SF Chronicle: Climate Change and Chinatown
By Momo Chang. Momo Chang is a Bay Area freelance journalist.
Intro to a August 2022 article in the San Francisco Chronicle:
On a given day, the basketball courts outside Oakland Chinatown’s Lincoln Recreation Center are full of people of all ages improving their jump shots. Next to them might be a group of mostly Chinese American elders slowly moving their arms as part of tai chi practice.
The building itself, however, has been closed to most community events since the start of the pandemic — leaving seniors, in particular, unable to enjoy activities like ballroom dancing and table tennis at what many say had been the busiest rec center in all of Oakland.
In the coming years, however, it may get new life. Plans are afoot to tear down and rebuild the aging center, which sits in the heart of Chinatown — and not just to accommodate more people but also to make it a safe haven for seniors and other users as climate change threatens even the urban way of life.
