Philly Mayor Moves Forward with Controversial Arena Near Chinatown
September 20, 2024
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”
photo by: Joe Piette
View of the rally to save Philadelphia's Chinatown that took place on September 7, 2024.
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.
photo by: Joe Piette
View of the rally to save Philadelphia's Chinatown that took place on September 7, 2024.
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.
