As New Jersey tries to lure the Philadelphia 76ers to this side of the Delaware River, progressive activists are outraged by state officials who are offering hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks to lure a billionaire to one of the state’s lowest-income cities.
“I think Jersey really wants to get the Sixers, and this sweetens the pot. It’s not that surprising — but is it the right thing for the people of Camden to do?” said Maura Collinsgru, policy director at New Jersey Citizen Action, a progressive nonprofit.
As the Sixers consider their options for the $1.5 billion arena the team plans to build by 2031, New Jersey Economic Development Authority CEO Tim Sullivan I sent a letter to Tad Brown, CEO of Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, owner of the Sixers, outlining what New Jersey can offer the basketball team.
New Jersey would grant the Sixers two Aspire tax credits of $400 million each (one to cover the cost of the arena and infrastructure, such as parking, and the other to support surrounding residential, retail and office development), the state-owned former Riverfront State Prison site “at little or no cost,” and another $500 million in bonds that would be paid off with fees for tickets, concessions and parking, Sullivan wrote.
“We envision a multibillion-dollar, privately owned, mixed-use development north of the Ben Franklin Bridge that will be a transformational catalyst for Camden and New Jersey,” Sullivan wrote in the letter, which ROI-NJ was the first to report.
But activists say the money would be better spent elsewhere, such as funding schools in South Jersey or the state. struggling transportation agency.
The subsidies are a particularly inappropriate exploit of sports facilities, said Peter Chen, a policy analyst at the left-leaning think tank New Jersey Policy Perspective.
While the state is presenting its offer as free to New Jersey taxpayers, Chen worries it could be significantly more pricey in other ways. Just because the costs won’t show up as a line item in next year’s state budget doesn’t mean they’ve vanished into slim air, he said.
“It’s a shocking amount of money to subsidize a very profitable billionaire corporation. Subsidizing private profits with public money — especially when the benefits to the people of New Jersey, and especially sports arenas, are so small — just doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Other than offering tax breaks and a site for a mixed-use arena, the proposal is thin on specifics. All Aspire housing projects, including the mixed-use development, require a 20% allocation for affordable housing. Aspire projects also require community benefit agreements that outline provisions such as local employment requirements and union labor regulations, the letter said.
A city full of problems
Camden is a city of nearly 75,000 across the river from Philadelphia, with a median annual household income of just over $28,000, compared to the state median income of about $96,300. The city has long been plagued by crime and wealth inequality, and attempts to revitalize the waterfront city with massive tax breaks have yielded has largely fallen. Another time, shady deals between developers and influential officials along the waterfront led to criminal charges.
In 2016, the 76ers opened a practice facility in Camden after the Economic Development Authority $82 million in tax breaks were approved.
The Sixers have proposed building a novel arena in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, which is centrally located in the city and close to major highways and public transportation. However, the plan has sparked community protests.
A Sixers spokesperson told ROI-NJ they would take a “serious” look at New Jersey’s proposal.
Still, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told reporters Tuesday he was “confident” the team would remain in Philadelphia.
Shapiro ‘confident’ 76ers arena will remain in Philadelphia
If the Sixers come to the Garden State on Sullivan’s proposed terms, activists want to see clear plans for what Camden residents stand to gain. Collinsgru also wants to make sure Camden residents are included in the conversation, given that they may have to live near a clamorous, crowded arena.
“What kind of investment are they going to make in Camden residents who currently still have significant housing needs, in their public school system? How about we fund things for Camden residents that will really allow them to thrive and flourish?” she said.
A spokeswoman for New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment, referring questions to the EDA.
EDA spokesman Chris Flores said the proposed project would have a “significant economic impact on Camden” and the agency is “committed to ensuring that its residents benefit.”
“A project of this size is complex, but we intend to do it well from a local benefit and community support perspective. We stand ready to work with city officials and community advocates to ensure that Camden residents come first,” Flores said.
Tom Bracken, head of the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce, emphasized that New Jersey is still a long way from attracting an arena to Camden.
He believes it would benefit “everyone in the Camden area and everyone in the state of New Jersey.” The state would also benefit greatly, both economically and in terms of its business reputation.
Bracken said it’s too early to know the answers to all the questions surrounding the project, such as how many jobs Camden residents will gain, whether there’s a need for a novel transportation center and what the project’s impact will be on the economy.
“Nobody dug in that deep on Day 1,” he said. “It gets really boring when all these progressive organizations try to pour cold water on everything that’s being done to make New Jersey a better state to know and a more attractive state for businesses and residents.”
Chen, however, believes that entrepreneurs and government officials treat their proposal as a “miracle solution” and not as a tool for allocating money for larger investments.
“Someone is going to have to pay for all of this because they’re going to have to pay a huge fee every time they go to a Sixers game,” he said. “And a lot of those people could be New Jerseyans.”
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