'Report Details Troubles in Chinatown'

It is astounding that your article by Catherine Bilkey, "Report Details Troubles in Chinatown," only cites the Asian American Federation's Howard Shih and Chinatown Partnership LDC's Wellington Chen — both of whom blamed the business/economic model for Chinatown's economy not improving at the same rate as the rest of the New York economy [New York, "Report Details Troubles in Chinatown," July 2, 2008].

Yet neither one mentioned the loss of the Municipal Garage at Police Headquarters with its 400 parking spots, continuing Park Row and other street/highway exit shutdowns, reduced crosstown streets in Lower Manhattan creating massive traffic congestion at peak hours, and years of government permit placard abuse that intensified after September 11, 2001.

These losses hammered Chinatown's economy, forcing more than 30 business closings shortly after September 11.

We fought the congestion pricing scheme when it was clear that Chinatown's and Lower Manhattan's traffic congestion was a direct result of government permit placard abuse.

We forced the city to finally release a $570,000 permit placard study weeks before the congestion pricing votes in the City Council and State Assembly. The DOT study found more than 142,000 placards in circulation with most of them in our area.

Consider this — according to the EarthLab Foundation, an environmental advocacy group — there are 260,000 cars and trucks flooding Manhattan every weekday.

This means that more than half the vehicles crowding our streets belong to city government agencies. These do not even include widespread illegal government permits.

Consider another example, pre-September 11 Chinatown restaurants were booming on weekends with waiting lines, dirty streets or not. Ms. Bilkey's failure to cast widely for the true causes of Chinatown's current problems is a disappointment.

JEANIE CHIN

Civic Center Residents Coalition

New York, N.Y.