PHILADELPHIA, Pa.—About 400 Philadelphia Chinatown community members and their supporters gathered at the Ocean Harbor Restaurant on Dec. 14 for a meeting on the 76ers’ proposal to build a basketball arena near Chinatown.
The meeting was hosted by the Asian American United (AAU) and more than 20 Chinatown community organizations. This is the first public meeting for local residents to ask questions of 76Place developers on the proposed arena.
Because the restaurant was fully packed, more than 80 people watched the event’s live stream from a nearby restaurant.
Some people held signs: “Save Chinatown, No Arena”, in both Chinese and English. The audience was excited and shouted from time to time to oppose the arena.
More than a dozen people stood up and raised questions and concerns to David Gould, the 76ers’ Chief Diversity & Impact Officer.
Philadelphia City Councilman Mark Squilla told the gathering that he would continue to serve the Chinese community in his district and gave details on the arena project’s review and comment process.
Questions Raised
Ellen Somekawa, executive director of Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School, was one of those raising questions at the gathering.“I came here tonight to express my opposition to the arena in Chinatown,” she said, adding that she wanted to be part of the effort creating an opportunity for the community to hear from those who want to build the arena and to ask them questions.
Michael Zhang, a Chinatown laundromat owner who came to the United States from mainland China in 1987, was the first to raise his concerns.
Zhang said he thought that the money involved in the arena could be better spent on solving some of the city’s problems. “A billion-dollar arena in Chinatown,” he said, would create more traffic congestion.
‘Conversations and Feedback’
Gould said that the arena proposal that they put forth in July was not complete.“We know that in order to make a project that actually is good for the city as a whole, including this community requires a lot of conversations and feedback,” he said,
Gould said they had received concerns from residents and local businesses about the arena, including those involving traffic and parking, safety and security, and keeping the area affordable.
“We want to make sure that this is not the same as the projects that have threatened this community. That is our goal. That is what we are working to do,” Gould said.
Learn From DC Chinatown
A number of people who are not Chinese attended the meeting as well.A black woman named Asad Tois told Gould: “Let’s be very clear, the 76ers, the developers, or anybody else, has no right, legal and certainly not moral, to destroy Chinatown. From Washington D.C., and the joke in D.C. is there’s a Chinatown with no Chinese.”
A young woman named Tina expressed concerns to Gould about what happened to Washington D.C.’s Chinatown community after a stadium was built nearby.
Gould acknowledged there was a great amount of concern and frustration from Chinese communities over what occurred there.
“We know that what happened in D.C. is the opposite of what should happen with downtown development. Eminent domain was used to displace families and businesses actively, properties were bought, and people were evicted. And the arena was built without any contemplation of how to preserve a community,” Gould said.
More Challenging
Debbie Wei, 67, founder of Asian American United, told The Epoch Times that she welcomed how young people in the community have responded to the issue.“One of the things that I find very moving is how much our young people love this community, and how each generation that’s come, over and over again, each generation has stepped up to fight for this community, ” said Wei, who is U.S. born.
“No matter what happens, for me, that’s very important that our young people love the community and that our elderly see that we are defending them,” she said.
Wei started the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown 20 years ago and started its first public school, the Folk Arts and Cultural Treasures Charter School, which invites elders to teach children calligraphy, how to knit and how to crochet.
She thinks that “some things are more precious than money.”
Philadelphia’s Chinatown community has successfully vetoed big projects in the past, like a casino, a baseball stadium, and a prison proposed to be built near Chinatown.
But Wei said this time is different and more challenging than before.
“What’s different is that nowadays, there are billionaire developers. So this is not a government project where we can just target government people. These are billionaires who are used to never getting no for an answer,” Wei said.
“Someone has to say ‘no’. Someone has to stop them. I don’t know if it’s gonna be us, but we will do our best to protect our community,” she said.
“I’m always moved when I see this community and how much they love this place and want to keep Chinese culture, Chinese language, you know, a safe place for Chinese people to come,” she said.
About a month ago, Wei went to Washington D.C. Chinatown on a bus with other Philadelphia Chinatown community members. She felt very sad about the difference from the D.C. Chinatown she visited when she was in college. “It used to look very much like our Chinatown,” Wei said.
“When I went this time, it was devastating. There is nothing left. There are boarded-up buildings,” she said.
“They had businesses like Starbucks with Chinese signs on them. But that’s not a small family-owned business. That’s a corporate franchise. And you know what, even they couldn’t survive, they went out of business, all these big chain stores that opened and kicked all the Chinese businesses out, they’re all out of business too.”
The proposed arena would be located in the Fashion District Mall from 10th-11th Streets on Market Street. It is being developed by 76 Devcorp, a partnership between 76ers Managing Partners Josh Harris, David Blitzer, and Philadelphia Business Leader David Adelman. 76 Devcorp is collaborating with Mosaic Development Partners. The construction is scheduled to be completed by 2031. The project is expected to be a major economic driver for Philadelphians, with $1.9 billion of economic output and 9,000 jobs.
