Chinatown

Chinatown is a major tourist attraction. Its wonderful restaurants attract out-of-towners and suburbanites into the heart of Center City Philadelphia. Why, then, do we seem to be doing everything possible to hem it in and make it less convenient? Bad enough the Vine Street Expressway is slicing through the neighborhood, the convention center (if it ever materializes) will be lapping at its shores, and proposed skyscrapers are threatening to overwhelm it - but now, the city has approved relocation of the bus terminal to Chinatown's border.

Thoroughly fascinated children watch the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown last night. The festival was the brainchild of a group of teens who wanted to recreate the Chinese holiday tradition for the elderly.

I could hear the dragon coming from far away. My tiny heart was beating loudly and quickly. As the dragon marched up the street, it seemed to cast a spell on everyone, gathering both adults and little children around it as it cavorted and bullied. I could see the large, menacing smile, the teeth that seemed bigger than my arm. Everything was loud; my ears hurt from the sound of firecrackers. Slightly older Chinatown boys had the courage to run just ahead of the dragon and light firecrackers - one landed nearby and startled me. It was bitter cold, my eyes were watery; I wiped the tears off my cheeks and covered my ears.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 24-year-old man on charges of groping a 23-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl in Chinatown last week. After police released a surveillance video from one of the incidents, investigators received an anonymous phone tip Tuesday identifying Melvin Bulls as their wanted man. Police said Bulls last known addresses were on the 1300 block of Ridge Avenue, 1200 block of South Bonsall Street and 900 block of Hamilton Street. The groping incidents occurred in Chinatown at 4:55 p.m. and 6:25 p.m. Thursday when a man came up from behind the victims and touched their buttocks, police said.

SOME GROUP that claims to speak for everyone from Chinatown is protesting casinos because they fear addiction to gambling. Are they saying people in Chinatown must be protected from themselves because they aren't strong enough to take responsibility for their own actions? If this is so, shouldn't they be protesting the stores that sell blunts and 40s of malt beverages in Chinatown? And don't forget all the shops that sell unhealthy Chinese food with all that pork and sauces and MSG. If you want to protest, be inclusive of all unhealthy activities.

To demonstrate that Chinatown cuisine is safe as well as delectable, City Council has decided to dine there next week. Councilman Lucien E. Blackwell announced yesterday that Council members would buy their own lunches Thursday at a Chinatown restaurant to try to counter "bad publicity" resulting from a recent federal food-contamination probe. "We have had a long and glorious history of the Chinese people providing food for the citizens of this city," Blackwell said yesterday.

On Thursday, if they hold to plan, City Council members will lunch en masse in Philadelphia's beleaguered Chinatown. Chinatown is suffering because last month federal inspectors shut down a local food warehouse because of grossly unsanitary conditions. The warehouse reportedly supplied a few of the restaurants in Chinatown. There's nothing like a drumbeat of publicity about rodent and insect infestations at a food warehouse to make folks lose their appetite. And, though there have been repeated official assurances that, yes, it's safe to venture back to Chinatown, business at the eateries there is still in a slump.

THE casino now planned for the Gallery will poison Chinese minds and rob their souls. As a Chinatown resident, I know that, while most people are debating the economic and environmental issues of Foxwoods moving to Center City, I would like to point out some less visible matters that may affect the people living and working nearby in Chinatown. Imagine 50 buses and 20,000 gamblers coming off I-95's Callowhill exit going through Chinatown on 10th Street every day. Imagine drunken gamblers who lost money staggering out of the casino at 2 in the morning looking for a public toilet.

RESIDENTS and business owners gathered under Chinatown's iconic arch yesterday to petition against plans to place bike lanes in the heart of the commercial district in September. A temporary bike lane is slated for the left curb of 10th Street from Spring Garden to Lombard Street as part of the city's effort to improve two-wheel traffic; a portion south of Market street already is in place. The bike lanes will be in place for three to six months while they are evaluated. Andrew Stober, chief of staff at the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities, said the new lanes are aimed to tackle the dramatic increase in cyclists around the city.

Remember last fall when you stood in line for a half-hour to eat dinner at your favorite Chinatown restaurant? Well, you won't have that problem now. Chinatown's restaurateurs gathered yesterday at a news conference to plead with the public to resurrect the healthy business conditions that prevailed there until a scant 11 days ago. That's when deputy U.S. marshals padlocked the New Eastern Food Co. warehouse on Westmoreland Street near...

?1? Man surrenders in groping incidents Spring Street near 10th, Chinatown The suspect in two recent groping incidents in Chinatown surrendered to cops in the Special Victims Unit on Friday, two days after being identified as a suspect, police announced Monday. Melvin Bulls, 24, now faces charges of indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, simple assault, harassment and related offenses for allegedly grabbing the backsides of a 23-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl on April 26. An anonymous tip led police to issue a warrant for Bulls after they released surveillance video of one of the incidents early last week.

1 Warrant issued for groping suspect Spring Street near 10th, Chinatown An arrest warrant has been issued for a 24-year-old man on charges of groping a 23-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl in Chinatown last week. After police released a surveillance video from one of the incidents, investigators received an anonymous phone tip Tuesday identifying Melvin Bulls as their wanted man. Police said Bulls' last known addresses were on Ridge Avenue near Wallace Street, on Bonsall Street near Federal and on Hamilton Street near 9th. The groping incidents occurred in Chinatown at 4:55 and 6:25 p.m. Thursday, when a man came up from behind the victims and touched their buttocks, police said.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a 24-year-old man on charges of groping a 23-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl in Chinatown last week. After police released a surveillance video from one of the incidents, investigators received an anonymous phone tip Tuesday identifying Melvin Bulls as their wanted man. Police said Bulls last known addresses were on the 1300 block of Ridge Avenue, 1200 block of South Bonsall Street and 900 block of Hamilton Street. The groping incidents occurred in Chinatown at 4:55 p.m. and 6:25 p.m. Thursday when a man came up from behind the victims and touched their buttocks, police said.

Groper strikes twice in Chinatown * Spring Street near 10th Police on Monday released a surveillance video of a man wanted for groping two women in Chinatown last week. The first victim was walking on Spring Street at 4:55 p.m. Thursday when a man approached her from behind and grabbed her buttocks, police said. At 6:25 p.m., a second woman was walking north on 11th Street toward Vine when a man walked by her, turned around and then ran back and touched her buttocks, police said.

The morning after the big Philly Spring Cleanup, the streets of Chinatown are tidy - but Susan Chung is trying to buff them to a high gloss. She sweeps cigarette butts from a curb, digs a cup out of a concrete planter, then loads up a dozen red plastic bags, some of them spilling food and dripping liquid, that have materialized on the sidewalk. Chung, armed with a broom, dustpan, and rolling trash cart, is a key part of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp.'s new effort to beat back litter - an undertaking that seems to be working.

WITHIN the echo chamber of the local food websites, and the foodies who love them, there has been no topic more breathlessly anticipated, more hotly debated, more intricately dissected than Hop Sing Laundromat. For almost a year now, it has been amusing to watch the comments on sites like Yelp and FooBooz: When will Hop Sing Laundromat finally open? What will it possibly be like? Will Hop Sing Laundromat change our lives? One commenter on Yelp even quoted the philosopher Jean Jacques Rosseau: "Patience is bitter, but the fruit is sweet.

His skin is a preposterous shade of yellow more appropriate to a Kool-Aid flavor. His bald oval head is crowned with a topknot tied with a red bow; he has squinty eyes and buck teeth that extend over his lips and the most garish yellow-on-green outfit you'd ever find in a circus supply store. Meet Chop-Chop, a comic book character who made his debut in 1941 in the first issue of the long-running superhero comic series, Blackhawk . Ugly, almost inhuman, the rotund guy would make for a great villain.

To explain why Chinatown needs a community center, John Chin likes to point out a tight, dead-end alley behind his father's old restaurant on 10th Street near Cherry. This was his childhood "playground" - a quiet spot where Chin and his pals played soccer. Chin, 46, born and bred in Chinatown, said the alley was the best the neighborhood had to offer. The nearest city recreation centers were in Northern Liberties or Queen Village. "This was our little, safe space," Chin said.

Federal officials have obtained a court order requiring a Chinatown bus company to cease all operations after it defied a previous order to shut down. Double Happyness Bus Co. transports passengers along the Northeast Corridor, making stops in Philadelphia on the way to Washington, New York City, and Albany, N.Y. Last month, the U.S. Department of Transportation declared Double Happyness an "imminent hazard to safety" after a federal review found numerous serious violations in hours of service, vehicle maintenance, and controlled-substance and alcohol testing.