A major Chinatown group has drafted a more than $163 million list of demands as Council considers the 76ers arena proposal
The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation wants a "protective legislative package" that includes $163 million in funds to protect businesses and affordability.
Chinatown leaders have long resisted negotiating over the Sixers’ plan for a downtown arena to avoid the suggestion that they might endorse the project under certain conditions.
But at the request of City Council members concerned about the neighborhood’s future, a major Chinatown group has drafted a more than $163 million list of demands, the clearest indication yet of what at least some community leaders believe is needed to protect the Asian American enclave.
The list, which was obtained by The Inquirer and is titled “Demands for a Protective Legislative Package,” came from the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., which aids neighborhood businesses and develops affordable housing. The document is being circulated among lawmakers this week as they consider legislation needed to approve the arena.
» READ MORE: Sixers arena opponents dominate public comment session as City Council weighs proposal
John Chin, who leads the group, confirmed the document’s veracity but said he still opposes the project, which he described as “detrimental” to neighborhood businesses and residents. The purpose of the list, he said, is to give lawmakers allied with the neighborhood specific goals as they seek to negotiate improvements to a deal that most City Hall observers expect will be approved anyway. He declined to say which lawmakers he was working with.
“They want to protect Chinatown, but they didn’t know how or what the specific protections are,” Chin said of the Council members who asked for the list.
The team has offered to pay $50 million into a community benefits agreement. Usually, community groups in affected neighborhoods negotiate CBAs with developers. But with Chinatown leaders not involved in talks, Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration negotiated the agreement, and in the resulting deal only a fraction of the funding would go directly to Chinatown businesses or groups.
Representatives for the 76ers said Tuesday that they are negotiating with Council President Kenyatta Johnson over potentially contributing more than $50 million. The lawmakers working with Chin’s group could use his list to add some of the document’s recommendations.
The detailed six-page document includes $63 million for a Chinatown Legacy Business grant program, with an estimated 105 businesses receiving an average of $30,000 each for 20 years. It also calls for a $100 million Commercial Land Trust, to be paid for by the team and the city, “to acquire commercial properties and preserve long-term affordability in perpetuity.”
Other proposals on the list, many of which did not include price tags, include:
Representation from Chinatown and Washington Square West community groups on the board of a proposed special services district for the arena.
A prohibition on street parking over two hours during events.
A new Chinatown Parking Corp. to oversee 500 parking spots on city-owned parcels for community members and customers of neighborhood businesses.
Transferring all city-owned parcels in Chinatown to PCDC or a new Chinatown Community Land Trust for affordable housing development.
500 new affordable housing units.
Transfer of the former Police Department administration building, known as the Roundhouse, to the Chinatown community for a “social housing project.”
Major zoning changes, including prohibitions on nuisance businesses, amusements and arcades, pool halls, courthouses, and central heating plants.
The demands are being embraced by progressive lawmakers that have been critical of the arena project. Councilmembers Rue Landau and Jamie Gauthier said in a joint statement Tuesday that they endorsed the “anti-displacement proposal” from PCDC.
“We support this plan to get a better deal for Chinatown — one that was developed by and for the community,” said the pair of lawmakers, who are seen by many as potential no votes on the project but have stopped short of saying they will oppose it. “We hope the City will adopt this proposal and craft a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that will serve the community’s needs and mitigate the impacts of an arena development.”
Meanwhile, the only three Council members who have come out against the proposal — Kendra Brooks, Nicolas O’Rourke, and Jeffery “Jay” Young Jr. — are pushing for a $300 million CBA that would include significant resources for Chinatown, including a $100 million neighborhood stabilization fund, as well as other citywide initiatives, such as $60 million for SEPTA. The plan also retains some of Parker’s priorities that the mayor added to the existing CBA proposal, such as $7.5 million for her year-round schooling initiative.
“Our offices have worked closest with the anti-arena coalition through this process,” Brooks and O’Rourke said in a joint statement of their own. “We now know that if nothing changes it’s likely that Council will approve this arena with a CBA deal that would be bad for Chinatown and Philly. We also know that Chinatown stakeholders didn’t have a meaningful opportunity to contribute to the CBA — and we must mend that gap.”
Councilmember Mark Squilla, who authored the arena legislation but is pushing for the 76ers to put more into the CBA, said Thursday that $300 million likely isn’t realistic. But the lawmakers noted that the $50 million CBA the team is offering is less than 76ers star Joel Embiid’s current yearly salary of more than $51 million.
“We have love for the MVP, but that’s not how we show the city love,” Brooks and O’Rourke said.
Staff writer Jeff Gammage contributed to this article.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story quoted a written statement that was attributed to Councilmembers Brooks, O’Rourke, and Young. Young’s office later said he did not approve of the statement, and The Inquirer has removed his name from it.