Sixers arena is the focus of Philadelphia City Council this fall

One of Philadelphia’s most influential union officials stood outside the City Council chambers Thursday, waiting for a chance to talk to legislators about a topic of mutual concern.

“A little thing called an arena,” said Ryan Boyer, president of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council.

This little thing — the Sixers’ controversial plan to build a $1.55 billion basketball stadium in the heart of Center City — dominated the first day of the City Council meeting‘The fall session is a preview of what will surely be months full of disputes and drama.

Lawmakers received the results of a up-to-date poll showing 56% of voters oppose the arena, protesters gathered against the project outside City Hall, and the Sixers warned that time was running out. New Jersey officials, Meanwhile, they are offering millions of dollars in tax breaks to attract a team to Camden.

Chinatown activists and their allies are planning a vast, loud march through Center City on Saturday to oppose the arena, hoping the numbers will even outnumber the 2023 demonstrations that shut down streets and halted traffic.

The council session began a little more than a week after Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration released four long-awaited, city-sponsored studies on the economic, traffic and community impacts of building the arena, particularly the Chinatown neighborhood adjacent to the proposed site at 10th and Market Streets.

Many council members have said they don’t want to take a position on the arena until the studies come in. Still, no one was in a hurry to make their position known Thursday.

The council may vote on the plan in the fall.

Council member Mike Driscoll called the project an “exciting opportunity” but added that he was still reading hundreds of pages of information contained in the studies, while council member Nina Ahmad said she was “still very skeptical” and had concerns about the arena’s potential impact on tax revenues.

Council member Curtis Jones Jr., considered an ally of Parker, said he needs “a lot more information” before deciding whether to support the investment.

“I’ve read the study, I’ve read what the impacts are, but I haven’t seen what the solutions are to those impacts,” Jones said, listing potential burdens on public transportation, public safety and Chinatown.

Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson said she needed more time to digest the study results, while Council Speaker Kenyatta Johnson said the body was still conducting “due diligence.”

“We will work with the mayor, with the council members, in case the bill goes to the City Council for review,” Johnson said. “Until we get the actual bill as a body, we can’t really evaluate the details.”

Parker has not committed to supporting the project, but her administration is working with the Sixers to put together a package of bills to allow for the arena to be built. If it is introduced to the council soon, Johnson said, it is possible lawmakers could vote on the arena before the end of the year.

“We continue to have good, productive and thoughtful discussions with the city,” a Sixers spokesman said Thursday, “and we are hopeful that we can reach an agreement that will allow for the necessary legislation to be introduced to the council in the coming weeks. … Time is running out for the 76ers to build a new arena in time for the 2031-32 season.”

Arena opponents gather to voice opposition to plan

On Thursday morning, more than 40 people gathered on the south side of City Hall to voice their opposition and call on the council to reject the project.

Speakers said the arena would displace residents and businesses from Chinatown, provide few good jobs and create game-day traffic congestion that could prevent ambulances from reaching local hospitals. Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, the city’s main trauma center, is just south of the proposed arena site.

“I urge the City Council to put health first,” said Rhicki Santos, a medical student.

Behind her stood other students holding signs that read, “Slower ambulances = more deaths.” None of them indicated which school they attended.

The Sixers argue that traffic can be controlled, that the surrounding parking lots are more than adequate to handle the incoming fans and that their plan to build a station above Jefferson Station will boost ridership on public transit.

A up-to-date city-sponsored analysis found that the team’s goal of increasing public transportation apply to 40% of fans, while another 40% travel by car, is achievable but not a sure thing. Traffic would remain manageable if no more than 40% of event attendees drove cars, but even a marginal boost in car apply beyond that threshold would result in gridlock at key intersections, the study found.

On Thursday, Brittany Alston in front of City Hall with Philadelphia Black Workers Projectwhich aims to educate people about the impact of low-wage jobs and unemployment on black communities, criticized politicians for supporting the billionaire owners of the Sixers, stating that the project is “not designed for or about the black working class.”

Several times during the rally, speakers asked Parker and the City Council: Who do you work for?

“This is about more than saving Chinatown, it’s about preserving the soul of our city,” he said. this Rev. Robin Hynicka, Lead Pastor of Arch Street United Methodist Church. “I ask the Mayor, Mayor Parker and the City Council, especially Councilman [Mark] Squilla, who are you going to listen to? The people who vote, or the people who pay to get your attention?”

Squilla is a key player, whose 1st District includes both the arena and Chinatown, and Philadelphia’s tradition of aldermanic prerogatives gives him enormous influence.

The arena would occupy the western third of the Fashion District mall, encompassing the area from 10th to 11th and Market to Filbert Streets, and bring what the team says will be up-to-date economic vitality to struggling Market Street East. The Sixers have promised the arena will be built with private money, with no city tax dollars, although they are open to state and federal financing.

Wells Fargo Center owner Comcast Spectacor has sought to keep the Sixers at the South Philadelphia sports intricate — including proposing an alternative vision for the Fashion District as a biomedical innovation center. As the Wall Street Journal recently reportedHowever, although biotech and pharmaceutical buildings were an attractive investment at the beginning of the pandemic, excess real estate in the field of natural sciences has become so grave that developers are considering selling the space for offices.

New poll on arena proposal

Council members received the results of a up-to-date city poll that showed 56 percent of Philadelphia voters oppose a Sixers arena downtown. Only 18 percent support it.

The poll was commissioned by the Save Chinatown Coalition, one of the groups fighting the bill, and conducted by Cornell Belcher of Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies in Washington, D.C. The firm has previously conducted polls for Parker’s mayoral campaign, Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns and the Democratic National Committee.

Opponents of the arena cited two main reasons: the belief that the project would boost traffic in the city center and harm the Chinatown neighborhood.

“I rarely see this much intensity in an arena fight,” Belcher said at a news conference Wednesday.

The survey was conducted among 704 registered voters who were contacted by telephone. by professional pollsters between August 22 and 25. The overall margin of error was 3.7%.

As many as 80% of respondents expressed concerns that traffic on the day of the event could impede access to the emergency room at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, located south of the proposed site.

Voters identified issues such as drug apply, education, housing and homelessness as priorities for the mayor and council to address. Only 12% said building a up-to-date arena was a priority.

“The more voters hear about this proposal, the more they dislike it,” said Mohan Seshadri, executive director of the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, a member of the Save Chinatown coalition.

The personal lobbying efforts of Boyer, a union leader, have underscored the fact that the arena will likely dominate City Hall’s activities in the coming months, and his presence confirms what council members already know: the more than 30 unions on the union council want the years of work the arena can provide.

He was asked what the industry’s position is on this issue?

“Construction work,” Boyer replied.