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Official site with news updates:
http://www.chinacityofamerica.com
Jan. 2014
Skepticism surrounds China City plan for upstate New York
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/skepticism-surrounds-china-city-plan-for-upstate-new-york/2014/01/19/dac079de-816e-11e3-8099-9181471f7aaf_story.htmlChina City of America has been pitched as a showcase for the country’s traditions, a boon for the distressed former Borscht Belt region and an opportunity for prosperous Chinese to invest $500,000 each through an immigration program that would grant them U.S. visas and a path to citizenship.
Local reaction was a mix of puzzlement and anger in the Sullivan County towns of Thompson and Mamakating.
“The take was, ‘Really?’ People were dumbfounded,” said Bill Rieber, the Thompson town supervisor. “It immediately generated a lot of opposition.”
Details of the project first appeared on a Web site in late 2011, and it was formally announced in 2012. As recently as mid-May, the full project, including homes for 1,000 families and the possibility of a casino to be built over several years, was still on the table at a meeting of Thompson’s municipal boards.
The people behind China City have since dialed back the pace of their plans, now proposing to start with a college, dorms and faculty housing on 575 acres solely in Thompson after strong opposition surfaced in Mamakating. And the original Web site touting the project appears to have been taken down.
But Sherry Li, the chief executive of China City of America, told the Associated Press that the goal is still to pursue the entire project, concentrating more in Thompson, a town of 15,000.
“We haven’t cut back our sizes,” she said. “We’re going to be doing it step by step.”
Li said the school, known as the Thompson Education Center, would be a tax-paying, for-profit college enrolling 900 students at first, with a curriculum concentrated on business, art and entertainment majors. The college would grow to 3,000 students, many of whom Li expects would come from China. A second phase of construction would include guest lodging and a conference center.
A Long Island resident who came to the United States 23 years ago when she was 19, Li said her background is in development and finance and she’s confident about raising the $150 million for the first phase. She said $60 million will come from 120 families applying through the federal Immigrant Investor Program, or EB-5. The program established in 1990 allows foreign investors who create or preserve a certain number of jobs to apply for citizenship after five years. An additional $30 million would come from private equity investment and $60 million through borrowing.
Environmentalists say the project can’t be developed on the scale proposed by China City without damaging sensitive wetlands vital to the health of the 2,200-acre Basha Kill Wildlife Management Area, one of New York’s largest freshwater marshes. State regulators are closely watching the project.
“It’s pretty much untouched. It’s not just any podunk wetlands,” said Paula Medley, president of the Basha Kill Area Association and a leader of the environmental movement against China City.
Li insisted that her land-use and other experts have a plan that will meet local zoning and include “green” technology in the construction and operations.
Another controversy arose in December when the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates tighter immigration restrictions, posted an article criticizing the project and its use of the EB-5 program and reporting speculation Chinese government money is behind it.
David North, the author and a fellow at the center, said the EB-5 element is “based on a broad part of the immigration law for people with nothing else to recommend them but money to get visas ahead of everyone else.”
China City immigration lawyer Larry Behar lashed back in a news release that said the center was “spreading xenophobia that smacks of classic McCarthy-era behavior.”
North denied any racist agenda. “It doesn’t matter to me if this is all Chinese or all Swedish. This is a bad project,” he said.
Li said no Chinese government money is invested in her project.
After seeing a series of big proposed developments come and go, including pitches for Indian casino resorts, Rieber said his town has a “believe-it-when-you-see-it” attitude.
He said the town, which also is considered a likely place for one of the Las Vegas-style casinos voters have approved for upstate, still hasn’t been given a site plan by China City. He expects officials to have a lot of questions for Li and her experts at a meeting Wednesday.
“We’re used to grand plans,” Rieber said. “Most people don’t think they’re going to happen.”
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/12/04/massive-china-themed-city-proposed-in-new-yorks-catskills/
By Cristina Corbin
U.S. immigration officials are considering a proposal from Chinese investors to create a multibillion-dollar development in New York’s Catskills called "China City" -- raising concerns among critics about the potential cost to U.S. taxpayers and, according to one analyst, the possibility it could be a "stalking horse" for the Beijing government.
A spokesman from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services told FoxNews.com that the proposal for Thompson, N.Y., has not been approved but is under consideration.
The mysterious proposed development appears to be a step beyond the types of ethnic enclaves scattered throughout U.S. cities, like the Chinatown sections of New York City or San Francisco. The 600-acre "China City of America" is located far outside New York City in upstate New York's wetlands and is a meticulously planned project, calling for family housing, a college and student residences, among other structures. In addition to needing federal approval, it would likely need a host of state and local permits before ground could be broken.
"It's a perfect storm of problems."- David North, Center for Immigration Studies
If approved, every province in China would have an office there and foreign investors funding the development would receive green cards for their $500,000 checks under the EB-5 program designed to lure foreign investment, according to the Center for Immigration Studies, a conservative organization staunchly opposed to the project.
A detailed report authored by David North, a fellow with the Washington-based group, claimed there is "a charge from within the Chinese community that China City is a stalking horse for the Chinese communist government in Beijing." He claimed he was told one group raised objections with the USCIS.
"It's a perfect storm of problems," North told FoxNews.com, citing what he called dubious job creation claims by the promoters as well as national security concerns. North noted that the developers claim 20 percent of the funding would come from U.S. taxpayers, which he said was a "pipe dream."
A review by FoxNews.com of the the China City Regional Center's website could not confirm such a claim involving U.S. taxpayer money, though there is little English on the site, which is affiliated with a Florida law firm. No one at the law firm could be reached for comment.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said Wednesday it does not disclose details of pending applications.
"The [China City] Regional Center is not approved. An application has been filed and it's still pending. A decision has not been made on it yet," Christopher Bentley, a spokesman for USCIS, told FoxNews.com.
"With all cases of a request for an immigrations service or benefit, we rely on the information provided and the law to reach a decision on whether it can or cannot be approved," Bentley said.
Local officials did not respond to requests for comment. But a videotape of a public meeting held in Thompson in May, available on YouTube, addressed the proposal and underscored the controversy surrounding the development. Supporters of the project, in an economically depressed area of Sullivan County, say they believe it would offer both a financial and cultural boon to the region.
"Families who invest in EB-5 program are normally influential and wealthy families from China. A lot of them are successful business owners or enterprisers. Most of those investors are highly educated and skilled in different fields," wrote one poster.
"I believe this is a big projects that can creates thousands of job opportunities," wrote another. "Such a precious opportunity to learn more about Chinese culture and beauty."
