City Council hearings on the proposed Sixers arena are still ongoing, with hours of testimony and public comment written this week. Before the council officially determines its path forward, there will be three more hearings: one next Tuesday and two on Monday and Tuesday a week later.
Billy Penn participated in a sometimes heated public comment session Thursday evening in which nearly all speakers opposed the arena. We recorded a few moments from that evening.
A perspective from the suburbs
One of the few witnesses in favor of the arena was Ken Avalon, a resident of suburban Philadelphia.
“I have been working in the city forever. I pay a lot of taxes here, I pay a lot of money here, I spend a lot of time in the city. We love coming into town and going to sporting events,” Avalon said.
Avalon explained that it takes him an hour to get to games in South Philadelphia via SEPTA, but the commute would be reduced to just 25 minutes if the arena were built at Jefferson Station, which would enhance his likelihood of attending evening games.
“If there is a sporting event in the city, if there is a concert in the city, it is much more convenient for us from the suburbs to come to the city,” he said. “I hear a lot about money, of course there is money in all of this. 2 million people live in the suburbs. There are plenty of suburban dollars out there.
Old and newborn neighborhood voices
Many Chinatown residents and regular visitors to the area had their say Thursday evening. There was one man among them who introduced himself as Sam Sam. A refugee from Vietnam, he runs A petite Saigon cafe in Chinatown.
“I fled my country in 1979 and came to this country. Why this country? Because I thought it was a democratic country,” Sam said. “Now why is Chinatown so critical to me? This is my home here. I’ve never had a home since I was 10.
“Now you are trying to build an arena in my city that will destroy our city, our community,” he continued. “Chinatown cannot be replaced. It can never be replaced. The building can make money somewhere else, not in Chinatown.
Sam also said that the previous day he had seen someone die in front of him in a car accident on Spring Street. He explained that he was concerned about safety in the area and wanted more attention paid to it.
“Why do we spend all our time here debating on behalf of billionaires? Why don’t we all take time to take care of our community, our neighborhood, for the sake of safety and life, the good life?”
Kenny Chiu, a junior local resident currently attending the University of Pennsylvania, also spoke at the microphone. He talked about his upbringing in Chinatown, mentioning the many development projects that have already changed the face of the area.
“My mom pushed hot dim sum carts at the Ocean Harbor restaurant. My dad worked in construction in Chinatown with other Chinese immigrants. And my grandmother worked at the Convention Center and at Eagles games as an Aramark employee,” Chiu said. “I grew up in Hing Wah Yuen, an affordable senior housing complex built in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, right next to the Vine Street Expressway, which ran for several blocks from Chinatown businesses and apartments. Before Hing Wah Yuen was built, the Federal Bureau of Prisons proposed a 750-bed detention center on what would become the affordable housing complex where I grew up.”
Chiu said he and other newborn people in the neighborhood weren’t confident their elected officials had their best interests in mind.
“For years, Chinatown youth have listened to paternalistic representatives who have told us what is best for our community. “It didn’t stop us from marching in the streets, speaking out at city halls, or calling on City Council members to oppose this arena,” Chiu said.
“We never ask our aunts, uncles, grandmothers, grandfathers and our children for anything. We keep our heads down, work hard, hoping to pass on our earnings and the Chinatown community to the next generation. We took one for the Philadelphia team. We actually used a lot of them,” the student said, citing the Vine Street Expressway and Convention Center projects. “It’s time for Team Philadelphia to stand up for Chinatown.”
And even younger…
Lily Cavanagh, a third-grade teacher at FACTS Community School in Chinatown, said she asked her students if they wanted to send messages to the City Council. She walked to the microphone with a stack of their letters written on index cards to read aloud.
“Even though I can’t vote, Chinatown is my home. And you won’t take that away from me, because a good mayor listens to citizens, large and petite. I am petite, but I can say: “there is no arena in the heart of our city,” Cavanagh read.
“No arena in Chinatown. Please. This is not what we need. We need houses and food. Please. I don’t want an arena because Chinatown means a lot to me. My grandma and grandpa live in Chinatown, so I don’t want them to move out. And one last thing: when it’s warm, I love to go to Mr. Wish’s and have a frigid drink,” one letter reads, prompting “oohs” and applause from the room.
“People will be sad because Chinatown is the only place where you can feel at home, and yet it is getting smaller and smaller,” one letter reads. “People need sleep for beauty, and it will be noisy,” another noted.
Once Cavanagh had finished reading the highlights, the stack of letters was distributed; Council member Mark Squilla looked through index cards, followed by other speakers.
Medical concerns
Dr. Bill King, a pediatrician and staunch opponent of the arena, came to speak in his white coat.
“I took care of all the black children in West Philadelphia,” King said, introducing himself. “If I didn’t take care of you, then you didn’t come to West Philly.”
“Information in order,” said Council President Kenyatta Johnson. “Council member Jamie Gauthier, is this your pediatrician?”
“My kids are grown men now,” the West Philly representative replied amid laughter from the audience.
King described the layout of Philadelphia’s three trauma centers, saying that any trauma patient north of Girard Avenue is brought to Temple Hospital, anyone west of Schuylkill is brought to Penn Presbyterian, and the remaining patients are brought to Jefferson Hospital.
He said the arena’s potential to create traffic jams near Jefferson is “probably a supervillain’s plan.”
“We don’t need the Sixers game we want to put on against Jefferson because it will take those five minutes [of] lights and sirens and turn it into 25 minutes,” King said. “It’s exhausting trying to perform CPR for more than 5 minutes in the back of an ambulance. You can do this in hospital; in the ambulance, five minutes later we’re fried. If you live to be 25, people die.
Criticism towards union members
Katy DiSanto, who works at an arts institution in Chinatown, sharply criticized construction union members supporting the arena, who have been more present this week in public comments at previous hearings.
“Many of the points I prepared to say today were intended to be heard by the gallery of builders who were here yesterday, and the fact that they are not here, I think, shows how weak their dog is in this fight,” she said to cheers from sides of opponents in the arena in the crowd.
Stating that she is a supporter of trade unions and believes that “the path to prosperity is through manual labor,” DiSanto criticized union members’ argument that the field should develop because it would provide jobs.
“Can you look me in the face today and tell me that it is worth tearing down and strangling my work and the work of my neighbors, work that not only supports families but also supports the irreplaceable fabric of our shared culture and heritage, just to, what, give a few temporary jobs for other people that can be done elsewhere? Would you rob Peter to pay Paul?” she asked.
There was a lithe reprimand after DiSanto’s hearing, with a city official reminding speakers to “be respectful of the other public commenters who came here.”
Later, Joseph Pietty, a retired postal worker and member of the NALC union, spoke up. He said he was a staunch supporter of labor and had joined pickets with unions throughout his life.
“But this time I can’t support unions,” Pietty said. “Solidarity is not limited to those who are next to you at work. Solidarity means the common struggle of all workers against the rich and powerful. When a majority of workers in Chinatown oppose a project that threatens their community, worker solidarity demands that the construction industry challenge the 76ers project.”
