J-towns See Hope
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Derived from Nichibei Times reports
3\/2\/02
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Proposition 40 in California's March primary election contains provisions that may help preserve California's three remaining Japantowns - San Francisco, San Jose and Los Angeles – out of the 50 that existed prior to WWII. Some of $267.5 million for cultural and historic preservation could go to these J-towns.
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Community leaders are urging voters to support the proposition's passage. They expect the vote to be very close. The campaign to preserve Japantowns started three years.
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Organizers are seeking contributions, who can make out their checks to the California Heritage Coalition, and mail them to Georgette Imura at 5904 13th St., Sacramento, CA 95822.
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San Francisco's Japantown was able to preserve its historic YWCA building, which was built with funds raised by Issei women pioneers. Nihonmachi Little Friends, a day care center, will buy the property, ending six-year struggle. After Mediation, a \"binding settlement\" was reached between the San Francisco-San Mateo-Marin YWCA, Soko Bukai and Nihonmachi Little Friends.
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The YWCA has held the property in trust for the community because of racist laws that barred Japanese Americans from owning land and buildings. In the late 1990's, repeating a tragic pattern of some white friends of the JA community, the YWCA decided to make money out of this trust arrangement and sell the property.<\/p>\n","contact":"","link":"http:\/\/www.aamovement.net\/community\/jtownhope.html","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/html","summary":"Copied from the AZine. Information about Prop 40, a ref. that includes provisions to fund cultural preservation.","numcomment":0,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2002\/03\/15288.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[]}