Around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, an old, steel, roll-down gate partially detached from the vacant building at the southwest corner of Canal and Greenwich Sts. However, it was a sign of a more serious problem. The gate detached due to the collapse of a wall inside the building, according to Fire Department officials. A fleet of emergency vehicles converged on the scene, including about three fire trucks, several other Fire Department vehicles, a police car and a car from the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. Firefighters checked out the building and cordoned off the street corner with yellow hazard tape. But there was apparently no order given to demolish the property. Owned by the Ponte family, the historic building has long sat derelict, and shortly before Superstorm Sandy hit town, firefighters were seen spray-painting an orange “X” on scaffolding ringing the structure, warning that the building is highly unsafe and should not be entered. The Pontes own a number of other properties in Tribeca and Hudson Square, as well as F. Illi Ponte restaurant, at Desbrosses and West Sts.

BY JOSH ROGERS  |  Democratic District Leader Jenifer Rajkumar has raised more than $37,000 in her as-yet-unannounced bid to unseat City Councilmember Margaret Chin later this year.

Rajkumar said she is only “exploring” a possible run, and said she would wait until a fomal announcement before discussing the campaign’s issues. Her fundraising numbers were filed later in the day Tuesday, so they were posted on the city Campaign Finance Board Web site a day or so after the donors for Chin and many other city candidates were posted.

Rajkumar said she has been raising money for only two weeks.

“I am very pleased and moved and overwhelmed by the outpouring of support right in the beginning,” she said.

Rajkumar trails Chin, who has raised almost $97,000 from slightly more than 800 donors, but it is not hard for challengers to raise enough money to run a credible campaign. Under the city’s generous public finance system, donations up to $175 are matched at a 6-to-1 ratio.

Rajkumar, 30, a Battery Park City resident and an attorney, defeated her Gateway Plaza neighbor, Linda Belfer, in last year’s district leader race.

One of Chin’s donors, John Fratta, a former district leader and a longtime ally of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, said he expects to support Rajkumar someday for some office — just not this year’s Council race.

“She’s very sharp,” Fratta said of Rajkumar, adding, “In politics one year you’re with me and the next you’re not. I do look forward to supporting Jenifer for something.”

He said he admired her “youth and vibrancy” but that Chin deserves re-election.

“Margaret has been a breath of fresh air,” he said. “She’s always fighting for what’s best for Lower Manhattan and Little Italy.”

Chin, 58, said with the expected matching funds, she is close to having the $168,000 limit she could spend in 2013 for a primary.

Only 19 of her donations were of $1,000 or more and none were over $2,000. Her bigger donors include Margery-Archie Gottesman of Edison Properties, which has a big development proposal in Hudson Square, which is facing a rezoning; Henry Buhl, a leader in the effort to create a business improvement district in Soho; and four members of the Gindi family, owners of the famed Century 21 department store across from the World Trade Center who gave a combined $5,000.

A look at Chin’s donor list shows many donations under $100 and many from people with Asian surnames — more than 100 are named Chen, for example. She also has support from community leaders throughout the district, raking in small donations from people like Catherine McVay Hughes, chairperson of Community Board 1, and Tobi Bergman, who runs P3, a youth sports program on Pier 40. Harold Reed, a C.B. 1 member who died unexpectedly last week in Hong Kong, donated $500.

By contrast, most of Rajkumar’s donations so far, nearly $30,000, have come from herself and eight others who have given at least $2,000. Rajkumar gave herself $8,250, the maximum allowed to participate in the public finance system. Others are limited to $2,750 donations to her campaign. She said four of her larger donors are family members, and the rest are friends and legal colleagues.

Also included in her donors are Jeanne Wilcke, president of Downtown Independent Democrats, which has been searching for an opponent for Chin, and two of Rajkumar’s neighbors, Tom Goodkind, a D.I.D. member, and Michael Fortenbaugh, who also runs the marina near their Battery Park City homes. PJ Kim, who lost to Chin four years ago, contributed as well, as did Adam Malitz of C.B. 1 and David Gruber, chairperson of C.B. 2.

Rajkumar, active with Young Democrats of New York, has also given a combined $210 to Julie Menin, the former C.B. 1 chairperson running for borough president; Yetta Kurland, running to succeed Council Speaker Christine Quinn in the neighboring district; Borough President Scott Stringer, now a candidate for city comptroller; and Michael Treybich, a Young Democrat running for Council in Coney Island.

Chin and Rajkumar attended Tuesday night’s D.I.D. meeting at which Chin was one of the invited speakers. The club has always supported Chin’s opponents in her runs for the Council, although D.I.D. gave her glowing praise short of an endorsement in her successful run in 2009 to defeat Councilmember Alan Gerson.

As Chin spoke, Rajkumar sat close by, paying close attention while taking a few notes.

Other club members politely questioned Chin on issues like the proposed Soho BID and New York University’s development plans, which passed the Council last year. On the BID, she said she got organizers to exempt residential co-ops from the building owners’ tax and to do better outreach to neighbors.

On N.Y.U., Chin said the Council got the university to provide space to allow building a public school, scale back development by 25 percent, ensure permanent rent protections at 505 LaGuardia Place, and expand open space in the area.

District Leader Paul Newell wondered if she got the best possible agreement.

“If there was a better deal, Paul, we would have fought for it,” Chin replied.

Schwartz, who was Chen’s platoon leader, was the highest-ranking officer to be charged in connection with the Army private’s death. His dismissal was a nonjudicial punishment, according to an Army news release, and there is no word yet on whether the discharge will be dishonorable or honorable, meaning he will continue to receive Army benefits. Eight charges against him in connection with the case — including dereliction of duty — will be dropped.

Chen’s family lives in the East Village, and he attended Pace High School in Chinatown. He committed suicide while on duty in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in October 2011, after reportedly enduring ongoing hazing, including racial slurs and physical abuse. His death prompted an outcry from New York City’s Chinatown community and local officials, led by the New York branch of the Organization of Asian Americans (OCA-NY).

Representatives and advocates for anti-hazing laws met at a press conference on Dec. 18 to discuss the end of the courts-martial and the next step for legislators.

Elizabeth OuYang, president of OCA-NY, expressed the shared feeling of disappointment that justice was not served by the military courts-martial.

“These trials underscored how impossible it is for a subordinate to challenge hazing by his superiors when the system is not supportive or safe to do so,” she said.

In addition to pushing for the discharge of four other soldiers charged in connection with Chen’s death, OuYang highlighted two bills, introduced by Congressmember Nydia Velazquez and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, that include anti-hazing language that have been attached as amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act.

A representative from Velazquez’s office noted that the act is currently under consideration by the Senate’s Armed Service Committee, and that the congressmember is strongly advocating for the anti-hazing provisions to be incorporated.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver also threw his support behind the effort in a statement, urging Congress to “add a hazing statute to the Uniform Code of Military Justice that provides greater protections for victims and tougher sanctions against perpetrators.”

Lower East Side residents carried their rations of food and water away from the National Guard drop-off site outside Smith Houses on Thursday night. Photo by Sam Spokony

BY SAM SPOKONY  |  In a shaky yet mainly successful start to the National Guard presence in Downtown Manhattan following the impact of Hurricane Sandy, on Thursday night hundreds of desperate residents welcomed a massive delivery of food and water outside a Lower East Side public housing complex.

The Guardsmen were originally scheduled to arrive to deliver the rations at 1 p.m. that day outside Smith Houses on Catherine St., near Cherry St. — but the people lined up waiting for hours for the drop-off became increasingly agitated until the trucks finally arrived around 6:15 p.m.

Despite many harsh words over the lateness of that arrival, the residents certainly appreciated the vital supplies, as their neighborhood continues to sit in darkness.

“We would’ve gone crazy if they didn’t come,” said Tony Chan, 40, who came with his family several blocks from their home on Mott St. to pick up a box full of food and water bottles.

Chan explained that, even though other problems still loom large, the rations provided an important lifeline to people like himself, who simply hadn’t been ready for such a difficult aftermath to the storm. Before the delivery, he had no food or water.

“The only thing we could’ve eaten was a rat,” Chan joked, as he walked home.

Governor Andrew Cuomo had originally mobilized the National Guard on Oct. 28, the day before the hurricane struck. And on Thursday morning, at the behest of local politicians, Cuomo announced the Guard would be delivering one million meals — supplied by the Federal Emergency Management Agency  — to Downtown Manhattan and affected areas in Brooklyn and Queens.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and State Senator Daniel Squadron, both of whom were part of a group that urged the governor to implement the deliveries, were outside Smith Houses on Thursday night with their aides to help oversee the arrival and hand out the rations. Although the crowd of hungry residents never became mob-like, the scene was somewhat frantic, as dozens of Guardsmen rushed to stack hundreds of cases of water bottles and sealed boxes of emergency meals.

Silver noted that, in terms of a potentially life-saving delivery, it was better late than never.

“It’s unfortunate that it isn’t taking place quite when they expected it to, but the need is being met,” Silver said. “This is just what happens when people are making decisions and trying to find answers in real time.”

The speaker added that, shortly after the National Guard arrived, he called the governor to say that the timeliness of deliveries would have to improve over the next few days.

According to an onsite member of the Salvation Army, which is helping to coordinate the shipments of the FEMA rations, the Guard will continue the deliveries at about 15 sites throughout the aforementioned areas until Sunday.

“I said to [Cuomo] that we’ve got to beef up the distribution process, because there were people here waiting for hours,” Silver said. “He told me that the sites were actually chosen by the city, and not his office. But it’s not about blaming anyone, because we’re all in this together. At this point we just need to make sure that people get what they need, because these are trying times for everybody.”

They were especially trying times for the many Chinatown residents who were left disappointed, and perhaps still hungry, by the National Guard’s late arrival on Thursday.

A drop-off similar to the one at Smith Houses was scheduled to take place outside Confucius Plaza, on Bowery between Canal and Division Sts., at 1 p.m. that day. But the arrival was reportedly rescheduled to 3 p.m., and then, after hours of miscommunication and speculation, the Guard did not arrive in time to actually hand out rations.

The delivery was in fact made to Confucius Plaza after the Guard finished its work at Smith Houses, but since it was already dark at that point — past 7:30 p.m. — the food and water was reportedly put into storage at the Chinatown building, so it could be handed out the following day.

It wasn’t only residents of the 44-story Confucius Plaza complex who were left wanting by the Guard’s failure to reach the building in time — as with the Smith site, residents from around the neighborhood showed up, many carrying a visible sense of desperation.

“We have nothing,” said a 24-year-old woman named Shatima, who has lived her entire life in the Baruch Houses projects, on Delancey and Columbia Sts., and declined to give her last name. “It’s gotten so bad that people are actually just taking shits in bags and throwing them out in the incinerator.”

Shatima, who arrived at Confucius Plaza around 3 p.m. on Thursday with several neighborhood friends, echoed the Mott St. tenant’s earlier explanation by stressing that they were all without food and water at that point because not enough people were ready for the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

“I just didn’t expect it to be this bad,” she said. “We all remembered Hurricane Irene last year, that nothing really happened, and we just weren’t prepared for all of this. It sounds sad, but now we’ve just been asking people for food on the street, and we’ve been wearing the same clothes since Monday.”

Shatima and her friends were forced to find other options for food and water that night, but they were able to charge their cell phones outside Confucius Plaza at Speaker Silver’s “mobile district office” van, which was there from 3 to 6 p.m.

Silver and his top aides had rented a large van, staffed with volunteers, that they stocked with water and an array of electrical outlets available for charging phones and other devices. The mobile office began its much-needed journey on Wednesday afternoon, and was at the corner of Madison and Gouverneur Sts. on Thursday before heading to Confucius Plaza.

“We’re just trying to do all we can,” Silver said.

As people waited for the National Guard to arrive between 3 p.m. and around 5:30 p.m., Silver was joined outside Confucius Plaza by a host of other local politicians and community leaders who have been active in recovery efforts ever since Hurricane Sandy struck on Monday night. Along with Squadron, they included Councilmembers Margaret Chin, Jessica Lappin and Robert Jackson; Community Board 3 Chairperson Gigi Li; and staff members of Asian Americans for Equality, the Chinatown Business Improvement District and the Chinatown Partnership.

While waiting there before he and Silver headed over to Smith Houses, Squadron asserted that the real test of the storm’s impact is beginning now.

“It’s really important to remember that the crisis didn’t end when the wind died down, or even when the waters receded,” Squadron said, adding that he and his colleagues “pushed the city very hard” to implement in the FEMA ration deliveries via the National Guard.

“It was clear that we needed to be more proactive in dealing with the challenges posed by a long-term blackout in high rises with low-income or senior residents, or people with other needs,” he explained.

As for future National Guard deliveries to the Downtown area — whether through Sunday or, if Con Edison fails to restore power by then, perhaps longer — it’s clear that better communication will be key to reaching residents more swiftly.

The Salvation Army member who was at Confucius Plaza on Thursday — and who was supposed to be the main point of contact between the National Guard and the people at the drop-off site — was at a loss each time the politicians asked him for an update on the status of the delivery. He explained to this newspaper that he could only communicate with Guardsmen at headquarters, rather than those in the actual delivery trucks, thus there was no way for him to reach the Guardsmen driving to the site in order to give them directions or get an accurate estimate for their arrival.

Fifth Precinct police officers who were controlling the crowd outside Confucius Plaza were equally confused. Throughout the evening, they repeated that they were receiving conflicting or false information about the whereabouts of the delivery trucks.

As she stood waiting in vain for the trucks to arrive, assuming that the drivers didn’t know the best route to take, Chin vented her frustration.

“People have been waiting a long time for this, and [the National Guard] should have somebody driving with them who knows the city,” she said. “At a time like this, how could they send drivers who don’t know our streets?

But later, after the delivery at Smith Houses was completed and at least some of the earlier tension was lifted, Silver put the events of the day into the perspective.

“Look, sure, it’s been a little chaotic, but this whole situation is chaotic,” he said. “And once you go through a process like this on the first day, you can hopefully understand what went wrong, and have it go a little more smoothly the next day.”

As for his own plans, Silver pointed out that he and his staff would be taking their van through the Downtown area again the following day, to speak with residents while providing some valuable resources as the post-hurricane crisis continues.

“I’ll be around,” he said.

Gigi Li was elected nearly unanimously by her fellow board members to lead the East Village/Lower East Side board. Photo by Lesley Sussman

BY LESLEY SUSSMAN  |  Gigi Li, who has served as second vice chairperson of Community Board 3 for the past two years, was elected Tuesday night June 26, as the East Village/Lower East Side board’s new chairperson. She replaces Dominick Pisciotta Berg, who chaired C.B. 3 for the past four years and did not seek re-election.

Li, a Chinatown resident, was the only nominee for the post and became the first community board chairperson of Chinese descent in all of New York City.

Li previously co-chaired C.B. 3’s Chinatown Working Group Immigration and Social Services Subcommittee. She works as the co-director of the Neighborhood Family Services Coalition, a nonprofit organization serving youth, children and families in the Chinatown area.

She said her first priority was to “continue maximizing the community board’s role in the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area agenda.”

The new board chairperson, who was elected with only one opposing vote, said she would also like to “look at the day-to-day board procedures and committees and maybe spur up their effectiveness.”

John Leo, co-chairperson of the board’s Chinatown Working Group, hailed Li’s election.

“It’s about time that we had an Asian woman as chairperson of this community board,” he said. “She lives and works in the neighborhood and knows it well. She is representative of it.”

It was a busy four-hour session for the full community board, which met at BRC Senior Services Center, 30 Delancey St.  About 100 local residents attended the meeting.

Highlighting the evening was a lengthy and sometimes contentious debate on whether or not C.B. 3 should support a  liquor license application for a new bar and restaurant that wants to operate at  221 East Broadway.

Many community residents and several board members spoke out strongly against approving the application, by co-owners Sivan Harlap and Andrew States, because the new establishment would be located near five religious institutions and four public schools. Opponents said it would violate the State Liquor Authority’s 200-foot rule prohibiting the sale of liquor near schools or houses of worship.

Harlap and States have operated B-Side, at 204 Avenue B at 12th St., for nine years. They said the proposed new bar at East Broadway and Clinton St. would be “totally different” than their Avenue B punk bar. It would include a chip shop purveying “the best kosher fish, chips and falafel you’ve ever had,” Harlap said.

Several residents from the Seward Park Co-operative, which is located directly across the street from the proposed new bar and restaurant, were joined by Marc Rivera, the pastor of the Primitive Christian Church on East Broadway, and some of his members in speaking out against  the application.

Some of these residents argued that the new establishment would feature French-style windows that would be open in nice weather and that this would create too much nighttime noise in the largely quiet, residential neighborhood.

Speakers in support of the application, however, argued that the neighborhood below Delancey St. and east of Essex St. had very few places for people to gather and socialize late at night. They also argued that sections of East Broadway were dimly lit at night and that a late-night bar and restaurant would help keep the streets safe.

Harlap told C.B. 3 that B-Side had operated for several years with no noise complaints, and that every measure would be taken — including soundproofing the establishment -—  to ensure that neighbors were not disturbed.

The board found itself deadlocked on its first vote on the measure, which called for denial of the liquor license application. Afterward, outgoing C.B. 3 Chairperson Berg said he wanted to see the owners respond to community concerns.

The resolution that finally passed said the board would support the application if the owners agreed to close their windows at 9 p.m. and to serve food all the way until the place’s 4 a.m. closing time. Both owners agreed to do so.

Another stipulation the board requested was that the S.L.A. investigate whether the proposed bar was in violation of a regulation prohibiting the serving of alcohol within 200 feet of a religious institution or school.

After the meeting, Harlap said she was “relieved” by the vote.

“The stomachache I’ve had the past couple of weeks is finally beginning to go away,” she said.

In other important business, Board 3 unanimously approved the proposed conversion of a former 1.5-acre trolley terminal between the Williamsburg Bridge and Essex St. into an underground park.

The so-called “Low Line” is being developed by Dan Barasch and James Ramsey, co-founders of the Delancey Underground Project. The Low Line is envisioned to provide much needed additional green space in the heart of the Lower East Side.

Although some board members had previously voiced concern that the new project might compete with other local parks that are struggling for funding and resources, there was no debate on the proposal at the Tuesday night meeting.

Board member Morris Faitelewicz expressed the feelings of many members when he told this paper, “I’m very much in support of it.”

“We have an area that is underdeveloped and this will create more jobs,” he said. “In combination with the SPURA project, this is a big plus for economic development.”

Regular business at the meeting was briefly suspended as a slate of political leaders, their representatives and board members thanked Berg for his four years of service as board chairperson.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver was among elected officials to personally appear and thank Berg. He presented the outgoing chairperson with a certificate of appreciation.

“You’ve distinguished yourself as chairman of C.B. 3,” Silver said. “You’ve been an advocate for housing, social justice and all the important issues we face in our community.”

Silver was joined by state Senator Tom Duane, who told Berg, “You’ve done terrific work protecting small businesses and helping the expansion of the Lower East Side.”

Berg told board members that he was honored to have served as board chairperson.

“I’m very much moved by all this,” he said. “We’ve accomplished a great deal, from the improvement of the East River waterfront to improving bus service.

“SPURA took most of my energy, but it was well worth it,” he said. “There were some issues I couldn’t address  — like having shorter meetings — and I wish Gigi the best in carrying on.”

The board also heard from a spokesperson for state Senator Daniel Squadron, who said the senator had been successful in getting the M.T.A. to review its L train service in response to skyrocketing ridership — especially on weekends.

The representative said 16 more L trains would be added on weekdays, 11 additional trains on Saturdays and seven more on Sundays.

“This is great news,” he said, “for riders tired of long wait times, crushing crowds and overflowing trains.”

The board also heard from a spokesperson for Margaret Chin, who said the city councilmember had convinced the Department of Education to allow C.B. 3  to resume meeting in schools without being charged a fee to do so.

“We don’t want any plea bargains here,” OCA-NY President Liz OuYang said on Tuesday.

BY ALINE REYNOLDS | Criminal military charges have been made, and new, disturbing details released, concerning the sudden death of Private Danny Chen on Oct. 3. The charges, at least, give Chen’s family and others hope that justice is on the way.

Chen, 19, an Army private from the East Village who was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in a guard tower in Kandahar, Afghanistan, is now believed to have committed suicide, according to U.S. Army officials, who released a new report Wed., Dec. 21, on the military’s investigation into his death.

Eight soldiers of the Third Battalion, including one higher-ranking officer, purportedly precipitated Chen’s death by physically and verbally harassing the Asian-American. The soldiers have consequently been slammed with a litany of charges, including involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide, dereliction of duty and reckless endangerment, as well as maltreatment and verbal threats.

The accused soldiers are First Lieutenant Daniel J. Schwartz, Sergeant Blaine G. Dugas, Sergeant Andrew J. Van Bockel, Sergeant Adam M. Holcomb, Sergeant Jeffrey T. Hurst, Specialist Thomas P. Curtis, Specialist Ryan J. Offutt and Sergeant Travis F. Carden.

While in Afghanistan, Chen was allegedly hung, forced to swallow liquids and hit with rocks by fellow soldiers and superiors, according to Councilmember Margaret Chin’s Office. In notes to his friends, Chen spoke of being harassed and of being the only Chinese-American that attended military training sessions at Fort Benning in Georgia prior to being deployed in Afghanistan.

Chen also reportedly wrote home, saying that it was “best not to respond” to the harassment, but also that he was “running out of jokes to respond with,” according to Chin’s Office.

Earlier Army accounts revealed that Chen was dragged out of bed and racially taunted by his peers in the hours prior to his death.

“A preliminary hearing will be held to determine if there is sufficient evidence to take the matter to a trial by a courtmartial,” Army spokesperson George Wright said of the charges. The trials would begin sometime in the coming months, Wright said, either in Afghanistan or in this country.

Wright added, “The Army is a values-based organization. We inculcate our soldiers with the need to treat all with dignity and respect. We enforce standards, and when our soldiers fail to meet those standards, we take appropriate action.”

Chinatown community activists and politicians — who strongly back the Army’s ongoing investigation — were pleased to hear that charges have been pressed. Hours after the news broke on the morning of Dec. 21, the New York chapter of OCA, an Asian-American civil rights organization, held a press conference in Chinatown to report the latest developments.

“We don’t want any plea bargains here. The soldiers need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said OCA-NY President Liz OuYang.

“Justice for those that did this to Danny is an important element of ensuring these incidents don’t happen again,” she said.

The charges “are an important first step in ensuring that those responsible for this deplorable crime are brought to justice,” echoed Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver in a statement. “I also hope that this horrible incident will lead the U.S. Army to increase sensitivity training and to improve its outreach to the Asian-American community,” Silver added.

“It’s a good beginning,” said Councilmember Chin, “but I think they still need to do the full investigative report.”

OuYang, Chin and others met with Wright and other Army officials at the Pentagon last Wed., Dec. 14, to discuss the military’s training and recruitment policies, with the hope that some of its rules will be altered and others more strictly enforced.

“The meeting wasn’t specifically about Chen’s case, because they told us the case was still under investigation,” Chin explained.

The concerned group demanded that, moving forward, commanding officers and other supervising soldiers be monitored and held accountable for their actions while on duty. They said appropriate interventions must be made “to weed out people who have racist views,” according to OuYang.

“We want there to be clear guidelines that the commanding officer will be disciplined if these types of hazing occur under his watch,” she said. “Based on numerous reports of Asian-American soldiers, diversity training is not effective, and we want community input into it.”

The officials were “receptive” to the group’s queries, according to Chin.

“It was a very productive meeting,” the councilmember said. “We gave them a whole bunch of questions they said they’d answer in about two weeks, and we’re going to be following up on their response.”

A follow-up meeting is tentatively scheduled for the second week of January, according to Wright.

“Army leaders discussed diversity, investigation and reporting procedures, leadership and accountability,” Wright said. “They also pledged to look at ways to continue this dialogue and review diversity training and policies.

“Our intent is to bring in soldiers that are openminded and that are willing to embrace a diverse subculture called the Army,” he said.

Chen’s father, Yan Tao Chen, and mother, Su Zhen Chen, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. They will be meeting with Army officials to learn more about their son’s maltreatment while in the service. The meeting will take place Wed., Jan. 4, at the Fort Hamilton Army base in Brooklyn, according to Frank Gee, the couple’s spokesperson and interpreter.

“After two months of agonizing over their loss, they sort of feel relieved of conflict by the seriousness of the Army that they’re going to prosecute eight soldiers,” Gee said. “They hope the truth will come out to prevent anything like this from happening again.”

Photo by Aline Reynolds

After unwrapping the new BigBelly can, Councilmember Margaret Chin dropped a piece of the ribbon into the compactor, as C.B. 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer gave an assist by holding the can open.

By ALINE REYNOLDS  |  A high-tech garbage collection method has been introduced in Chinatown and Tompkins Square Park — which definitely can use it, since they’re located in one of Manhattan’s most rodent-infested districts.

The Chinatown Partnership Local Development Corporation, sponsor of the neighborhood’s forthcoming business improvement district, has partnered with Direct Environmental Corp. (DEC Green) to install a solar-powered, digitalized trash compactor at the southeast corner of Canal and Mott Sts.

Community leaders along with Councilmember Margaret Chin and others gathered at the Chinatown intersection­ on Wed., Nov. 9, to unveil the pilot compactor, dubbed, “BigBelly,” which holds five times the amount of garbage as a traditional trash receptacle and can reduce trash collection by 80 percent. The Chinatown BigBelly will join the two dozen or so others dispersed around Manhattan.

“The aim is to explore its potential usefulness for the Chinatown BID area,” said Wellington Chen, executive director of the Chinatown Partnership. The BID’s sanitation committee, which will be formed in the new year, will determine which other intersections would benefit from the compactor.

“Certain locations require traditional garbage cans for traffic and a variety of other reasons,” said Chen. “We’re going to be very selective if we do implement it by first testing it out.”

Containing a computer and a smartphone, the compactor connects wirelessly to the company BigBelly Solar’s headquarters in Massachusetts. The Web-based system is set up so that the BigBelly automatically tracks its own garbage load in real time.

“It will report to a Web-based program and let you know when it’s full and needs to be changed,” said Franklin Cruz, chairperson of the Bronx-based D.E.C. Green, which is responsible for manufacturing New York State’s BigBellies.

By applying 1,250 pounds of pressure, Cruz explained, the BigBelly crushes accumulating litter, clearing the way for more trash to be added to the container.

“Toward the top of the internal bin is a laser, which sends an impulse to the computer notifying it of any obstructions,” he added.

While celebrating the BigBelly’s installation at the corner of Canal and Mott last week, Chin proudly labeled the compactor the “garbage can of the future.”

“I’m so glad that Chinatown is taking this major step in collecting garbage and keeping our community clean,” said the councilmember, who remarked on the compact size of the BigBelly — comparing it to an earlier, larger version she had seen in Flushing, Queens.

“I can’t believe I’m so excited about a garbage can!” said Susan Stetzer, Community Board 3’s district manager, who led off the press conference. “This is a perfect example of why you need the BID. Who else is going to sponsor this?” she said of the Chinatown BID.

Indeed, BigBelly solar cans were placed in Union Square Park two and a half years ago by the Union Square Partnership BID.

While the mechized cans are a pricey $4,000 a piece, they can result in hefty overall savings for municipalities, according to Cruz. Now outfitted with about 1,000 BigBellies, Philadelphia, for example, has pared down its trash collection from 17 times a week to twice a week, leading to ciytwide cost reductions in sanitation of nearly $1 million, according to Cruz.

Apart from economic waste, premature trash collection and landfill dumping have an adverse impact on the environment, Cruz argued.

“This will delay the need for garbage pickups, save on car fuel and wear and tear on the roads, and dramatically reduce carbon emissions,” he said, adding, “The point of collection is where you can make a difference.”

The relatively new trash collection technology doesn’t have to result in layoffs of sanitation workers, either, Cruz assured: In Philadelphia’s case, sanitation personnel were transferred to the city’s recycling program, which was enhanced following the BigBelly installations.

The BigBellies have proven virtually indestructible. They weigh more than 300 pounds and are made of recycled car bumpers and polycarbonate — making them resistant to extreme temperatures and any kind of weather. One BigBelly was even unharmed after being submerged in water in Port Jefferson, Long Island, during Hurricane Irene, according to Cruz.

“I’ve been a distributor and assembler of the product since 2007, and I can count on the fingers of one hand how many service calls I’ve gotten,” he saids.

Nonetheless, Cruz recommends the compactors be fastened to the ground for safety reasons.

“It’s possible that you could have people who just for fun want to see if they could knock it over into the street,” he noted.

And, while they’re not so big so as to lend themselves to being used for dumping pets or other living things, Cruz admitted that such destructive behavior is, unfortunately, possible.

“I can’t speak for the public,” he said. “If somebody wanted to put something in there, I guess they could.”

Chinatown community members welcomed the futuristic wastebasket into their neighborhood.

“A lot of people think we’re a futile society and do it the old way with a broomstick,” said Chen. “This is a more innovative way to say there are greener, possible hybrid solutions to what we’re trying to tackle here.”

“And more importantly, Ratatouille cannot get inside!” said Chen, referring to Remy, the fictional rat in the 2007 computer-animated film, “Ratatouille.”

Studies have indeed shown that the BigBellies are impervious to rodents and help to curb rodent infestations, Cruz said. Following a pilot program in which three BigBellies supplanted traditional wastebaskets in Thomas Paine Park — north of Foley Square — from April to October this year, urban rodentologist Robert Corrigan, a city Health Department employee, reported a migration of the rats away from the park.

An endless supply of litter that accumulates in public trash bins allows the rats to “flourish,” according to Cruz.

“Corrigan’s theory is that, the reason why the rat population is so difficult to control, particularly in New York, is because it’s very difficult for sanitation to keep up with emptying trash baskets,” said Cruz. “So, if we could eliminate the food source and continue to bait, there might be some progress made in the fight against the rats in New York City.”

Corrigan could not be reached for comment by press time.

C.B. 3, a strong supporter of rat-proof garbage cans, has the second-worst rat problem of all of Manhattan’s 12 community boards, topped only by Washington Heights, according to Stetzer, who helped secure three pilot BigBellies for Tompkins Square Park. The high-tech receptacles were installed in the East Village park early last month, Cruz said, and will stay there for at least a year.

Asked why it took so long for C.B. 3 to adopt the BigBelly program, Stetzer replied, “It’s a culture thing. It’s really hard to get change in New York City.”

Beth Israel Medical Center officially opened its Chinatown Multispecialty Group on Wed., Feb 16, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 110 Lafayette St. at Walker St.

The clinic, with physicians, surgeons and supporting staff bilingual in Chinese and English, brings specialty medical services treating heart, vascular, lung, chest, gastrointestinal and cancer conditions to Chinatown residents.

“The opening of this new group demonstrates another strong union between New York’s Asian community and Beth Israel,” said Dr. Harris M. Nagler, president of Beth Israel Medical Center. Beth Israel’s Asian Services Center, which includes the Chinatown Multispecialty Group, has a long track record of working with local Chinese-American physicians and community leaders to provide quality healthcare to the community, Nagler said.

The group aims to work with local physicians to provide outpatient needs in Chinatown by bridging the gap and to provide a continuity of care throughout the entire process from outpatient evaluation to hospital treatment and intervention, to post-operative care and follow-up, said Martin S. Karpeh Jr., chairperson of Beth Israel’s Department of Surgery.

Office hours at the Lafayette St. clinic are normally 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with some physicians available 24/7 via cell phone. In addition, the bilingual staff will assist patients and referring physicians with any other needs for hospital services.

Beth Israel Medical Center is part of Continuum Health Partners, Inc., a nonprofit system that also includes St. Luke’s and Roosevelt hospitals, Long Island College Hospital and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.