Chinatown residents demand city stop the return of spring break to Canal Street

Chinatown residents want to put the brakes on the return of open street parties to Canal Street this spring, saying the city’s move to close off part of the street turned their peaceful neighborhood into “spring break in Miami” for seven months of the year.Last year, two blocks of Canal – between Orchard and Essex – were closed off to traffic from 3 to 11pm daily from April to October, allowing bars and restaurants to add hundreds of seats on the street, creating what residents described as a free-for-all.They said adding 300 diners — with no extra toilets — was “psychotic.”“The public urination is out of control.I’ve said to people, ‘Hey would you mind not peeing here?’ and they’ve said to me, ‘Why don’t I punch you in your f—ing mouth.

It’s awful,” said neighbor Elizabeth Zalman.Another neighbor said someone urinated in his building’s flowerpot.“It’s chaos,” said Bruce Torrey.

“It’s a combat zone.”A group of residents and business owners launched a stomach-churning campaign – using photos of public urination, puking and raucous behavior — to capture City Hall’s attention and deep-six a wine bar’s sidewalk-dining application.It worked.In a rare move, City Hall rejected Le Dive’s request for 18 sidewalk seats.But for neighbors, that’s just a symbolic victory.

They expect Le Dive to get approval to put 87 seats on the street, along with half a dozen other bars and restaurants.Jon Neidich, owner of Le Dive, told The Post the restaurants are being unfairly targeted.“The block parties and stuff like that — that didn’t come from any of the restaurants.Our business is having people seated and serving them,” he said.The residents’ focus now is trying to get the city to put limits on the Canal Open Streets programTheir focus now is trying to get the city to put limits on the Canal Open Streets program.They say partiers inevitably end up spilling out onto side streets, leaving behind broken glass,...