Sixers face questions about trust as they open series of online events on planned arena

The Sixers opened a series of five online forums Tuesday night, their plans for a sparkling downtown arena challenged by some participants whose concerns coalesced around a single question:

Why should we trust you?

On possible street closures, on claims of huge financial benefits, on promises of new jobs, people wanted to know why they should accept the team’s assurances.

David Gould, the chief diversity and impact officer for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns and operates the team, responded that Sixers representatives have engaged in talks with a range of community members, including people in Chinatown who oppose the project.

The team’s offer of a binding community benefits agreement, under which money and services flow to a neighborhood in exchange for supporting a developer’s project, should give people confidence, he said.

“There’s only so much we can do or say,” Gould said, “and that still may not be enough to garner confidence from community members. … We will continue to do everything we can to build trust.”

On Tuesday night, the Sixers organization had full control of the two-hour proceeding.

Viewers could see only the moderator, Gould, or other team executives as they came on-screen to speak. They could not see each other, nor see the questions that were submitted. Nor could they interact directly with team representatives.

Instead, Gould viewed the questions off-screen, then paraphrased them before answering or calling on another team official to do so.

“Some people are disappointed that they can’t harass us on Zoom,” Sixers co-owner and lead developer David Adelman said during the forum.

Neeta Patel, interim executive director of Asian Americans United, which opposes the plan to build an arena on the edge of Chinatown, called the event “more of an infomercial than a meeting.”

It was not a forum, she said, where people could feel heard, especially for Chinatown residents who are older, don’t speak English, and struggle with technology.

Virtual meetings during which people don’t know which questions will be entertained “are not how you build trust and not at all how we do things in Chinatown,” she said in a statement, describing the importance that people in the neighborhood place on “relationships, dialogue, and mutual respect.”

She called on Adelman and fellow Sixers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer to “come to Chinatown and meet our community in public and in person.”

Eight months ago the Sixers faced a harsh greeting there in a contentious in-person meeting.

Cascades of boos, shouts, and catcalls rained upon project representatives from more than 200 people who filled the Ocean Harbor restaurant.

The Sixers representatives left after about 90 minutes, the meeting continuing without them. Chinatown leaders view that departure as an affront, while a Sixers spokesperson has said the team representatives had been targets of bullying and harassment.

On Tuesday, Gould opened the forum by stating that false information had been put out about the Sixers’ plans.

“Our goal is to develop a project that is a win for everybody,” he said, later adding that the format permitted the team to share “accurate information without interruption.”

A second virtual event is scheduled for Thursday, with others on Aug. 22, 29, and 31. The third session will be held in Mandarin and the fourth in Cantonese, languages accessible to many in Chinatown.

The Sixers said they plan to hold in-person gatherings in the future.

The team describes the arena as a big, tax-generating victory for the city, one that would create jobs and drive spending in an area of East Market Street that’s marked by closed and boarded stores. Putting the arena atop the transit hub of Jefferson Station would encourage fans to take public transportation, the team said.

This month, the Sixers announced plans to build a 20-floor residential tower on top of the arena, raising the value of the project from $1.3 billion to $1.55 billion. The proposal to create 395 housing units was included in an earlier team study, but now the Sixers say they would designate 20% as affordable housing, rented at below-market rates.

The Sixers intend to build on the footprint from 10th to 11th and Market to Filbert Streets, claiming one-third of the Fashion District mall and the now empty Greyhound bus station. The northern end of the arena would touch Chinatown at Cuthbert Street.

Political observers say many of the blows to the team’s plans have been self-inflicted.

Those include a hushed effort to insert a provision into an unrelated City Council bill that, if approved, would have helped expedite the project by allowing the closure of a nearby street. And the team’s refusal to confirm or deny if it was behind an anonymous $250,000 donation supporting a pro-arena mayoral candidate, made by a professional local sports team that The Inquirer established was not the Eagles, Phillies, or Flyers.

In late July, the Sixers announced that the arena would generate more than $1 billion in new tax revenues for the city, state, and School District of Philadelphia.

On Tuesday Adelman said that a billion dollars would go to the city and the schools, apart from taxes paid to the state. And that projections of $800 million to the city and $200 million to the schools over 30 years were based solely on events at the new arena.

In response to online questions that asked the team to provide the analysis behind those numbers, the Sixers said the supporting calculations were contained in team studies that have been shared with the city government.

A key factor in the project’s future is whether the outgoing Council will take up legislation to approve the arena or put off action in light of the political reordering that will take place in January, when a new Council, Council president and mayor will be seated.

The Sixers say they need city approval this fall, but have not said why.

On Tuesday, however, they said they sought to act with urgency because of concerns that the struggling Fashion District mall could cease operations, hurting downtown Philadelphia and complicating the team’s efforts around the arena.

The Sixers say they would seek no city dollars for the arena project. They plan to move in 2031, when their lease expires at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia.