Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker detailed her plan Wednesday night for a new sports arena bordering Philadelphia Chinatown.
The arena has met stiff opposition from the Chinatown community, but the mayor vowed to not forget it.
“This is about access to economic opportunity for all in Philadelphia no matter your race, your class, your socioeconomic status and/or your ZIP code. We made sure that we had you in mind as we worked to hammer out this agreement. It is definitely one I am proud of,” WHYY reported Parker said to those at the meeting.
The agreement if passed by the city council after it is presented on October 24 would include $50 million in a community benefits agreement or CBA, including a fund to loan $3 million to support and expand Chinatown businesses, according to CBS Philadelphia. She’s convinced the CBS will “jumpstart” an effort to boost Chinatown.
“It is outlandish that the mayor is unilaterally trying to impose a CBA on a project that lacks even the most basic studies on housing and rent costs, impacts on small businesses, livability, and transit access – issues that will impact the city for years to come, between multiple years of construction and long-term damage to traffic flow and access to emergency healthcare. We are united in opposition to the arena and the rushed, haphazard process surrounding it,” said Vivian Chang, Executive Director of Asian Americans United.
The 245 groups behind the Save Chinatown Coalition vowed to fight the arena to the end. It supported the grassroots group No Arena Gayborhood, an LGBTQ centered neighborhood just blocks from the arena at a rally Thursday morning.
“How is it logical to make the busiest part of the city busier?” asked Deja Vu, local drag queen. “Despite healthcare professionals stressing how longer wait times affect ambulances and saving lives; despite Chinatown residents and coalitions pleading for the survival of their community; despite how inefficient public transportation is for current citizens; despite over half of the city’s people perplexed at how any of this is logical; despite what we’ve seen with the removal of Black-owned Gayborhood businesses when the Convention Center was built, and despite what has already happened in DC?”
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