Philadelphia Arena: ‘$50 million, $100 million – the whole thing is a sellout deal!’

Philadelphia

For over two years, a growing movement has fought to stop the proposed construction of 76 Place, a basketball arena in Philadelphia that would threaten the existence of Chinatown, the last community of color in Center City. It’s the people against the billionaires. A poll of city residents revealed 70% disapproval of the arena at that location. 

The struggle is also against the billionaires’ government. There’s the federal government, where billionaires get what they want no matter which party is in office. But it’s also on the local level in Philadelphia, where a few billionaires seem to have undue influence over Mayor Cherelle Parker and a majority of City Council members. 

For over a week, after multiple attempts to move the package of 11 bills and resolutions to allow the arena’s construction out of committee failed, they were finally approved by a 12-4 vote in the “Committee of the Whole” — the committee delegated to decide whether the bills have enough support for a vote by the whole council. The bills will now come up for a final vote at the next City Council session on Dec. 19.

Mayor Parker and 14 out of the 17 City Council members are Democrats, with one lone Republican. Two members belong to the Working Families Party, both of whom oppose the arena. 

So far three billionaires — private-equity investors Josh Harris and David Blitzer, managing partners of the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers, and developer David Adelman — have been successful in pressuring a large majority of the City Council to back them against the wishes of the people. Money carries a lot of weight.

Gridlock in the middle of the city

Numerous studies have criticized the location of the proposed arena. Besides being an existential threat to the viability of Chinatown, the arena deal would give the billionaires a $400 million tax break — money that should be going to fund schools and other public services. 

The city claims there will be 710 new jobs created, but 50% of Chinatown businesses will be negatively impacted, and part of the existing Fashion District shopping center will be torn down, likely resulting in a net loss of jobs. 

Fearful of an influx of predatory developers, residents of neighborhoods south of the arena — the Gayborhood and Washington Square West — have joined the resistance to the project. 

Arena opponents also fear the potential impact on the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), which is already cash-strapped. The arena proposal includes plans for SEPTA to build a new facility above the Jefferson Station in Center City, but SEPTA officials say they’re not paying for these and other costs related to the arena.

The contentious 76ers’ Community Benefits Agreement, or CBA, was created without input from the Chinatown community. Mayor Parker has refused multiple requests from Chinatown residents to meet with them, and a significant portion of the CBA is for some of the Mayor’s pet projects instead of Chinatown. Spread over 30 years, the $60 million is woefully inadequate in providing economic relief or preventing higher rents and the elimination of Chinatown’s restaurants and other businesses.

Thousands of people have participated in multiple protests on the streets and in meeting rooms over the last two years. Over the last two weeks, these actions culminated with hundreds of people testifying at city council hearings, with at least 80% of speakers opposing the arena.

At the Dec. 11 and Dec. 12 City Council meetings, chambers were packed with opponents chanting “Fifty million, 100 million — the whole thing is a sellout deal!” referring to the inadequate CBA.

The influx of more traffic on the narrow center city streets during arena events will also create gridlock, blocking emergency vehicles from accessing the nearby Jefferson Hospital. A vehicle protest during rush-hour on Dec. 12 with just 70 cars, plus signs and leaflets, was a small example of what gridlock might look like if the 18,500-seat arena is built. 

Building trades break class solidarity

Unions rely on solidarity among workers for their very existence in the struggle against the capitalists that exploit them. At numerous City Council meetings, members of the construction unions broke working-class solidarity by speaking in favor of the billionaires’ project. Their unions are disgracefully fighting alongside the rich and powerful against the wishes of a community of color. 

Building trades leaders claim to be fighting for jobs for their members, but they’re ignoring what it might mean for the working class as a whole and siding with their exploiters (the billionaires) against the community. Instead of showing working-class solidarity with the community they would work in, the construction workers are willingly being used as a battering ram against their Asian, LGBTQIA+ and community siblings.

To make matters worse, Ryan Boyer, “leader of the Building Trades Council and longtime business manager for Laborers District Council, owns nearly 10,000 shares in a real estate investment trust fund managed by FS Investments, which is valued at more than $223,600, according to federal securities disclosures. Since 2021, Boyer has held a board post on FS Credit REIT, one of about half a dozen funds managed by the Philadelphia-based investment company where Adelman [one of the billionaires behind the Arena] serves as vice chairman.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, Dec. 12)

Solidarity requires construction workers to oppose their union’s wrong-headed stance and to come out against the building of the arena in Chinatown. The arena project can be built elsewhere in the city, and the same jobs would be needed there.

If all our communities and workers organizations acted together in solidarity, we could win affordable housing, mass transit, better schools and so much more that could provide many more jobs than this billionaires boondoggle.