Update: 9 p.m.
Philadelphia City Council won't be voting on the proposed Center City 76ers arena on Wednesday, after all. City Council President Kenyatta Johnson has recessed Council until 8:30 a.m. Thursday.
Wednesday was a long and frustrating day in City Council. A vote on the proposed Center City 76ers arena was scheduled for 9 a.m. Council convened and immediately recessed to 4 p.m. Hundreds of people returned at that time, filling Council chambers and chanting slogans and making noise for more than an hour until Johnson finally showed up and, once again, recessed the hearing without a vote. Council is now scheduled to reconvene its committee of the whole on Thursday at 8:30 a.m.
This is important, because they want to get this done by the end of the year. But in order to do that, it has to be voted out of committee before tomorrow's regular session at 10 a.m. Otherwise, by the rules of Council, it can't be voted on before they recess for the holidays. Johnson says he really does want to get it done, and he is sincere about the vote on Thursday morning.
The sticking point is the size of the community benefits agreement. Mayor Cherelle Parker had negotiated a $50 million community benefits agreement, which is large for any development in the city, but this is an unusually large development. Council was not satisfied. They reportedly got the Sixers up to $60 million and then decided that wasn't enough either. And now Johnson has said Council wants $100 million, and the Sixers reportedly are unwilling to budge. So that's what they'll be working on overnight.
Original article follows
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A City Council committee hearing on the $1.5 billion Sixers arena proposal is set to get underway on Wednesday. Members will vote on a series of bills, and, if approved, a final vote to greenlight the project could happen as early as next week.
The Committee of a Whole hearing was put on hold twice last week. City Council President Kenyatta Johnson moved it to Wednesday, Dec. 11 because he said members were having productive talks with Sixers officials about concerns that were brought up in previous hearings and public comment periods.
But after City Council announced the bills up for a vote on Wednesday, it immediately recessed until the afternoon.
A crucial issue has been the amount of money the Sixers would contribute to the Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), which would help the neighborhoods and businesses most affected by the arena, named 76 Place.
The Sixers’ plan, which is still posted on the arena website, was to dish out $50 million for the CBA. Council sources said they would like to see an additional $10 million from the team and for some of the terms of the agreement to change.
That’s still short of the $100 million target that undecided council members have set to secure their votes in favor of the arena.
Some community groups and some council members are even asking for the Sixers to pay upward of $300 million.
Arena supporters, including Mayor Cherelle Parker and the building trades, said the project would lead to thousands of new jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue for the city and school district. Opponents of the project are concerned about Chinatown’s future and gridlock on game nights that would affect access to Jefferson Hospital.
If the arena bills are voted out of committee, a final vote could happen on Thursday, Dec. 19.
Nine votes are needed for passage, and nine members have shown support in the past, but some say last-minute brinkmanship has put some of those votes in doubt.
The Sixers have maintained that City Council approval is needed by the end of the year in order for the arena to open as scheduled in 2031 — when the team’s lease is up at the Wells Fargo Center.