BY KARI LINDBERG | More than 50 mostly older Chinatown residents gathered on Wed., Oct. 25, for a march through Chinatown to show support and galvanize new voters for Christopher Marte, the Independence Party candidate running for District 1 City Council.
Starting from Seward Park, the marchers wended through core areas of Chinatown, including Canal and Mott Sts. and Confucius Plaza, where they converged on Chatham Square and were joined by Marte marchers from the Lower East Side who had been simultaneously taking a different route. The united march ended in a rally at Chatham Square with neighborhood residents and local business owners speaking in support for Marte.
At the Chinatown march’s start, at the entrance of Seward Park, chants of “Support Marte!” and “Lower East Side and Chinatown not for sale!” rang out in Mandarin Chinese from partisans standing behind a banner reading, “Chinese Support Marte for City Council,” in both English and Chinese.
Joining his supporters, Marte stood for photos before joining the other Lower East Side for Marte group’s march that started at Montgomery and Madison Sts.
The march, organized by the Chinese for Marte Committee, came at a crucial time for his campaign. Its goal was to inform more residents and raise greater awareness for his campaign. Given that he lost the Democratic primary on Sept. 12 by a mere 222 votes to two-term incumbent Margaret Chin, who has held the office the past eight years, there is a strong urgency among his campaign that every vote counts.
Now, running as a third-party candidate in the general election, Marte will have a second chance to try and unseat Chin on Tues., Nov. 7. Aaron Foldenauer, who also ran in the primary — and was seen by most as a spoiler — will be running in the general election, as well, on the Liberty Party line.
Given the slim margin by which Marte previously lost, he and his supporters believe he has a chance of winning the general election.
“The [primary] election showed that the majority of the people in this district want change: Fifty-four percent of this district voted against the incumbent,” Marte said. “It’s clear that they want change.
He added that the march had “residents from Chinatown, the Lower East Side, Soho, Little Italy and the West Village, all united calling for change”
Much of Marte’s support from the Chinese for Marte Committee and Lower East Side for Marte comes from his decision to support the Chinatown Working Group’s rezoning plan, which calls for limits on development, such as height restrictions on new developments and harsh anti-tenant-harassment laws against landlords.
“He supports the Chinatown Working Group that will protect not only Chinese, but also Latinos and blacks,” noted Kai Wen Yang, an organizer with Youth Against Displacement, which is part of the Chinese for Marte Committee. “This was the key reason for our support,” she said.
Walking past Allen St. and toward Canal St., grandmothers pushed the strollers of their grandchildren, as they held signs in both Chinese and English, reading, “Vote Christopher Marte” and “Marte cares about Chinatown.”
Throughout the roughly 40-minute march, organizers routinely directed the crowd to bring the chants of “ Support Marte” to a louder volume, as shop keepers, workers on their breaks, tourists, and general pedestrians began noticing the crowd. Many onlookers stopping to take photos with the marchers and engaged in small conversations the organizers, who were passing out fliers on Marte’s campaign.
For many of the supporters marching, electing Marte and unseating Chin is personal. Ms. Guo (who withheld her first name), an eight-year resident of Chinatown, was told by her landlord in 2016 that she needed to immediately vacate her rent-stabilized apartment. Currently, she is seeking a court order to remain in her home, where she now lives in fear that any day she could be homeless.
“It is harder and harder for people to find housing. The rents are increasingly rising,” Guo said. “Margaret Chin wants to sell out Chinatown, she just wants the money, so she is forcing us out.”
Guo noted that many Marte supporters gave as their main reason for attending — and what has been the key motivational force behind much of the Districts 1 opposition toward Chin — is Chin’s not taking a hard stance against landlords who are price-gouging their tenants and harassing out low-income tenants, and allowing developers to continue building luxury apartments. In short, Guo said, Chin is complicit in the gentrification that has been rapidly eroding the community and culture of District 1.
Yet, while many in the Chinese community feel that one of their own has turned their back on them, marchers for the Lower East Side for Marte took issue with what they perceived as an underlying Asian favoritism in her polices.
“I would have supported Margret Chin,” noted Rose Marie Hameed, a 25-year District 1 resident. “But over the discussion of the senior center” to be included at the proposed residential building at 260 South St., “she expressed support for older Asians, but not blacks or Latinos.” The Villager could not verify this.
