Statement
In
response to recent accusations against The Chinatown Community Young Lions,
Inc. CCYL we are compelled as one of Chinatown’s oldest volunteer
organizations, whose goal it is to foster guidance and culture in Chinese
American youths who live in and near the community to make the following
statements of fact:
·
CCYL has had the honor
and the privilege of serving the
·
CCYL is a nonprofit
organization who receives no subsidies or monies of any kind from
·
During the last three
decades CCYL has been supported by its neighborhood and has become recognized
as an outreach and teaching institution for the forgotten youth of a
neighborhood once ravaged by gang wars and violence.
·
Founder and President
Valerie Tom recently had the honor to be chosen by NY1 News as a “New Yorker of
the Week” during the Lunar New Year celebrations for her tireless volunteer
work spanning three decades as CCYL’s president.
·
Our 33 year presence
in Chinatown is well documented We’ve perform inside Council Chambers in City
Hall dating back to Mayors Beam and Koch, with recent celebrations including
the reopening of Park Row with Senator Martin Conner, Council Speaker Sheldon
Silver, and Councilman Allan Gerson, and countless
charity events throughout the metropolitan area. This speaks for itself in
comparison to the claims being made against us.
·
CCYL was the first tenant
to occupy
·
After decades of hard
work and dedication by CCYL volunteers, the streets have become safer for
·
We have had over 3000
children from all nationalities pass through our doors over the past three
decades.
·
Several CCYL members
have gone on to become officers in City and Federal agencies of law
enforcement, including the Drug Enforcement Agency.
·
Many CCYL members have
families whose children now participate in many of the cultural events that are
hosted by the organization.
·
Over the years real
estate in
·
As the interests of
other tenants in
·
Since we became a
tenant at 70 Mulberry in1978 until 2001 we had never been faced with eviction
for any reason.
·
CCYL has never
received a single letter of complaint from any tenant in the building.
.
·
During CCYL’s entire tenancy there has never been
a conviction or even a police report filed for any crime whatsoever in the
building.
·
Only in the last four
years has DCAS begun a vigorous campaign to evict us from the building relying
on hearsay and questionable testimony of highly motivated tenants and
dubious staff.
·
In order to stay in
the building and maintain our local presence in Chinatown CCYL agreed to a
number of rules set forth by DCAS which would apply solely to CCYL. Although
these rules were highly prejudicial to CCYL we complied. These rules were, in effect, designed to
evict us. For example: only CCYL members are required to have a member over the
age of 18 accompany a member under the age of eighteen simply to visit the
bathroom.
·
DCAS has inspected CCYL’s room in the past and made claims that underage
members were occupying the space w/o adult supervision, a violation of DCAS
rules, yet they did not record names or identify the occupants.
·
The bathrooms and
hallways are accessible to the public.
We are
confident that our community support will continue despite the possibility of
having to move out of the
Valerie Tom, president
Jan Lee, executive director
Brandon Tom, executive director