Letters to the Editor | Jan. 15, 2025

A big thank you to Brian Roberts and Daniel J. Hilferty of Comcast for doing the job Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and most of City Council were unwilling and unable to do: broker a plan for a new 76ers arena that will be good for the team, good for Comcast, good for the building trades, good for Center City, good for South Philly, and good for Chinatown. We are so lucky — this time.

Steven B. Erisoty, Philadelphia

I, along with many others who live in or frequent Center City, am not only relieved that a massive sports arena will not dominate Market Street East but also rejoice that the residents of Chinatown will retain their active and vibrant community. However, we need to recognize that this change in venue had nothing to do with our civic leaders responding to their constituents’ opposition. This win for the city was the result of a deal brokered by two large, wealthy, and influential businesses: Comcast and the Sixers organization. Make no mistake, I am very happy their real estate dispute was resolved (and resolved in a way that will still provide jobs for the construction industry), but I am discouraged that our mayor and City Council members let us down by approving the downtown project in the first place.

Toni Tomei Culleton, Philadelphia

I find the notion that anyone claiming they won with the abrupt change in the Sixers’ plans for the Center City arena preposterous. The only winner was money. Money drove the approval for the arena in Chinatown and then money drove the Sixers to remain at the sports complex in South Philly. The folks in Chinatown and the Working Families Party members who opposed the plan can and certainly should celebrate. However, to suggest they are the victors here is incredibly naive.

Nick D’Orazio, Conshohocken, nickdorazio01@gmail.com

We heard a lot at Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s news conference Monday morning, but there is one thing we did not hear: an apology. There are numerous issues Parker could have prioritized in her first year, but she chose the Sixers arena. She spent the better half of 2024 campaigning across the city to build public support and put pressure on City Council to force through legislation on the team’s preferred timeline. Council President Kenyatta Johnson is perhaps most culpable in this humiliation, as he orchestrated the marathon Council sessions required to approve the arena by the end of the year. Parker and Johnson wasted public time and resources, embarrassed the city, and sowed division between communities. All on behalf of the Sixers’ billionaire owners who played them like a fiddle. The people of Philadelphia deserve an apology, and Parker and Johnson deserve accountability and criticism for their failure to lead our city in the right direction.

Pele IrgangLaden, Philadelphia

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and City Council were head-faked by the 76ers, and no amount of political spin by the mayor can change that reality. There was only one right answer in the yearslong discussion of building a new arena in Center City. As a location, the South Philadelphia sports complex made all the sense in the world, while Market East made absolutely no sense. Chinatown knew it, Gov. Josh Shapiro knew it, 70% of the citizenry knew it, and multiple studies and analyses confirmed this was a bad deal.

Yet, what was obvious to all was somehow lost on Philadelphia’s leadership. The mayor and 12 members of City Council risked it all to pass the required legislation to support the arena over the needs of the community. Meanwhile, with the distraction of the proposed arena in place, the 76ers applied the leverage they gained over the past two years to bring Comcast Spectacor to the bargaining table. It’s a bizarre ending that should weigh heavily on the mayor and Council, who are now collateral damage of a high-stakes game of chicken. The next election cycle should be interesting.

Kenneth R. Garrett, Ambler, kgarrett9013@gmail.com

The Inquirer editorial calling U.S. Sen. John Fetterman a sellout is much more a commentary on the Editorial Board’s pervasive political bias than it is on Fetterman. The senator is trying — at great risk to his ability to get reelected — to bridge the corrosive division between parties and people that infects this country. Those efforts should be encouraged, if not applauded. Instead, the Editorial Board opted to shame one of the few public servants who seemingly can entertain conflicting thoughts in his head to try to find common ground. The editorial once again revealed to moderates like me that the real sellout has been the Editorial Board — for decades. By reacting reflexively to Fetterman’s actions merely because he has not adhered to the board’s orthodox view of American politics, it continues to foment the divisiveness it claims to detest.

Rich Gorelick, Yardley

The Inquirer Editorial Board erroneously casts U.S. Sen. John Fetterman as a person whose support of Donald Trump is dictated by political expediency. Fetterman, the man who thinks the hoodie is formal attire, is a contrarian, not a pragmatist. He shares this mindset with the progressives who supported him. This contrarian approach served him well in overcoming a major stroke and holding his depression in check, but bucking the common wisdom does not always bring him a good outcome. What is missing in the execution of his legislative duties is the analytical judgment that would moderate his contrarian tendencies. His indiscriminate support for all Israeli military actions and for confirmation of U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, an election denier, as our United Nations representative is nothing more than knee-jerk responses to official Democratic positions. His comparison of the acquisition of Greenland to the Louisiana Purchase is devoid of any feasibility study that would consider our fiscal ability to make such a purchase, and the damage such an action would do to our relations with our NATO allies. His lack of judgment is allowing his contrarian tendencies to run amok.

Jo-Ann Maguire, Norristown

. . .

In believing that cozying up to Donald Trump will boost his reelection chances, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman is making a devil’s bargain. Not only is he betraying those of us who supported him, he’s courting a bloc of voters who will always be suspicious of the D after his name and who, at the first flicker of deviance from the MAGA party line, will quickly throw him over in favor of any opponent who outflanks him on the right. Columnist Charlie Pierce has a great name for people like Fetterman: Vichy Democrats. So named after the French who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. History has not been kind to them, nor, once Trump departs the scene and the air goes out of the MAGA balloon, will it be kind to Fetterman and the other opportunists now slouching to Mar-a-Lago to bend the knee.

Isaac Segal, Cherry Hill

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 200 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.