September 05, 2024
Kristin Hunt/PhillyVoice
Medical student Ricki Santos speaks before a group of anti-arena activists outside City Hall on Thursday.
As legislators filed into their City Hall chambers Thursday morning, activists outside warmed up to the strains of "Fight the Power."
The group blasting Public Enemy was the Save Chinatown Coalition, the community organization against the proposed 76ers arena on Market Street. Its members are, at this point, familiar faces to the city councilmembers deciding the project's fate; they've been demonstrating against the arena essentially since the proposal was announced. But the coalition's latest missive arrived after a flurry of activity from stakeholders on both sides of the debate — and an awareness that a decision is likely around the corner.
City councilmembers had delayed legislative consideration of the project as they awaited further information from the city's long-awaited impact studies. Those reports finally arrived Aug. 27, offering analyses of the arena's potential economic, traffic, design and community effects. With the data now in circulation, 76 DevCo, the development arm of the project, is pressing local legislators for an answer. The team says it must receive approval from City Council by the end of 2024 to complete the arena by 2031, when its lease with the Wells Fargo Center expires.
Anti-arena activists argue the team hasn't earned it. At their Thursday morning rally, organizers said the project would decimate Chinatown and ultimately cost the city more than it generates. The coalition touted its recent poll, conducted with Cornell Belcher's brilliant corners polling firm, showing that 80% of respondents worried about the impact increased traffic would have on "lifesaving medical care" at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, which is just two blocks from the proposed site. The survey queried 704 registered voters.
"It is absolutely unthinkable that the city is considering a project that would do so much harm to patients' access to health care in this city," Ricki Santos, a medical student in Philadelphia, said at the event. "... Arena traffic would gridlock vehicles at the exact intersections that ambulances travel through to get patients to a hospital or reach them in an emergency. And that's really scary to think about because in an emergency, every second matters."
Other speakers at the Thursday event included Brittany Alston, the executive director of the Philly Black Worker Project. The group organizes formerly incarcerated and temp workers, who frequently pick up jobs at stadiums. Alston worries that a new arena would only complicate the conditions for these employees, whom she says receive less pay and benefits and lack union representation. Ongoing discussions in South Philly, she added, have been unproductive.
"They've given us a track record of not necessarily really increasing job quality for formerly incarcerated workers," she said. "Why would they magically do that when they rebuild?"
As Alston and Santos rallied the crowd outside, inside a document from the developers was circulating. 76 DevCo, which has offered few comments on the impact studies since their release, shared a paper with city councilmembers summarizing their case for construction. The one-sheeter emphasized that the team "had no influence on the outcome of the studies," alluding to their funding of the city-sponsored reports — a massive point of contention for anti-arena activists. It then laid out four key points:
"1. The project is viable, comes at no cost to the City, and proves to have a clear overall positive economic benefit to the City, even in the most conservative scenario.
2. Guidance provided for the Community Benefits Agreement and public policy measures the City can take to ensure the ongoing evolution of Market East and protection of Chinatown.
3. The transit, parking and traffic assumptions made are reasonable and achievable.
4. The downtown location is appropriate for the proposed use."
The team also responded to one of the more damning findings from the community impact study, which concluded that half of small businesses in Chinatown would be negatively impacted by the arena.
"Investments into small businesses, traffic management, and affordability – through the Community Benefits Agreement and public policy interventions – should help Chinatown thrive and adapt to existing and new challenges," the document read. "The report found that many of the same negative pressures exist today and will continue with or without the arena."
76 DevCo declined to comment on the Save Chinatown Coalition's polling data, citing instead the 50,000 signatures of support it says it's collected through an online pledge form.
Any movement on the proposal hinges on Councilmember Mark Squilla, who represents the district where the arena would be built. He had said he would introduce legislation for the project likely as a package, and only after giving community stakeholders 30 days notice. According to his office, "No further decision has been made by CM Squilla on this proposal and he continues to take all input from all stakeholders into consideration."
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