Yes, Chinatown and a new Sixers arena can each peacefully coexist

Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but Philadelphians have strong feelings. A lot of them, it turns out, are about the planned Sixers’ arena downtown.

After my last op-ed, in which I advocated for giving the proposal a fair shake, one resident called to say he’d never ever go because he thinks Center City is dangerous. Others expressed similar notions, underlining the curious fact that the Sports Complex is beloved among area residents who support Philadelphia teams, yet disdain Philadelphia the city.

To be honest, those kinds of comments are why I initially became interested in the Sixers’ proposal. That the team is willing to ignore that kind of sentiment, even during some of the city’s toughest years in decades, is encouraging.

Still, while most of the negative comments followed this pattern, others came from a more understandable perspective: the concern that an arena will wipe out Philadelphia’s Chinatown. The neighborhood’s location between I-676 and Market Street means that it will shoulder a disproportionate amount of the load in terms of traffic and parking sparked by the arena.

Some have cited the demise of Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown, which was partially demolished to accommodate the Wizards’ Capital One Arena, as a cautionary tale. Regardless of where you stand on the Sixers’ proposal, I believe no one wants that to happen here.

There are certainly ways that an arena would affect Chinatown. There are also important differences between D.C. and Philly. For one, no one has proposed knocking down any of Philadelphia’s Chinatown to accommodate this arena. The neighborhoods also have very different histories. Washington’s Chinatown began losing residents after the 1968 riots following Martin Luther King’s assassination, and the area seems to have lacked organized efforts to ensure its survival.

That is not the case with Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

This is a vibrant and passionate community that cares about maintaining its part of the city’s cultural legacy and which has already overcome more significant challenges than the arena, such as the construction of the city’s only crosstown highway and the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It has many champions.

The city’s congressional delegation has pushed hard for funds to study capping I-676, a move that would help reconnect the community’s north and south sides. And many Philadelphians who back the arena only do so if it can be built without erasing Chinatown. You can count me as one of them.

To find out whether an arena and Chinatown can coexist, I talked to the experts at the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. Since the late 1960s, PCDC has served as the community’s planning organization and performed essential services. While researchers have been concerned about the decline of Chinatowns since the 1940s, the work of PCDC and other community organizations has meant that Philadelphia’s has more than endured, it has thrived.

Still, John W. Chin, PCDC’s executive director, who had yet to issue a statement against the arena when we talked earlier this year (he has since come down against the proposal), has concerns about the future of the neighborhood, many of which would still be a problem even if the Sixers looked elsewhere.

A particular worry is public safety, which has led to fewer visitors coming to the neighborhood after dark. Many Asian Americans feel targeted, especially after a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes fueled by xenophobic rhetoric around the COVID-19 pandemic. There is also a sense that the community is not equally protected by the law.

When former City Councilmember David Oh was stabbed outside of his Southwest Philadelphia home, the jury found the man not guilty. After the trial, the jury forewoman was overheard remarking positively on the accused assailant’s appearance. There is an infuriating history of violent racist attacks against Asian Americans, some egged on by officials who should have intervened. In Mayfair, neighborhood organizations sought to keep Asian-owned businesses from moving in by enacting a zoning overlay restricting nail salons and other businesses often owned and operated by Asian entrepreneurs.

Chinatown also faces a housing problem. Being able to grow is essential for the neighborhood’s vitality, Chin told me, and Chinatown — a mixed-income community where millionaires mingle with new immigrants — needs more affordable and market-rate housing. While the neighborhood has slowly expanded north of I-676, there’s increasing competition for space from Temple students in that area, which has also become home to a plethora of trendy microbreweries. Meanwhile, Broad Street and the Convention Center present a major barrier to western expansion.

That lack of available housing has given rise to a new kind of challenge: the rise of authentic Asian shopping and residential districts outside of the neighborhood. In both the 2010 and 2020 Census, Philadelphia’s Asian American population increased by over 30%. Much of that increase was in South Philadelphia and along Northeast Philadelphia’s Cottman Avenue corridor.

Those neighborhoods are now destinations for both new immigrants and longtime patrons of Chinatown’s businesses. That means that many, especially those who live further away, no longer need to visit downtown to do grocery shopping, attend Chinese language worship, and other activities that have traditionally brought people to the neighborhood.

Clearly, the challenges to Chinatown are complex, and while increased traffic and parking woes are likely if an arena is built, the Sixers are particularly well-positioned to help Chinatown ease public safety and housing concerns.

In a conversation with the Sixers’ chief diversity and impact officer, David Gould, who has been leading outreach on the arena, he made clear that the team is open to investing in whatever safety measures the neighborhood is interested in. That includes hiring safety ambassadors, paying for additional cleaning and lighting, establishing a police mini-station like what exists on South Street, and adding call boxes and other helpful measures. Additional foot traffic would also provide more eyes on the street.

Partnering with the Sixers could also help unlock funds for housing projects in the community, something that has been a struggle in the past. With the African American Museum in Philadelphia moving from Arch Street to a more prominent position on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and the police departing from the Roundhouse, Chinatown has an opportunity to expand to its east for the first time in decades. Assistance from the Sixers could be crucial in that effort.

So far, the Sixers have promised to work with area garage owners to validate parking for eventgoers. If fans and concertgoers can reserve their spots ahead of time, they’ll drive directly to their garage, preventing circling. Another step might be to create a permit system that would prevent Sixers fans from utilizing nearby street parking. This is already done as a part of the Sports Complex Special Services District. This could be especially effective if the spots remain open to those making deliveries or patronizing neighborhood restaurants and shops.

Gould also promised that the arena would include opportunities for local merchants to increase their business, with promotions designed to get fans to patronize participating neighborhood restaurants (at the Sixers’ cost) and a portion of the arena’s concessions dedicated to local businesses. There’s also pledged support for historic overlays and other policy steps necessary to prevent chains, whether they are Chipotle or Mr. Wok, from eroding the neighborhood’s authenticity.

The team should also consider following the example of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, which is offering free rides on public transportation to and from its events. While the Sixers have said that they expect around 50% of fans to either walk to the arena or take transit, many Philadelphians have expressed skepticism about that figure.Despite the excellent access, parking can sometimes be a more economical option than riding Regional Rail for families. Offering free or subsidized rides would change that calculation.

Gould stressed that the team is still listening and learning and that the Sixers intend to let Chinatown tell them what it needs, rather than presenting a plan and then adjusting to feedback. He also told me something I didn’t know, which is that the team had already begun the process of community outreach before announcing their proposal, a detail Chin and other community members confirmed. Gould said the team had hoped to meet with more local stakeholders before going public, but that increasingly loud chatter had gotten ahead of the process and forced their hand.

That chatter may have forestalled the team’s hopes of negotiating with members of the community, which may have allowed opposition to the project to flourish.

Still, as then-Council Majority Leader Cherelle Parker said when the proposal was unveiled last year, this city cannot afford the luxury of reflexive opposition. As neighbors of the Parkway can tell you, sometimes the joy of living in such a dynamic part of the region comes with dealing with unwanted events that don’t cater to your own interests.

Black clergy and the African-American Chamber of Commerce also recognize that the potential of an arena and its central, transit-accessible location could provide a unique opportunity to add diversity to the city’s skilled trades, a generational challenge.

In a city that desperately needs opportunity, we should find a way to compromise over this one.