Sixers arena opponents stage a wet and lively Center City rally as Council returns from recess

The demonstrators came from all over the city and elsewhere, endured a soaking rain and wind gusts that announced the seasons were changing, and marched, thoroughly drenched, from City Hall to the Chinatown Arch.

Along with sending a message to City Hall that they wanted no part of a $1.55 billion arena project for the 76ers, the protesters aimed to underscore that what generations of Philadelphians may know primarily as a restaurant district is, in real life, one of the city’s legacy ethnic neighborhoods.

“You can’t replicate what it is like to be in the heart of a neighborhood,” Vivian Chang, 33, executive director of Asian Americans United and a leader in the Save Chinatown Coalition, said as the rally kicked off around 1 p.m. at a point when the sun actually was shining.

The rally, said Mohan Seshadri, executive director of Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, was “an opportunity for the city itself to rise up and say, ‘No arena in the heart of the city.’” It coincided with the return of City Council from its summer recess.

Fourteen people were on a diverse roster of rally speakers. For the record, the city officials and the 76ers declined to comment Saturday.

» READ MORE: Anti-arena protesters had staged a rally in June 2023

The NBA team has proposed building an arena and housing tower at 10th and Market Streets. Team officials have held that the project, to be completed by 2031, would revive Market Street East and generate tax revenues and jobs without harming Chinatown. They said the arena would be a boon to local restaurants and stores.

But opponents have been crying foul, saying the project would lead to gentrification and decline of the neighborhood. In a citywide poll commissioned by Save Chinatown Coalition, 56% of the respondents said they opposed the arena. A city-sponsored community impact analysis found that about half of Chinatown’s small businesses would lose economically if the arena were built.

This is all something of a personal matter to 10-year-old Diana Zheng, who joined the decidedly intergenerational gathering with family members. “I don’t think we are going to be able to get snacks at the minimarket anymore if the businesses close,” she said.

And the proposed project is a profoundly personal matter for Anson Zhao, 15, who walked 10 blocks in a 25-pound yellow-and-green traditional Chinese lion costume to join the rally. “My whole life has been in Chinatown,” he said, wiping the sweat from his face in the steamy air that preceded a downpour, “the place I play sports in. Losing this place will mean my childhood is gone.”

In an interview before the march, which proceeded from City Hall to Race Street and ended at the arch at 10th and Arch Streets, Chang, of Asian Americans United, raised basic questions: “Are the same people still going to be able to live there? Will it still be affordable? Will they be able to replicate Chinatown’s festivals somewhere else?”

The rally kicked off with an address by Wendsler Nosie Sr., representing the Apache Stronghold, which is embroiled in a federal court fight against the development of a mining operation that they say will destroy sacred land in central Arizona.

“Your struggle is my struggle,” he told the crowd. “Your spirit is no different from my spirit.”

While the majority of the demonstrators were Asian, there were Black, white, and Latino marchers, as well as people from the Gayborhood.

Those who stayed around after the skies opened had at least one thing in common: They got soaked.

The rains came and the winds howled as Mel Harriston of UC Townhomes took a shot at the 76ers’ notorious “process” of a decade ago, in which the team placed the pursuit of high draft picks ahead of winning.

The 76ers, he said, “like to talk about process. We are tired of your damn process. Your process has failed!”

The rain didn’t deter the marchers who paraded around City Hall chanting and holding signs.

“It’s raining, it’s pouring, Parker is snoring,” one group chanted, referring to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, who has not taken a firm position on the proposed Center City arena’s construction.

The march ended with more speeches at the Chinatown Arch.

“Chinatown has always been about more than food,” said Erica Zhong, of Students Against the Sixers Arena. “It’s about stories.”