Chinatown

YOUNG Involved Philadelphia was at times mistaken for a vanity project when Andrew Hohns and Troy Madres, two University of Pennsylvania graduates, started it in November 2000. Sure, Hohns was talking about running for mayor five months into the nascent organization's life. But, he and Madres had something bigger in mind for YIP. "The whole point was to get people to meet the so-called movers and shakers, and then begin to influence the way they thought," explained Hohns, 33, who is working for an investment firm while seeking his doctorate from Penn.

Few Philadelphia neighborhoods have been forced to fend off existential threats as frequently as Chinatown. In the 1980s, the construction of the Vine Street Expressway literally divided the community in half. A few years later, a federal prison was built on Chinatown's eastern edge. In 2000, Chinatown residents fought off Mayor Street's proposed downtown Phillies ballpark, and then they banded together again in 2009 when the city and state wanted to put a casino in Market East on Chinatown's southern border.

THE PHILADELPHIA Chinatown Development Corp. (PCDC) has a track record of greening and cleaning our neighborhood. The proposed Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) is not the right vehicle at this time to accomplish greener and cleaner streets. The one important fact that proponents of the NID seem to gloss over is that it will add a 7 percent tax on all property owners in the proposed district during the worst recession of the century. PCDC has worked tirelessly to eliminate the blight, trash-strewn lots and abandoned buildings in the area north of the Vine Expressway.

RE "COUNCIL OKs Viaduct Improvement District": In 2000, John Struble, Amy Hooper and myself, as well as many others in the community, worked with the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. (PCDC) in opposing the baseball stadium. We would have lost our homes if the stadium had been built in Callowhill/Chinatown North. PCDC representatives attended public meetings on the formation of the Neighborhood Improvement District on Oct. 7, 2010 and Dec. 16. They were personally invited to be a part of the process.

C.L. What were your impressions/highlights from the Night Market? And what else brought the thrill of good flavors to your tables this week? Reader: I was at Night Market with my girlfriend. The lines were so long for just about everything that we eventually gave up and dropped into Rangoon! Lots of fun and a real scene, though. I hope they do some more of these. C.L. Those lines were crazy. We definitely stopped waiting after a while at some places I really wanted to taste, like Pitruco . . . . That's something they'll need to figure out for future Night Markets - but also a sign of how popular these pop-up events are. It's up to the vendors, too, though, to figure out how to serve a steady stream of crowds without cooking every single pork burger or takoyaki to order.

If you went to the Chinatown Night Market expecting oodles of unusual Asian dishes, you may have been disappointed. If, on the other hand, you went to explore unusual dishes from China, Indonesia, Mexico, the Caribbean, Italy, France, and more - and to enjoy beer, bubble tea, and Lion Dancing under a harvest moon, you would have been pleased. Thousands were. A crowd of 10,000 was expected at the fourth night market planned by the Food Trust, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing affordable, healthy food to neighborhoods throughout the city.

John Kai Chen, whose life took him from Canton to New York, from the violin to welding, and ultimately to an esteemed leadership role in Chinatown, died Sunday, Oct. 2, after suffering a stroke. Chen was 87 but still vital and engaged at the time of his death. He held a strong, immigrant's belief in America as the land of opportunity, and he worked to help more recent arrivals from China make their way in this country. "He was honest, elegant, loving, generous of spirit," said his daughter-in-law, Sandra Chen.

If you were hoping for crickets on a stick, you'll be disappointed. There will be no skewers of deep-fried starfish, cicadas, or snakeskin, none of the dare-you-to-eat-that snacks that make the night markets of China such a delight. But there will be plenty of great, cheap - and more familiar - Asian-style treats when China comes to Philadelphia's Chinatown on Thursday, as the neighborhood is host to a traditional night market. "We want to create an outdoor market that residents are used to, from home - but there's also an economic-development piece," said John Chin, executive director of Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp.

Would privately funded improvement districts make sense for north Chinatown and near Temple?

Craig: Welcome to our weekly Philly Food Chat Throw-down! I have been racking up the dining miles by the hour since we last spoke. Went to a rollicking birthday party for a friend in the back box dining room of Lee How Fook, which was shabbier than I remember, and noisier than I remember, but also wonderfully tasty, because I got the honors (with my pal Wilson) to order all my favorites for the room - Buddha rolls; sui mei; crispy noodles with beef, black bean sauce and Chinese greens; pea leaves; chicken-asparagus hot pot, and likely the best wonton soup in C-town.