Kenney’s call for a review of the Sixers arena plan is a welcome show of leadership from City Hall | Editorial
The mayor, widely believed to have checked out as the final months of his term wind down, may have helped create a framework for a fair, coherent process to consider the proposal.
The proposed Sixers arena in Center City has become a political hot potato, as evidenced by the tap dancing the Democratic mayoral candidates did around the topic during a debate Tuesday at Temple University.
That’s why it was welcome news to see Mayor Jim Kenney announce plans Wednesday for the city to conduct an independent evaluation of the proposed $1.3 billion arena on Market Street East.
Kenney said the city’s lead economic development agency, known as the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corp., would oversee the due diligence in assessing the building design, community impact, economics, parking, traffic, and urban planning. This is exactly the type of independent process that is needed for a major development that will impact the entire city.
The proposed arena has become mired in heated rhetoric between supporters of the development and groups in neighboring Chinatown, who fear the plan will hurt their community. Meanwhile, new Comcast Spectacor boss Daniel Hilferty has floated an idea to keep the Sixers in South Philadelphia. If there is a plan, now would be a good time to put it on the table.
This board argued for a fair and coherent process to create a project that could be a win for the Sixers, Chinatown, and the city. In setting up this review, Kenney has thankfully brought us closer to that goal. Whether or not a viable solution can be reached remains to be seen.
The interim head of PIDC is a career bureaucrat who graduated from Stanford University and has a master’s in urban planning from Princeton. That’s the type of professional who should lead the process. Kenney can play a role by getting the competing interests in a room to talk through the challenges and opportunities.
It is also for the best that a decision on the arena is reached before Kenney finishes his term in January 2024. Since Kenney is unlikely to seek higher office, his lame-duck status further takes the thorny politics out of the equation.
The next mayor will have the benefit of not getting bogged down in the arena fight just as they assume office, leaving time to focus on the big issues facing the city — crime, schools, and taxes.
Indeed, the arena debate has become a distracting focal point in the mayoral race, as the candidates have been pressed to take a position for or against the project before the May 16 primary.
It spilled further into public view after the Philadelphia Board of Ethics filed a lawsuit accusing mayoral candidate Jeff Brown of violating the city’s campaign finance law by illegally coordinating with a political action committee and nonprofit supporting him.
The lawsuit said anonymous donors affiliated with a professional sports team gave the PAC $250,000 last year. Those donors have ties to the Sixers. The suit included emails arranging for Brown to meet with representatives presumably from the Sixers.
During the televised mayoral debate, Brown said he supported the Sixers arena, but claimed he did not know if the team had donated to his campaign. As late-great Phillies color announcer Richie Ashburn was known to say to boothmate Harry Kalas after a wild play, “Hard to believe, Harry.”
The debate took a wilder turn after State Rep. Amen Brown surprised Helen Gym by asking if she had met with David Adelman, one of the Sixers owners who is leading the arena development.
Gym confirmed the meeting, but then incredulously said the two didn’t “discuss anything.” Gym, who finally went on the record during the debate opposing the proposal, later said she told Adelman she was not in favor of public subsidies for arena projects. (The Sixers are not seeking tax dollars from the city.)
The diverging views of the candidates are all the more reason why the process Kenney put in place makes the most sense. The arena decision should not come down to any one person or group, including the mayor or City Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose district includes Market Street East.
Kenney has received lots of criticism, including from this board, for essentially giving notice last summer when he said he would be happy when he is no longer mayor. In the months since, City Hall’s longest short-timer has further retreated from public view as the city remains engulfed in unending crime, shootings, and murders.
With nothing to win or lose, Kenney’s efforts to guide a fair process involving the proposed Sixers arena could be his most impactful.