PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Chinatown organizations have formed an alliance to fight the 76ers’ plans to build an arena in Center City.
The newly formed Chinatown Coalition to Oppose the Arena, comprising more than three dozen organizations and counting, is standing firm alongside the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund to fight the plan, saying it would destroy business and quality of life in the area.
“This is predatory development. This is billionaires trying to do a land grab. They’ve done it not only in Chinatown, they’ve done it all over the city,” community activist Debbie Wei said at Monday morning’s announcement at Tom’s Dim Sum restaurant.
The alliance is demanding an environmental impact statement.
“What it would cost them to do the environmental study … is a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the money that they have,” Wei said.
Related
Selena Yip, executive director of the Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, has deep family connections in Chinatown. She said the finished arena will only reduce access to already limited resources for the elderly community.
“The site where the billionaires want to put the arena is on the exact path my grandmother and other elders take to get to Chinatown,” she noted. “It is also on the exact path which many elders within Chinatown take to get to Jefferson Hospital for the medical care that they need.”
Steven Zhu, president of the Greater Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association, made an impassioned plea to preserve the Chinatown he knows and loves.
“Many people came to Philadelphia and Chinatown to build a life,” he said through an interpreter. “We are hard-working people. We are entrepreneurs. We are the kind of community that have built the cities of America.”
The proposed arena would be built on Market Street between 10th and 11th streets. So far, business owners in Chinatown overwhelmingly oppose the plan, according to a survey conducted by the alliance.
Community members voiced concern in their first public meeting with developers of 76 Place, as it is being called, back in December.
Last month, the Sixers organization said developers are still early in the planning phase, and they are working to schedule more meetings with the community to collect feedback and concerns.
Related
