Little Italy cut out of $20 million NY state grant for Chinatown – Little Italy businessman Ernest Lepore, president of Ferrara bakery on Grand Street.
Stephen Yang
Little Italy retailers are screaming “Mi offendo!” after studying Gov. Kathy Hochul awarded a $20 million financial and tourism grant to their Chinatown neighbors, The Post has discovered.
Civil leaders in Little Italy mentioned they weren’t even requested to collectively apply for the state grant although their companies suffered alongside Chinatown’s in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Little Italy cut out of $20 million NY state grant for Chinatown
“After what our nation has experienced in the most recent past concerning issues of equity, who would believe that the State of New York would favor one ethnic Manhattan community, in this case Chinatown, to the detriment by exclusion and apart from its neighboring ethnic community, Little Italy?” Victor Papa, chairman of the Chinatown-Little Italy Historic District Improvement Association, wrote in a March 8 letter to Hochul.
“Unfortunately, residents, leaders, and merchants of Little Italy were not invited to be part of the application, and thus a whole ethnic community can be considered as excluded, with many of its businesses facing financial hardships and potential closings and bankruptcies.”
The letter was co-signed by different Little Italy businessmen — together with Ernest Lepore, president of Ferrara bakery on Grand Street, and the “Cannoli King” John “Baby John” Delutro, who owns Caffe Palermo on Mulberry Street.
Little Italy reps ought to’ve been granted a “seat at the table” and given “equal voice” regarding the $20 million “largesse … by virtue of Little Italy’s equally distressed economic situation,” in response to the letter, which factors out that Little Italy additionally ‘serves as a beacon of cultural richness and diversity.’”
The Lower Manhattan neighborhoods are so intertwined that they’ve been designated a mixed historic district — the Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District. Some streets have each Chinese and Italian shops and eating places.
Papa mentioned the concord between the 2 ‘hoods has now been “seriously compromised with seething, underlying resentment, which any Governor should seek to immediately mitigate.”
The utility for the $20 million New York City regional financial improvement grant was submitted by former Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, now a councilwoman representing the Upper West Side.
Brewer on Sunday mentioned she championed the cash for Chinatown to assist the neighborhood recuperate from the anti-Asian bias that exploded in the course of the starting of the coronavirus pandemic — because the bug was repeatedly known as the “China virus.”
“All I was thinking about was addressing the Asian hate. Asian discrimination was one of the reasons I wrote the grant. I was really proud to get that money for the Chinatown community,” Brewer mentioned.
She mentioned as early as January and February 2020, bustling Chinatown had develop into a ghost city, void of vacationers.
“Chinatown got hurt badly,” Brewer mentioned.
Brewer, bowled over by the criticism from advocates for Little Italy, insisted retailers and residents there can apply for a number of the grant cash.
The $20 million grant award was first introduced in November in a press launch from Hochul’s workplace.
“Chinatown serves as a beacon of cultural richness and diversity, not just for New Yorkers, but for the entire world,” Hochul mentioned within the launch.
“With this award, Chinatown will shine even brighter and reach its fullest potential as a vibrant community and an international arts and cultural destination. Strategic public investments like this spark an upward cycle of revitalization that takes on a life of its own by enhancing community pride, creating a positive buzz and attracting private sector investments.”
Chinatown’s Downtown Revitalization initiative will use the cash to create a brand new arts and cultural house, enhance connectivity, enhance housing and increase inexperienced house to draw vacationers and create a tradition house for the 1.2 million Asian American Pacific Islanders dwelling within the metropolitan space, the governor mentioned.
After The Post made inquiries Sunday, telephone calls had been exchanged between Hochul’s workforce, Brewer and Little Italy activists to handle their grievances.
“I spoke to the governor’s office. Little Italy will have a seat at the table. Money has not been released,” Brewer mentioned.
“Governor Hochul is committed to building back all of New York’s diverse communities from the pandemic, and we will continue our ongoing engagement with stakeholders and local leaders to determine the best uses of this transformative investment that will revitalize the area,” Hochul spokeswoman Hazel Crampton-Hays mentioned in a press release.
The Italian-Americans activists mentioned it’s simply the most recent snub at their neighborhood by New York elected officers, pointing to the elimination of Matilda Cuomo — former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s mother — from the state web site mentoring program she based and the downgrading of Columbus Day by coupling it with Indigenous People’s Day.
