Is this much ado about nothing?
In some areas of SE Michigan there are neighborhoods where most of the signs are in Arabic or Spanish. I didn't know that Queens was an "Asian town" as one person describes it in the article.


In Neighborhood That’s Diverse, a Push for Signs to Be Less So
By DAN BILEFSKY
Taiwanese herbal remedy shops peddle elixirs for indigestion and impotence on storefront signs awash in Chinese characters. Nearby, Shiseido cosmetics boutiques advertise their wares in Japanese. And the imposing Ganesh Temple, one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States, greets visitors in Hindi script.

Flushing, Queens, is one of New York’s most polyglot immigrant neighborhoods. But a member of the City Council, who is known by some as the unofficial mayor of Flushing, is railing against the dominance of Chinese, Korean and other foreign languages on storefronts.

The council member, Peter Koo, is no would-be Archie Bunker. He is a Chinese-American who grew up in Hong Kong and is proud of his Asian roots.

Mr. Koo said that diminishing the proper role of English on signs threatened to alienate non-Asian customers and residents. He is proposing a measure that would require all storefront signs to be at least 60 percent English. Businesses would face fines if they did not comply.

“This is America, no? If I go to a Polish neighborhood and only see Polish signs, I would not be comfortable,” said Mr. Koo, a Republican. “New York is a city of immigrants, and English is a way for different ethnic groups to communicate.”

He added that the legislation was needed so that police officers and firefighters could quickly identify stores in case of an emergency.

Mr. Koo, 58, who owns a chain of drugstores in Flushing, arrived in the United States nearly 40 years ago. He taught himself English working as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken while he was at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy.

He wants inspectors with the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs to enforce an obscure state law, passed in 1933, that requires businesses to display their names in English. The law was intended to protect consumers from fraud by underground shops during the Depression, but it has seldom been applied.

His proposals have divided multiethnic Queens, where nearly 120 languages are spoken; Flushing itself has one of the largest Asian communities in the country, outside of California.

Opponents say the measures are not needed because there is English on most signs.

Timothy Chuang, owner of Tung Ren Tang, an herbal remedy shop, is chairman of the Downtown Flushing Business Improvement District, which represents local businesses. He said imposing a “predominantly English” requirement on signs would undermine ethnic diversity in Flushing, which was once predominantly Jewish and Italian, but shifted when Asian immigrants arrived, first from Japan, then from Taiwan and, in the 1980s, from mainland China.

Mr. Chuang, whose storefront awning features giant Chinese characters that dwarf the Roman characters above it, agreed that all signs should have some English. But he said a requirement of 60 percent would force him to spend up to $5,000 for a new sign that 95 percent of his customers might not understand.

The move, he added, threatened to frighten off Chinese customers, many of them immigrants too embarrassed to speak English. “Why should the English be bigger when this is an Asian town?” he asked. “If that happens, Queens will stop being Queens.”

Other opponents said requiring that signs be mostly in English would clash with the values of their adopted homeland. “This is America,” said Hyung Chong, a Korean restaurant manager from Seoul. “We should have the right to put up whatever sign we want.”...

Complete NYT Article

It does really look congested with Signs. (Signs Signs, everywhere a sign) Of course I can't read most of them, but it would seem a disadvantage for the businesses because it's hard to focus on any one sign. They are ALL sort of in your face.


TIS

Signs, signs, everywhere are signs. Blocking up the scenery, breaking my mind.....

I don't know, Lilo. Being that the guy proposing this is Chinese-American himself, I guess we can discount the race card. Then again, he IS a Republican .

I'm in Flushing constantly. It's just on the other side of the Whitestone Bridge (Bayside being on the other side of the Throggs Neck Bridge). I don't have a problem with the signs, but I don't have to live there .

I thought NYC at one time tried to regulate signs, but lost in court.

Funny, when I got in last night I found this article in yesterday's Daily News. Flushing (Queens) and Sunset Park (Brooklyn) now have more Chinese residents than Manhattan's fabled Chinatown.

The changing Chinatowns: Move over Manhattan, Sunset Park now home to most Chinese in NYC

BY Daniel Beekman
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Chinatown is no longer the most populous Chinese neighborhood in New York - and that's not an oxymoron.

Chinese enclaves in Brooklyn and Queens have eclipsed the historic Manhattan neighborhood, according to a new report based on data from the 2010 Census.

Both Sunset Park East in Brooklyn and Flushing in Queens now boast more Chinese residents than Chinatown. The outer borough nabes have grown rapidly due to an influx of new immigrants and Manhattan Chinese seeking lower rents.

"I lived in Chinatown before," said Wei Leng Chan, 60, as he stood smoking a cigarette on Eighth Ave. in Sunset Park one day last month. "But the apartments there are too small and expensive."

Sunset Park is now New York's largest Chinatown, with 34,218 Chinese residents, up from 19,963 in 2000, a 71% increase. Bustling Flushing ranks second, with 33,526 Chinese, up from 17,363, a 93% increase.

In contrast, Chinatown's Chinese population has dropped 17% since 2000, from 34,554 to 28,681, according to the report by the Asian American Federation (AAF), a Manhattan nonprofit.

The Chinese population of the Bronx is much smaller and less concentrated, said AAF demographer Howard Shih.

"I used to live here, but now I live on Eighth Ave.," said May Chui, 34, a supermarket cashier born in Hong Kong, as she shopped in Chinatown in Manhattan recently. "The rents are too high in Chinatown - $2,000 for a small apartment."

Chinese New Yorkers and community advocates attribute the demographic shift to housing, jobs and immigration.


The median rent for an apartment in the vicinity of Chinatown spiked 30% from 2005 to 2009, according to the nonprofit Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE).

Hundreds of cheap Chinatown units have been removed from rent regulation due to housing law loopholes, while market rents in the neighborhood have skyrocketed, driven by the construction of luxury apartments.

"The housing crisis in Chinatown has definitely contributed to the growth in Flushing and Sunset Park," said Richard Lee, policy advocate at AAFE.

Meanwhile, Chinatown has shed jobs. The neighborhood's textile industry has shrunk in the aftermath of 9/11, with factory work moving to Brooklyn and New Jersey, said Shih.

"Driving and parking in Chinatown is a mess," added Sunset Park real estate broker Hon Leung. "The only thing sustaining it now is the tourists."

Immigration has also contributed to the development of Sunset Park and Flushing. Sunset Park is largely populated by recent arrivals from the Fujian province, while immigrants from Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan and Malaysia have flocked to Flushing.

"Flushing is convenient. We have lots of buses and the subway," gushed Queens resident Yuyuan Xu, 67, from Shanghai. "The shopping is cheaper here."

"Walking down Eighth Ave., you mostly hear Mandarin and Fujianese," said Sunset Park resident Wendy Zheng, 24.

And private shuttle buses run all day long between Chinatown, Sunset Park and Flushing, charging $2.50 per ride to passengers sipping sweet bubble tea.

Jan Lee, a Chinatown landlord who grew up in the Mott St. building he owns, admits the neighborhood has changed, with young professionals moving in.

But Lee, 45, is confident Chinatown will remain the heart of New York's Chinese community. Most Chinese lawyers, doctors and funeral parlors are located there.

"Chinatown is always going to be a destination for new immigrants - no matter what," he said.