Chinatown Community Coalition L.A. CCC-LA
(From Left to Right) Coalition members: King Cheung, Doug Cohen, Daisy Ma, Ernest Lee, Peter Ng, Representative Jimmy Gomez, Supevisor Hilda Solis, Gay Yuen, Kelly LoBianco, Julie Rico, Diane Tan, Phyllis Chiu
Special Letter as a response to Civil Rights and Community Safety in Chinatown 6.13.2025
Sunday, June 15, 2025
Subject: Upholding Civil Rights and Community Safety in LA Chinatown 90012
Dear Mayor Bass and Members of the Los Angeles City Council,
We CCC-LA would like to express our gratitude to Mayor Karen Bass and the Los Angeles City Council members for taking decisive actions to prevent the incursion of Federal officers of every stripe from removing our immigrant population from their homes, jobs, loved ones, and community.
We write with urgency and deep concern about recent federal police enforcement and immigration-related activities in and around Chinatown, which have instilled fear, confusion, and trauma—especially among our elderly, low-income, immigrant, and undocumented neighbors. These actions have destabilized the community and reopened wounds tied to a long history of displacement and racialized violence. While we recognize that Chinatown’s proximity to downtown Los Angeles may place it near broader enforcement operations, the city must take active steps to ensure our community does not become collateral damage. We urge you to center the following shared principles in any engagement with Chinatown:
• LA Chinatown is a historic residential community, deeply rooted in the ongoing quest for civil rights. It has persevered and rebuilt following the 1871 Chinese Massacre and the 1930s destruction of Old Chinatown, standing as a testament to its resilience and strength. Today, it continues to be home to a diverse, multiethnic working-class community that includes many Latinx and Southeast Asian residents. These residents face challenges such as displacement and the incursion of federal officers, which create a climate of fear. The Chinatown Community Coalition (CCC-LA), dedicated to promoting permanently affordable housing and community-driven development, believes that community safety, housing justice, and civil rights are fundamentally interconnected. We express our concern over any erosion of civil rights, whether through gentrification, the incursion of federal officers, or displacement. Trauma and instability threaten our collective future, and we must address these issues thoughtfully and collaboratively.
• The land that Chinatown sits on carries centuries of human habitation, resistance, and renewal. It must not be tied to injustice against its most vulnerable residents, but rather to care, dignity, and community survival.
• LA County is home to the largest Indigenous population in the United States, whose land stewardship and histories must be honored.
• El Pueblo de Los Angeles was founded on racial diversity in 1781, a legacy that should continue to guide the city's values and policies today.
We are calling on your offices to:
1. Reaffirm the City’s sanctuary status by halting any local collaboration with ICE, particularly in neighborhoods like Chinatown.
2. Minimize low-flying helicopter and surveillance activity that is not directly necessary for public safety.
3. Invest in legal and community-based resources to support residents facing harassment, criminalization, or displacement.
4. Engage in direct dialogue with community groups such as CCC-LA to ensure city policy reflects the needs and dignity of Chinatown residents.
We ask you to speak out, to bear witness, to ensure that Chinatown remains a home for its people, not a staging ground for injustice.
CCC-LA Los Angeles, CA 90012
About Us
Our mission is to promote, maintain, and develop with interested stakeholders, a shared vision for our 170-year-old Chinatown community in Los Angeles that focuses on sustaining and improving our diverse, multi-ethnic neighborhood and protecting our legacy businesses, historically and culturally significant institutions, and residents who have among the lowest household incomes in Los Angeles. Currently, we are involved with ensuring community partnering and participation in the master planning process so that underutilized Los Angeles County-owned properties, such as Lot 45 and other related or relevant properties in L.A. Chinatown, are developed or redeveloped in accordance and consistently with the shared community vision.
Update 6.13.2025 After several years of working with SD1 the Honorable Supervisor Hilda Solis’s office we are now merging onto a new committee called CAC with LINC the developer for Lot 45 AKA New High Village. We look forward to this new phase of serving as an advisory board.
Lot 45 725 North Spring Street, Los Angeles will be become New High Village with over 300 Low-Income apartments and Mixed-use retail.
Our 170-year-old Chinatown community in Los Angeles focuses on sustaining and improving our diverse, multi-ethnic neighborhood and protecting our legacy businesses, historically and culturally significant institutions, and residents who have among the lowest household incomes in Los Angeles.
“Immensely proud to secure $1.5 million in federal funding to build 100 units of affordable housing in Chinatown!” Representative Jimmy Gomez
We came together with like minded people to turn Lot 45 into housing that will serve the Chinatown community. We are happy to announce that at the request of Supervisor Hilda Solis 1.5M was given to LA County by Representative Gomez to do a study on how to turn Lot 45 into affordable housing in Chinatown. We are aiming for 400 hundred extreme low-income to low-income units to be placed on Lot 45. We will share more details as things continue to develop. It was a great day today! May 4, 2022
In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Monterey Park, the Chinatown Community Coalition L.A. (CCC-LA) members are concerned about the needs of everyone after the tragedy.
We recognize the difficulties immigrants and people of color (POC) face, often silently. If you need help, we encourage you to seek free psychological counseling from the Chinatown Service Center CSC or the American Red Cross. There is also a free care base in the Langley Center in Monterey Park. Our collective goal is to help restore everyone's peace of mind through the strength of our community.
CCC-LA wants to stop the proliferation of violence and hatred toward our community. With your help, we can stem the tide of violence and hate. Act with vigilance by reporting bad acts such as violence and hate-infused statements directed at members of our community. In this way, we can create a safer community.
In addition, access to and the proliferation of guns are two key factors that caused this and many other tragedies. We want to encourage legislative officials to implement common sense laws to manage guns used for self-defense. The current system allows people experiencing mental health issues easy access to powerful guns, resulting in thousands of deaths.
Here is a link to a Go Fund Me Page for the victims of the tragedy of 11 deaths and 9 injured in Monterey Park. Go Fund Me for Monterey Park Victims You can find more help through the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI’s website): AAPI Links for Help
We wish you a peaceful and safe year ahead.