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On December 19, 2024, the Philadelphia City Council approved a plan to build a basketball arena next to Philadelphia's Chinatown. The National Trust submitted written testimony in November opposing the plan for the potential detrimental impacts on surrounding area including Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

We will continue to work with local residents who strongly oppose the proposed arena development and urge the city council to work toward alternatives that will build on the survival of Philadelphia’s cultural legacy and support the local communities that deserve recognition and protection.

The letter below was sent to the members of the Philadelphia city council on November 22, 2024. A PDF of the letter can be downloaded here.

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November 22, 2024

Honorable Members of the Philadelphia City Council,

The National Trust for Historic Preservation is testifying in support of local residents who strongly oppose the proposed arena development for its potential detrimental impacts on surrounding neighborhoods including Philadelphia’s Chinatown. The National Trust is a 75-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting historic places across the United States that tell the full American story. Last year, we recognized the significant cultural, historical, and community value of Philadelphia's Chinatown by including the community on our annual list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places due to the threat of the arena development.

Philadelphia's Chinatown is one of few remaining living, historic Chinatown communities in the country and must be protected. This community has participated in over 150 years of American life and continues to enrich the American cultural landscape. Philadelphia’s Chinatown offers future generations a physical connection to its past and is a working-class enclave that still nurtures generations of small and legacy businesses, residents, seniors, and community members.

The threats facing Chinatowns and other marginalized communities nationwide are often part of a systemic pattern of neglect and disinvestment, making them vulnerable to adverse development. These places are often not protected by historic and cultural designations. Further, Chinatowns have been asked for decades to accept disproportionate harm in the name of progress for all. Large-scale mega-projects that were proposed without community support and input have destroyed once vibrant communities, through both physical displacement and erosion of neighborhood fabric, and more gradual forces including gentrification. Philadelphia’s proposed arena development must be considered in this broader historical context.

Chinatown is one of the most historically significant neighborhoods in Philadelphia, embodying more than a century and a half of cultural and social history, and economic development. The community that has called Chinatown home for generations represents a rich tapestry of immigrant stories, resilience, and cultural contributions. We urge the city council to listen to the communities most impacted by this decision and to consider the long-term impact this project would have on Philadelphia's Chinatown and its residents. Protecting this neighborhood is a matter of preserving the cultural history of not only the city but of the nation as a whole.

We respectfully ask you to reconsider this development and work toward alternatives proposed by local residents that will build on the survival of Philadelphia’s cultural legacy and support the local communities that deserve recognition and protection. Once these communities are lost, it is all but impossible to bring them back.

Sincerely,

Di Gao
Senior Director of Research and Development, America’s Chinatowns program
National Trust for Historic Preservation

In 2022, the 76ers basketball team announced plans to build an 18,500-seat arena abutting Chinatown. Residents and neighborhood leaders fear the arena could further jeopardize the future of Chinatown by exacerbating decades-long trends of gentrification and displacement, impacting family-owned businesses, worsening traffic and parking congestion, and increasing costs of living. As a result, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the neighborhood as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2023.

In August 2024, the city of Philadelphia released a series of long-awaited studies about the development. The design review, transportation study, economic impact analysis, and community impact analysis were released in multiple languages and paint two very different pictures of the impact of the arena on the surrounding neighborhood. As reported by Oscar Perry Abello in Next City, “Given Chinatown‘s tightly interwoven cultural and social network and the incompatibility of many important businesses with the Arena, the Project impact may negatively interfere with Chinatown‘s goals,” the community impact study concludes. “In other words, due to impact on labor markets and small businesses, Chinatown’s core identity could be significantly diminished or lost”

On Saturday September 7, a coalition of Philadelphia residents marched in opposition to the plan. The march included Philadelphians from the Save Chinatown Coalition, multi-generational supporters, and the city’s Gayborhood emphasizing the broad, cross-racial solidarity present in the coalition that still has significant concerns about the arena going forward.

Just a day later, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker distributed flyers in the community about a community meeting to be held on Wednesday, September 11. With less than 72 hours to organize, the Save Chinatown Coalition turned out 800 people (filling 3 additional spillover rooms) to voice their objections to the project.

An independent poll commissioned by the Save Chinatown Coalition, found that 69 percent of Philadelphians oppose the project, and only 15 percent support it.

Recent Developments

On September 18, after rescheduling due to the Mid-Autumn festival celebrations, the Mayor's office called representatives of the Chinatown community in for a meeting. Again with short notice, the community rallied 200 people to City Hall where they were informed that the Mayor—at that very moment—was announcing her support for the project and that an agreement was reached to bring the arena to Center City.

Parker's remarks included a message for Chinatown residents, “To the people of Chinatown, please know that I hear you. We have the best Chinatown in the United States, and I am committed to working together to support it.”

In response Debbie Wei, a representative of the coalition to save Chinatown said, "We asked the mayor on four different occasions, in the last year, to come to Chinatown. To see our community. To be in dialogue with us. In every instance, the request was declined or ignored.

[Then], with less than 24 hours notice, one day after the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrating family and unity, we were called into Mayor Parker’s office. We knew it was a sham [on September 11] when she dragged us into the convention center, for a "community meeting," in a building that displaced 200 of our residents, and still we show up to prove we’re willing partners over and over again. Mayor Parker, having never stepped foot in our community, feels she can have a stance on whether our community should live or die.

But this decision isn't made by one person. This is just the beginning. Don’t get mad, take action."

The National Trust stands with local coalitions and the majority of Philadelphia residents who oppose the arena abutting Chinatown and will be most impacted by this devastating decision. Time and time again, history has shown us that large-scale planning decisions are made with significant consequences to communities of color. There is still time to chart a new path forward. The National Trust will continue to amplify the grave threat that this poses to one of the oldest intact Chinatown communities in the nation.

Mid-Autumn Festival is a major holiday celebrated in China and other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese lunar calendar. This year, that day falls on Friday, September 29.

Families will celebrate by displaying lanterns, moon-gazing, and savoring mooncakes. Many Chinatowns across the United States will hold their own celebrations during this time. Here are some ways to celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival in your local Chinatown:

• Buy mooncakes at local Chinatown bakeries
• Visit local markets and street vendors to buy groceries for dinner with your family and friends
• Shop for festive lanterns, decorate and write your wishes on them
• Enjoy osmanthus tea from local teahouses, along with fresh fruits like pomelos and persimmons

Holidays can be moments of celebration, reflection, and solidarity. Learn about the history of your local Chinatown and consider signing our petition today to join other allies in committing to the cultural preservation of America’s Chinatowns for future generations, so their vibrant pasts can remain at the heart of their thriving and prosperous futures.

Together, we can mobilize preservation action to support America’s Chinatowns for future generations.

Listen to this conversation with award-winning cookbook author, culinary historian, and Chinatown activist Grace Young about taking action to support historic Chinatowns. Learn about how Grace became a fierce advocate and the unofficial voice for saving Chinatowns. From PastForward 2022.

Speakers:

• Grace young, cookbook author, culinary historian and Chinatown activist
• Di Gao, senior director of research and development, National Trust for Historic Preservation

This session explores different approaches to cultural preservation in American Chinatowns. Historic Chinatowns are increasingly facing a variety of pressures that threaten the ecosystems that sustain Chinatown communities and the ability to uphold Chinatown heritage for future generations. Chinatowns are situated in vastly different physical, regulatory, and development contexts. In these contexts, the solutions to cultural preservation are equally as diverse. Learn how Chinatowns are exploring and implementing place-based strategies and policies to preserve Chinatowns for future generations while centering community priorities in their visions for the future. (From PastForward 2022)

Speakers:

• Di Gao, National Trust for Historic Preservation
• Jenn Low, Openbox, The Urban Studio and the 1882 Foundation
• Ted Gong, The 1882 Foundation