience \u2013 and the experiences of my father, my grandfather, my great grandfather and so on, that I know what this project would mean for current residents, and those that will live here long after we are gone.<\/p>\n
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Community members speak out about ways Chinatown would benefit from the gondola at the Golden Dragon Restaurant.<\/p>\n
Photo courtesy Zero Emissions Transit<\/p>\n
The Community Benefit Agreement that is now tied to the gondola, which includes a revolving loan fund and business support programs, means that small business owners like the ones I\u2019ve known for years \u2014 the family-run restaurants, herbal shops, and vendors that enrich our area every day \u2014 can not only get help, but they can get ahead.<\/p>\n
The gondola could mean commitments to local hiring and apprenticeship programs for my neighbors, incubators for small immigrant-owned businesses, cultural preservation funds, including marketing opportunities, and real time street and safety improvements.<\/p>\n
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Community members in front of Los Angeles City Hall calling for the gondola project to be advanced.<\/p>\n
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Photo courtesy Zero Emissions Transit<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve seen this project stalled many times over the years and it\u2019s hard to see it as anything other than politics at play, which is why my family and five other founding families of Chinatown came together last week to publicly say that Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez does not speak for us on this issue. The courage of Supervisor Solis to secure this investment plan is the leadership that must continue as we near full approval for this project.<\/p>\n
This Thursday, it will be the METRO Executive Management Committee\u2019s turn \u2013 and then the full METRO Board\u2019s chance \u2013 to deliver for us. These potential benefits and resources are the blueprint for sustainable growth \u2013 the gondola would make that possible in a way that reminds us that the true value of Chinatown isn\u2019t just in its property values, but in its people, traditions, and capacity to reinvent itself \u2014 together.<\/p>\n
Because of this project, there\u2019s hope that Chinatown can grow and change with the city, not be left behind by it.<\/p>\n