Let’s Make Lemonade

By Dottie Tiejun Li

Police Chief Cathy Lanier has apparently settled on using space at the Chinatown Community Cultural Center at 616 H Street, NW, part of the Gallery Place development, for a “workstation,” even if she had not yet informed the Center of that as Asian Fortune went to press. The workstation is to be occupied by a new Chinatown Community Outreach Coordinator, a civilian post. And, the Chief told us, the process of interviewing qualified bilingual applicants is underway.

Unfortunately, the Chief’s commitment to the position was undermined at a community meeting in Chinatown when, apparently frustrated, she admitted she primarily views the idea as an exercise in public relations. “Honestly, the only reason I’m putting in a workstation is because the community asked for it,” she declared. “There is no need for a workstation or a station. We’re moving away from stations altogether in policing in the entire United States.”

It’s expensive PR: the position’s salary range is $54,633 to $70,437 annually.

So how should Chinatown business and community leaders feel about losing the prominent ground floor headquarters space, and the fact that the city’s specially trained squad of Asian American police officers is no longer based in Chinatown? Feelings remain raw because of the lack of notice and consultation, as well as the inability of the Chief to forthrightly answer questions about the HQ space Gallery Place generously provided to the city since 2004. There’s sadness, too, in the neighborhood fighting to preserve its ethnic identity as development encroaches and the aging Chinese population diminishes.

But the community needs to deal with reality. The Chief has made it clear, after reversing herself, that the police will not move back into the old space. So if the Chief has handed Chinatown what some there view as lemons, then maybe it’s time to make some sweet Chinese lemonade.

The proposed workstation space is far from ideal. It’s cramped. There is no privacy, as people entering and exiting the Community Center pass through it. There is no storage space or security.

But let’s make the best of it. The Chinatown Community should press Chief Lanier to honor her promise to maintain the external police sign on the building so people will know there is a police presence. Let’s prove her wrong about the usefulness of a Chinatown Community Outreach Coordinator. It shouldn’t matter if she created the position just to mollify an insulted community. Let’s show her that the Coordinator can play a vital role in keeping Chinatown’s crime rate down, and help the neighborhood be a safer, more attractive place for the businesses, residents, shoppers and tourists who make it a busy, bustling area.

Let’s welcome the new Coordinator and help him or her get up to speed quickly on any crime-related problems in Chinatown. Let’s give this person the information needed to assess crime patterns and trends, to identify potential future issues, and to determine Chinatown’s strengths and weaknesses. Let’s integrate this person’s work into business planning, community services and attractions. Let’s make sure our young people know this police representative and view him or her as a trusted friend. Let’s see to it that the Coordinator sees the job as representing Chinatown to the City and its police force, and not just as an exercise in public relations for the MPD.

It’s a chance to heal the rift and to make some real gains. Let’s take it.

To see our backlog of stories on the Asian Liaison Unit and the Chinatown Police HQ controversy, and for late updates on the story, visit www.AsianFortune.com.