Members of clergy question Mark Squilla about the potential negative impact of the proposed Sixers arena

Clergy members gathered on Sunday to ask City Councilmember Mark Squilla about the proposed plans for the Sixers arena, which could be built in the 1st District, which he represents.

A few minutes before 2 p.m., a handful of people walked off of Sixth Street and into Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church, where the meeting was hosted in collaboration with the church and POWER Interfaith, a network of 200 congregations throughout Philadelphia and the surrounding area. Seats filled up quickly and many sat on the floor.

“We’ve looked for a single example of an arena that has turned around a city or revitalized an economy,” said the Rev. Mark Tyler, civic engagement strategist at POWER Interfaith and pastor of Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. “We still cannot find one because this model consistently promises and fails to deliver.”

Squilla has represented Chinatown for 12 years, he said on Sunday, and has engaged with stakeholders in the community, listening to their questions and concerns about the arena proposal. He holds the power to stop the arena under “councilmanic prerogative,” which gives him the final say on land use in his district.

“This arena is going to affect us all,” said the Rev. Wayne Lee, of the Chinese Christian Church and Center located at 10th and Spring Streets in Chinatown.

“Stadiums in the United States are said to have a life span of about 30 years,” he said. “There’s absolutely nothing stopping the Sixers from leaving our neighborhood when it’s no longer convenient for them.”

He referred to the Washington Wizards basketball team and the Washington Capitals hockey team, which could soon move out of their arena in downtown D.C. The owner of the teams reached a nonbinding agreement this month to move the Wizards and the Capitals to an arena in Northern Virginia as soon as 2028, according to the Washington Post. The arena that would be abandoned by the teams was built decades ago and “destroyed” Chinatown, said Lee.

The arena has faced growing resistance from several groups. This summer, thousands opposing the arena’s construction marched in the city, and a petition opposing the arena with over 15,000 signatures was also delivered to City Hall.

The Rev. Robin Hynicka of Center City’s Arch Street United Methodist Church called the proposed Sixers arena “unnecessary.”

“There are some who say that the deal is done. We say, disrupt the deal,” he said, to a crowd that cheered in response.

Questions attendees asked Squilla ranged from why the impact study for the arena is being financed by the Sixers to how he might sway other Council members to oppose the arena. (Last summer, city officials said the Sixers would pay $655,000 — funding two parts of the study that will evaluate the potential impact of the arena.)

Katy A.D., a tattoo artist representing Philadelphia Eddie’s Chinatown Tattoo, which was established in 1952, said she believes small businesses would be negatively affected by the proposed arena. Years of construction, she said, would stymie access to businesses, contribute to noise and pollution, and increase traffic.

Squilla reiterated that although the project needs buy-in from the community to go forward, the project would not need the approval of a majority to be green-lit. He said in the future, a list of all stakeholders will be made publicly available.

“This project has been a real, real tough road for me— like everybody else, we were getting lobbied from both sides on this issue,” said Squilla.