COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, December 3, 2024 10:35 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILMAN JIM HARRITY COUNCILMAN CURTIS J. JONES, JR. COUNCILWOMAN RUE LANDAU COUNCILWOMAN QUETCY M. LOZADA COUNCILMAN NICOLAS O'ROURKE COUNCILMAN ANTHONY PHILLIPS COUNCILMAN MARK SQUILLA COUNCILMAN ISAIAH THOMAS COUNCILMAN JEFFREY YOUNG, JR. BILLS: 240966, 240967, 240968, 240969, 240970, 240971, 240972, 240973 - - -
This is the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole regarding Bill Nos. 240966, 240967, 240968, 240969, 240970, 240971, 240972 and 240973. I want to thank everyone for being here today. Before calling the roll, I would like to announce that we have translation services available for anyone present at today's hearing. If needed, please go to the table to my left. Services are being offered in Mandarin and Cantonese. Mr. Christmas, would you please call the roll.
Council Lady Lozada. Okay. That's you. Yes, ma'am. Councilman Driscoll.
Present. A quorum of this Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Mr. Christmas, will you please read the bills.
Hold on one second. Chair recognizes the presence of Councilman Mark Squilla.
Thank you, Councilman Squilla and Mr. President. P. (the "76ers"), or another entity affiliated with the 76ers, under which ArenaCo or other 76ers related entity would sublease the Arena Site and cause an arena to be constructed on it, including a multi-purpose sports and entertainment facility and ancillary, accessory, and related amenities, improvements, and infrastructure (the "Arena") and agree to other related conditions; (5) upon the expiration or termination of the Sublease or other circumstances set forth in the Sublease, convey fee simple title to the Arena Site to PAID for disposition to ArenaCo; (6) grant, accept, amend, relocate and extinguish easements, agreements, conditions, covenants and restrictions encumbering or benefiting the Arena Site and any City owned property adjacent to the Arena Site for the benefit of the Arena Site to facilitate construction and operation of the Arena; (7) enter into a direct operating covenants agreement among the 76ers, PAID and the City, under which the 76ers agree to play substantially all of their regular season and playoff home games in the Arena; and (8) take all actions necessary and appropriate to accomplish the intent and purpose of this Ordinance; all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240967, authorizing and approving the execution and delivery of a Service Agreement between the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development relating to the provision by the Philadelphia Authority for Industrial Development of certain project-related services to promote, among other things, the growth and expansion of business, commerce and tourism within the City of Philadelphia in connection with the development of a multi-purpose sports and entertainment facility, including an arena to accommodate National Basketball Association games, and family entertainment, community, retail and other uses; authorizing and approving the obligation of the City of Philadelphia to pay in full when due the Service Fee and other amounts payable under the Service Agreement and covenanting to make necessary appropriations for such purposes; and authorizing City officials to take necessary or appropriate actions to accomplish the intent and purpose of the ordinance, all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240968, authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 307 by striking from the City Plan and vacating Filbert Street from 10th Street to 11th Street, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240969, authorizing the revision of lines and grades on a portion of City Plan No. 307 by striking from the City Plan and vacating certain aerial portions of 10th Street between Market Street and Filbert Street, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240970, authorizing CBL Arena, LLC. and its successor(s) in interest to construct, own, and maintain various right of way encroachments in the vicinity of 1001-19 Market Street, 1025 Market Street and 1001-25 Filbert Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240971, amending Title of the Philadelphia Code, 7 entitled Zoning and Planning, by 8 amending certain definitions 9 relating to signs; creating an 10 "Arena Area" within the "/CTR, 11 Center City Overlay District" 12 overlay; and making related changes, 13 including a master plan requirement 14 and changes to accessory sign controls; all in connection with zoning rules for a proposed arena in Center City; and approving a master plan for the Arena Area; all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No. 240972, amending Title 14 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled "Zoning and Planning," by revising certain provisions of section 14-906, entitled "Market Street East Sign Regulations," all under certain terms and conditions. Bill No.
240973, approving the amendment of a neighborhood improvement district in the area generally bounded by, and including, 11th Street to the West, Filbert Street to the North, 8th Street to the East and Market Street to the South, with the exception of certain condominium units at 801 Market Street Condominium not included in the District, known as the Gallery Neighborhood Improvement District, to remove certain portions of such property generally bounded by Filbert Street on the north, 10th Street on the east, 11th Street on the west, and Market Street on the south from such District in accordance with the provisions of the Community and Economic Improvement Act, and under certain terms and conditions.
Thank you, Mr. Christmas. I want to thank everyone who's here today as we continue to evaluate the Arena proposal. Just for the record, this is an official hearing so this is not a public comment session for individuals who have come down here today, but you can observe. We just ask that you be respectful of the legislative process. To my left, we are working with the Office of Civil Affairs, our Sheriff's Department and the Philadelphia Police Department. We want to take a moment also to just acknowledge everyone for their due diligence and paying attention to this legislative process as we continue to move forward. At this time I'm going to ask for Mr. Christmas to please call the first panel.
Alex Kafenbaum, Senior Vice-president and Head of Development, Harris Blitzer Sports Entertainment; David Gould, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
We also have on standby to answer questions from the Administration, Michael Carroll, Deputy Managing Director for Transportation and Infrastructure; Sam Rhoads, Executive Vice- president, Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. State your name for the record. Do you have a prepared statement or we're just going to go right into it, calling on members who asked for follow-up questions?
David Gould, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Philadelphia 76ers. Council President, we do not have a prepared statement so we're ready to answer questions.
With that being said, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones.
Thank you so much, Mr. President. And good morning to everyone.
I have three questions that I've asked consistently throughout these hearings. Number one, what is the security plan for people visiting your arena that may travel along SEPTA and to what degree are you collaborating to make sure that is a safe, enjoyable experience? That's number one. I'm going to get them all in before the time is out. The second one is what is the Economic Development Plan? And is it -- so if you look at the vacancy rate that we've heard in testimony, that there should be a collaboration, although it is not your responsibility but as a good neighbor you should be concerned about the economic activities from Macy's to your footprint. One of the things that I think might be considered is that we can convert those vacant spaces into like a Philly Row, where indigenous businesses get an opportunity, sometimes a second opportunity to experience that, and a caveat that those businesses do not compete directly with Chinatown businesses, and furthermore give Chinatown businesses that might be displaced a first opportunity to move into those spaces. We found out through testimony that only 30 percent of the operating businesses actually own the buildings. So if there is a chance for a displacement, it'll come based on people who aren't operating businesses but yet own a business interest in the buildings. So finally, what I'd like to hear is an overall security plan that makes that visit to a Sixers game one that is safe for indigenous residents and people that are visiting us. So those are my three questions. If you need PIDC to join you, if you need Mike Carroll to join you, feel free.
Testing. Okay. It's good? Okay. Thank you, Councilmember, for the question. To start on SEPTA security as well as our overall security plan, I'd like to call up Maureen Rush, our security consultant to address that.
Councilman Jones, great question. Maureen Rush. I'm the Security Advisor for the 76ers Arena project. And we have looked at security from the onset of the project. We have met and continue to meet with the -- the Center City District has a very holistic bimonthly group that meets, and it includes SEPTA police, it includes Philadelphia police, it includes security directors from the major operations and developments. It includes PATCO. It even includes the federal law enforcement agencies. Jefferson Hospital has their own police department as you're probably aware, working very closely with Keith Prewitt, who is the Chief of Enterprise Security for the entire Jefferson System. As you might know that they are also looking to and working on a project, just spoke to Keith the other day, at 1101 Market Street, which will be a new headquarters for them. Their CEO wants them to be very visible at a street level. So that is, you know, the plans are developed, architectural plans. The Sixers want to be helpful in that we would like to work with them on a mini station that would be -- in fact, Keith and I are going to meet with some of the stakeholders in the next couple of weeks to make sure that everybody has kind of a seat at the table. And the purpose of that would be to keep that collaboration going. So SEPTA police is extremely important working with the chief to make sure that there is a -- we're developing safe corridors. So the safe corridor zones would be well-lit, would have security technology, would have safety ambassadors and would have police in the area. And every one of the safe corridors has a mission and, that is, to get people from their garages to the arena, from the arena to various restaurants in the area, you know, in our goal which is to make the area vibrant, to help restaurants keep the pace of keeping people coming in before and after the game. All of that is in partnership in planning and we are working as the team, with the Philadelphia police obviously as well, especially the Traffic Division, who have added their thoughts on pre- and post-game traffic issues. So that's pretty much the exterior of the Arena project.
One of the things that I'd like you to consider is from Phillips' District to President Johnson's District you have on both ends of that subway parking. Fern Rock has a parking facility; am I right, Member Phillips?
That gets you down to the stadium. Park and you go. From going east or west to east, if you look at Malvern Station on 63rd Street there is a big mall that is not operating during your basketball hours that you can develop a relationship with. And if we are to achieve that 40 percent ridership, the best way is to have distance parking, get some security there so that cars aren't broken into and get those ambassadors to jump on the sub with everybody and make that a pleasant entertainment and safe experience. So I'd like you to consider west to east security as well. And I don't know, Mr. President, I asked all my questions upfront. Do you want me to wait or you want them to answer them?
And so, I think that the other question that we have not addressed yet is around the redevelopment of Market East, Councilman. So we wholeheartedly agree that, one, Market East needs to be revitalized for the betterment of our city in terms of increasing the tax base, providing jobs and overall economic development, also providing a good quality experience for those who are visiting, tourists and otherwise. That's one of the reasons why we believe this project is going to be beneficial for the city overall. And we also know that for far too long that has been a corridor that has underachieved from an economic development standpoint. And as a city, we really need to figure out what viable solution to that is, knowing that there have been many attempts to address that, obviously unsuccessfully given the current state of things. What I can say is Alex will go through the things that we can control and how we see this project contributing to that overall more prosperous vision. I do want to address your piece about local businesses. So one thing that we have done in anticipation of the dynamic and sort of shared goals along this front is partner with the African American Chamber of Commerce to commission a research report and effort that I believe Councilmembers have received the recommendations. And that effort over the course of the past nine or so months illuminated a number of things that we need to be mindful of when we're trying to provide opportunities to local diverse businesses to prosper and be successful in an environment such as an arena or downtown area. So we will be taking all those recommendations and applying them to make sure that those businesses have opportunities at the sites that we control. And Alex can talk a little bit more about what exactly that looks like and what sites we have control over and what our plans are for them.
It's not working? It's a great question and one that is important to us. The experience that you're describing is core to the fan experience that we want to achieve in order to be successful here. And so, there's a few things that come to mind. One is starting with the design of the arena and designing that in a way that can act as an anchor to the surrounding neighborhoods from an activations perspective and designing that arena with retail that's streetfacing and open on non-event days or during non-event times. But then also, as you said, expanding that out. It's not just about the arena. It's about the corridor and the surrounding blocks. And so we, as we've previously stated, now have under control the properties on the south side of Market Street on the adjacent block between 10th and 11th as well as between 10th and 9th, so developing those with ground floor retail that can be activated and tenanted in the way that you described is exactly what our plans are. We're also in touch with the local landlords that have other properties on the block, like you said, from Macy's not just to our property, but I think it continues all the way down (inaudible) and coordinating that effort. And one arena that we saw do a really good job of bringing local businesses from other parts of the city down to where the arena is, whether it's a second location or a rotating kiosk was TD Garden up in Boston. So another arena built on top of a train station in the middle of the downtown area. They had a very good story of the outreach they did for the different vendors both in the arena and in the strong development that they controlled to bring in a piece of the neighborhood from around the city. So a vendor from the northeast or a vendor from the south or a vendor that was out on the west side of the city, bringing them in and giving them a second location. And the response has been very positive from the city as well as the fans because people are coming from all of those locations and they get either to try something from another the city that they haven't had the exposure to or they get to see something that's familiar to them that they know they like.
Yes, it does. I just want to remind us, Madam Chair, that Elon Musk described us as Gotham. What I'm asking you guys to do is to put together a Batman plan so that we don't have that kind of crime, that we don't have that perception of crime in our city and for you to be good neighbors to help us develop it. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Okay. Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks -- oh, okay. Sorry. Chair recognizes Councilwoman Gauthier.
I wanted to start by asking for updates on a few things. So first, can you tell us the status of your conversations with SEPTA. Have you nailed down a figure for the construction costs over Jefferson Station? Have you reconsidered sort of the position of not covering SEPTA's operating subsidies that would be needed to increase service at Jefferson Station? Have you moved at all on your position of not providing more than 50 million for the CBA? And then lastly, what is the status of an updated traffic plan that more carefully defines how traffic will be managed around this area with the addition of a near 19,000 seat arena? And does that traffic plan include a plan to get to 40 percent ridership?
Sure. I'll take the CBA question first. And then I'll pass it over to Alex for the SEPTA and transit questions. We are in conversations with Council President about the overall CBA number. Those conversations are active right now so we don't have an overall answer, but we are considering adjustments.
So I'll start with SEPTA. We've had a number of conversations since we've been here last, as recently as yesterday afternoon. Another one scheduled for this afternoon. We've been meeting weekly. We presented to them a very detailed overview from our construction managers of a phasing logistics plan that would detail how the protection would go into the station that would allow the station to continue to operate during the construction phase of the arena. That's obviously a preliminary plan. SEPTA is still reviewing it. The follow-up meeting this afternoon particularly is to start talking about some of the feedback that they've had there, but the detailed plan was shown to them.
Sorry. It's a construction and logistics phasing plan, so showing how overhead protection and protected accessways could be installed in the station to allow for pedestrians and trains to continue to access the station during the construction phase.
Does a plan give you a better idea -- I know that you've made an oral commitment to covering SEPTA's construction cost. At this point do you have a better idea or at least a range of how much that construction would be in a way that we could detail that in writing? And then what is your thinking now about the SEPTA operating cost issue?
So with regards to the construction cost, our commitment remains we are committed to paying the cost of construction for modifications needed to Jefferson Station as a result of the arena. We are carrying that on our side of the ledger. In terms of the number that SEPTA provided, we don't have any further analysis or opinion on that number. But I can tell you that the number that we're carrying in our budget separate from that is significant, tens of millions of dollars in terms of costs that we are bearing to continue the operation of the station during the construction. So in regards to -- sorry, do you have a question?
I'm just processing what you're saying. Can you talk to the operating costs?
Sure. So with regards to operating costs our position remains that we are looking to be treated the same as the other teams and private entities within the city. We have though spent a considerable amount of time reviewing the document that SEPTA that provided. We hired a consultant, KCI Consulting, which has direct knowledge, one the partners, Jeff Knueppel, former GM of SEPTA, to help us understand some of the issues that are being presented. We are continuing to look at those operating issues and what's driving the costs. We presented to SEPTA as recently as yesterday some ideas of how that operating cost could be lowered. Things like staging trains on one of the platforms in Jefferson Station because of the time of day and using the other platform for throughput. Things like other yards that are rail yards that are a couple miles outside of the vicinity of Jefferson Station but potentially close enough to be able to stage trains to be able to come in a manner that would help serve the needs of the arena demand as well as things like, you know, is the cost accounting for the reduced service on the Broad Street Line down to the sports complex because of the events that are no longer happening there. And then lastly, a piece about scheduling. So one of the things that is included in SEPTA's operational estimate is the cost of running more trains on event days and non-event days. So to us the idea that running empty trains 10:30 at night just because feels like there's a better way to do that. We don't know the answer there, but we are working to say, hey, we know when our schedule is. We can provide many months of advanced notice of our scheduled events. And so, how can we work together with you so that we're providing service when it's needed but not providing service when it would otherwise be empty.
And is there an updated traffic plan as was requested some time ago?
So the traffic impact study continues to evolve. We've had a number of meetings with PennDOT, Streets Department, SEPTA on the most recent submission. We are preparing a final version of that draft for resubmission imminently that would then go back through the standard review process through those agencies.
Thank you. And just in closing, I would say on the issue of fairness the only thing I would note is that the other teams aren't asking for an arena before we have a sustainable funding plan for SEPTA. And I continue to think that this is an issue that has to be figured out before we give this a yes. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you, Councilwoman. And I could not agree with you more. I think that we've heard you say it before that you want to be treated the same as everyone else, but what you're doing is something that's very different from what everyone else has done. And so, to not take into account the cost associated with what you're proposing, sometimes suggesting that you should be treated the same as the stadiums down in the Arena District or the Stadium District, whatever, is just beyond me. I don't know how you can think that you should be looking at the exact same deal or the exact same set of circumstances because it's just really not. So I don't know if you want to respond to that. But I'm just following up on the Councilwoman's questions. I just really wanted to put that out there because I heard it a few times before when you all were here.
So we appreciate that sentiment and I do want to make sure we're on the record saying that we understand that SEPTA has an incredible challenge ahead of them --
-- not just for our project but for their overall operations moving forward, right. We're aware that they don't have a long-term funding solution right now. Fortunately, they were able to have a stopgap facilitated by the Governor, but we know that that only lasts through I believe the current fiscal year. And so, we know that as they're grappling with this they're also grappling with a much more existential challenge as well that could impact the other teams and other businesses throughout the region. We also appreciate that the reason why SEPTA is so important to the region and why everybody's so focused, this body included, on getting a sustainable funding solution for them is because it's so vital to the operations of the city so people can get to work and the overall economic growth and prosperity of Philadelphia as well as the greater region. We feel like this project is one that will add to that prosperity, add to the economic growth. And just like other businesses and operations and teams in the city depend on SEPTA for people to get to and from their events, whether it be 2026, whether it be when the Pope gets here, whether it be just normal course of business, to games or to work or whatever it may be, that we fall into that overall equation in terms of the benefits we would be bringing to the region. And again, we as everybody else depend on SEPTA to make that possible.
Absolutely. Well, thank you for that. You know -- I'll just leave it there. Thank you for that.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you guys for coming in to testify again. Glad to hear that you're still in the process of going over the CBA and looking at it and trying to figure out, I guess for a lack of a better term, some wiggle room on different things. Through conversations with my colleagues, I found that most of them agree with me, that the money for the Business Disruption Fund is nowhere near enough. I did a rough estimate of the businesses that I thought would be affected and came up with about 120. The testimony of -- I forget who it was, but said that their number, and this was from the community, their number of businesses that would be affected would be about 130. I've said it before, I believe that giving somebody who's struggling, a business who's struggling another payment is not going to help anybody.
Excuse me, Councilman. Can you speak right into the microphone.
Giving a business that's going to be already struggling another payment just doesn't really make sense to me. My opinion is that it should be a grant that they could draw down on, these businesses, say for a rough number of about $10,000 a year for five years which would be about 50,000 per business. Estimating a little high just in case we missed anybody at about 150 businesses, that would be approximately 7.5 million. There's a big gap there. I would like to know if there's any way that we could try to fix that gap?
Yeah. Thank you, Councilman, for the question and appreciate your focus on this issue. I know we discussed it last time we were here. As I mentioned, we are considering adjustments to the CBA I think in conversations with this body as well as with the Administration. I just want to make sure we're on the record saying that we take the feedback that we get from this body very seriously which is why we're taking those things into consideration, so this absolutely should be something that we're willing to discuss as we move forward in terms of what that would look like. So the short answer is, yes. And I think we need to have further conversations to figure out exactly what the right structure is.
That's good to hear because it's a nice positive change from the last time our conversations happened. And I believe that we can build a stadium and protect Chinatown at the same time.
Through a lot of different things, you know. I'm just glad to see that now there is wiggle room and there is still negotiation and I look forward to hearing what our Council President and the Administration come up with next so that we can move on from this. So thank you for that and thank you for I guess changing your mind and giving us a little wiggle room to work with this. Thank you.
Thank you, Councilman. Chair recognizes Councilmember O'Rourke.
Okay. Now, it's working. It's green. Test, test, one, two. We got action.
I have a few questions of my own but also my Leader had to go, but I wanted to ask some of what she had as well. So first, we want to offer thanks to you all for coming back and speaking with Council today and wanted to state that these conversations should have really started really months ago in her case, if not, years ago because the body's approval over the plan, but she does look forward to the discussion. First question that she wanted to ask was it was pretty clear yesterday that City Council is not prepared to approve this legislation without further discussion of the CBA. So this is a little bit of what Councilman Harrity already talked about but I want to go with what she said. There's not been a lot of discussion about what we could gain in revenue if the billionaire owners paid property taxes like regular Philadelphians. Independent analysts have said that our City and School District could receive $450 million without this giveaway. The $50 million CBA doesn't come close to this. What's stopping you right now from committing to this City Council to work with us to develop a new CBA of at least $300 million, still far short of the $450 million?
I would say that, as I mentioned, we are in conversations for adjustments to the CBA. I can also say that a $300 million CBA would be far beyond what we were able to do and would make the project economically nonviable.
Thank you. And when you all announced your intention to include a Community Benefits Agreement when they started publicly proposing the stadium, the number that you used was $50 million. What changed in the Community Benefits Agreement between the initial proposal and the one that is under consideration in City Council now? Specifically what input did you incorporate from community organizations?
We are still in conversations in terms of what that would look like. And so, as I mentioned last time we were here a -- we've had numerous conversations with community stakeholders from when we announced the project in July of 2022 and we continue many of those conversations in the instance of stakeholders, in Chinatown in particular, the ones that we were in contact with preferred to communicate through Councilmember Squilla. And so, as far as those are concerned we are working with this body as far as input there.
I'll say these and if there's another round, I'll try to get some more in. How did the Sixers organization come to the 50 million figure when it relates to the CBA? And the PILOT only pays about 2.5 million per year to the School District. That basically covers the per pupil cost for about 150 students per year based on the 2023 school budget. If we did not let the billionaire owners avoid property taxes the School District would get $224 million in funding over 30 years. Do you all think that this is a good deal for Philadelphia students who are facing school closures, asbestos, lack of basic items like air-conditioners?
Thank you for the question, Councilmember. I would say we absolutely think that this is a good deal for the School District. We've heard from members in this body and members of the community how important funding for the School District is, in particular because of the challenges that you just mentioned which we agree with and we think that finding funding for them is very important. I think it's important to note that in addition to the PILOT payment there are projections of about $200 million generated from this project to go towards the School District. As we know, School District revenue is not just from property tax revenues but other revenue streams from the City as well which this project would also contribute to. If you look at what the site right now currently contributes to the School District versus what it would contribute after the development of the arena, it would be orders of magnitude larger. And so, for that reason we think that this is a project that is good for the City because we know that we need projects like this to create a tax base that funds our schools.
Thank you, Councilman. We'll come back. Just following up on that in terms of the School District and if this is a good deal and how you make those kind of determinations. Can you talk about community involvement? I asked that question at the last hearing about what was the Sixers level of involvement and sort of like the giveback to the City of Philadelphia, because I remember there was nothing prepared, there was no readily available information. And to the best of my knowledge, there's not a whole lot. So can you talk about that a little bit?
Absolutely. Thank you for the question, Councilmember. So over the course of the last 12 months we have a variety of programs that have impacted over 25,000 community members that includes 197 clinics or activations within communities. We have over 12,500 youth registered in our Junior 76ers program, and we've also supported over 150 organizations through marketing assistance and (inaudible) advertising value, educational programs and other tools for those businesses to succeed. Last year we gave away roughly 7700 tickets to 76ers games. We also philanthropically contributed almost $2.9 million in grant contributions. Our staff has also contributed over 1,500 hours of community service. In addition to that, we are very proud to operate the 76ers Youth Foundation which last year gave away roughly $2 million. The Youth Foundation has given away roughly $5 million since its creation. And --
I believe the Youth Foundation was created just before the pandemic. I think it was 2018 or 2019. I can confirm that for you though, Councilmember. And the giving of the Sixers Youth Foundation has increased each year so it's been a growing amount in terms of our philanthropic commitment there. In addition to that from our ownership group, they've also been engaged philanthropically. Just one example is between all of our ownership members over $7 million to the Philadelphia youth basketball organization and the creation of their youth center. That includes a $6 million capital campaign gift from the Adelman family. Josh Harris, one of our owners, as we mentioned last time we were here as well, made a $10 million investment in Mosaic, a local Black-owned developer to help grow their business and support local community development. And businesses, last year we gave out roughly I want to say $75,000 towards anti-gun violence programs throughout community across the city.
Mm-hmm. And then in addition to that, we've funded I want to say roughly $50,000 -- no, I'm sorry, $70,000 for additional youth basketball programs and clinics throughout the city this past summer. So those are some examples of the work that we've done throughout the city and are very proud of things like that. In addition to that, we also have a number of internship programs. One example is the Marcus Graham Project where we take local, specifically African American, youth and put them through a marketing program where they can learn from the marketing experts within our organization because that's a career that they're interested in. We also had a program with MIT and Cheyney for a sports analytics boot camp that we held on our site in Camden that included Cheyney students as well. So those are some examples of the things that we do throughout the community that we're very proud of and we plan to continue doing them as the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to Forbes, the overall value of the team is $4.6 billion.
Okay. All right. And I asked that because when I look at the value of 4.6 billion and the $70,000 citywide given to community involvement youth basketball programs and some of the other couple dollars here or a couple dollars there, it's not particularly inspiring.
Yeah, a very few million. So more could be done, but I'm sure we'll be having those conversations.
Indeed. And I would say we are also proud of what we do in comparison to all the other teams in the market as well.
I said we are very proud of what we do, including this Community Benefits Agreement, relative to the other teams in the market as well.
Okay. All right. Chair recognizes Councilwoman Landau.
Thank you. I just want to follow up again maybe in more detail. I appreciate so much the questions that my colleagues are asking. But I'm a little stunned that you're coming back here without answers to our questions again. These bills -- this timeline is your timeline. This location is your location. You want it so bad that we introduced bills on October 24th, that we only started hearings I think around November 12th. You were here last testifying to us on November 14th. We asked all these questions on November 14th. We're following up on the same questions we asked and we still don't have answers to the questions that we need answers in order to even decide whether we can go forward on this. And these are simple things. These are things about, oh, can you increase the Community Benefits Agreement, how much are we going to give to SEPTA. SEPTA has been clear. The impact study that was paid for from the City said we need 40 percent of the riders to come on SEPTA. SEPTA has come back and said we need X amount of money in order to make that happen, and we ask you where you are on that and you don't have an answer. This is your time frame. I have to tell you it is incredibly frustrating from our perspective that we're being rushed and we don't have the answers to our questions. So I'm going to give you an example of something and see if we can get to the same idea of how you can understand how important this is. I know you've been a part of the Wells Fargo Center. I know that part of your deal at the Wells Fargo Center is to pay a portion of the facilities upkeep. I know you just had your locker rooms and stuff updated. You've had a full update of your facilities. Were you given a cost of your portion before you agreed to let the locker room enhancement and the Wells Fargo enhancement go forward?
Appreciate the sentiment and understood. With regards to locker rooms we pay for that entirely ourselves. That was an investment --
Just to be clear, I'm basically asking you if you want to buy a bike, do you just say I'll take this bike at any number or do they give you the cost of the bike first so you can decide if you want to buy a bike. And so, my question is not did you pay for the locker rooms. The question is did you get the cost of the locker rooms first or just said go ahead, just go do whatever you want to do and give us a bill 20 later because we're just happy with it?
Yeah, understood. Thank you for the question, Councilmember. We received estimates before we started --
Thank you. I am done. Please get us our answers immediately. This timeline is not fair. It is not respectful. It is wrong and we want answers to our questions.
In previous testimony I believe that you stated that you met your "legal commitment to Camden" in response to criticism that you created only 11 jobs there. However -- so I wanted you to talk more about that and talk about is there a legal commitment to the amount of jobs that you're pledging here in Philadelphia with the construction of this arena and what is that legal commitment?
Sure. Thank you for the question, Councilmember. I believe all the commitments that we have around participation as it pertains to jobs both on the construction side as well as the operating side are laid out in the Economic Opportunity Plan, which is enforceable by the City. And I know that there have been conversations in terms of increasing some of the enforcement mechanisms for the Economic Opportunity Plan. So that would be the vehicle by which we would gauge that because that also includes local participation, which would be jobs and contract opportunities for Philadelphians.
I think what I'm more so trying to parse out is there was a job commitment with this facility in Camden, right. And what happened was that there were 11 jobs resulting. I want to understand more what you meant by having met your legal commitment and I want to understand how that relates to what we're setting up here in Philadelphia.
Understood. Thank you, Councilmember. I'm not aware of a commitment for a certain number of jobs that we were committed to in Camden.
I don't think there was a specific commitment for a number in Camden.
Okay. I find that hard to believe. I don't have the information at my fingertips and because I don't, I'll have to take you at your word. But can you talk about what you see as your legal commitment to the jobs that are being promised here in Philadelphia?
Sure. Again, I think our commitment is to make sure that the jobs that we create as a result of this project we maximize the economic opportunity created by them, which means that we are providing opportunities for folks who are typically underrepresented whether it be various employment opportunities, contract opportunities for both the construction operations of this project. That also includes a local commitment in terms of participation through the Economic Opportunity Plan. And so, that would be the mechanism through which we'd be held accountable to that, which there was not one I believe with those laid out in in Camden.
It predated my time with the team. But again, my understanding is that there was no specific commitment to the number or percentage of local jobs. I believe there's a commitment to making sure that we have a certain number of people working in the Camden facility but not necessarily where they resided.
I wasn't asking where they reside. I was asking about the amount of jobs you created.
And you don't have information about the amount of local jobs you promised or pledged in Camden?
And again, I don't believe that there was a commitment for a specific number of jobs going to Camden residents as a result of that development.
Thank you. Even if there was not a specific number of jobs that were committed to or promised, the idea that there were 11 -- how many jobs in total created out of this facility, 200 and --
200-plus jobs, and the idea that 11 went to local residents in a community that is struggling that is primarily Black and Brown and there doesn't seem to be any sort of outrage, concern, we should do better from the Sixers. Can we hear something like that or --
Appreciate the question, Councilmember, and opportunity to expand on that. So we are doing outreach. We have a partnership with Rutgers Camden. We also have committed $1 million to local job training programs through organizations in partnership with America (inaudible) in Camden to help increase the number of Camden residents that are employed by us at that facility. One thing that is unique about our operations in Camden are that the vast majority of those jobs are highly specialized and require very specific type of training, whether it be our legal department, our finance department or more --
A better example of that would be like our team operations which is a lot of the jobs over there, our front office, our trainers, sports analytics, et cetera.
So how many of the jobs at the new arena if we built 76 Place would be specialized jobs that will require maybe higher educational requirements or degrees or how many jobs created would fit into that category?
The minority of them would. I don't have the specific number. But the jobs created at the arena I think one thing we're excited about is that they would be far more accessible than the jobs that were created over in Camden.
So is that because the main hub of the Philadelphia 76ers will remain in Camden?
So for the jobs that are here they would not be higher-paying wages; is that what you're saying?
I'm saying that there are different types of jobs required to operate such as a a basketball arena and entertainment venue. And so, you have a greater diversity of jobs, number one. Probably more jobs overall but also they would be more accessible. We don't have those types of jobs in our Camden operation based on the nature of the work there.
Okay. All right. We're going to come back to that. Councilman O'Rourke is up next.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I'm back. Thank you again, gentlemen, for coming back. I wanted to stress, as has already been lifted up by Councilmember Landau --
Okay. The decisions that we're making today that we'll make around this will have lasting consequences for our city, as we've already articulated, and it's essential that we address every outstanding concern thoroughly and transparently before moving forward, as Councilwoman Landau lifted up. Our office asked in writing -- and actually you know what, can the Administration come up or is that a different panel, Madam Chair?
Next panel. Okay. Let me ask here: Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, LLC owns several stadiums and practice centers. How much public subsidy in total does Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, LLC receive under its contracts?
Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, LLC owns several stadiums and practice centers. How much public subsidy in total does Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, LLC receive under its contracts?
How much public subsidy do we receive under its contracts. I don't know the answer to that relative to -- but we can follow up and get you that information. I don't have a specific figure at my fingertips.
Thank you. Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, LLC has a larger stake in this proposed arena than just the 76ers. In other cities we can assume the LLC with the new stadium is going to work to pull music events away from the Comcast South Philly Sports Center. What other interests beyond the 76ers would the LLC stand to profit from with a new arena?
Sorry. Could you repeat the last portion of the question? I want to make sure I answer it.
What other interests beyond the 76ers would the LLC stand to profit from with the new arena?
What other interests beyond the 76ers would the LLC stand to profit from with the new arena?
The surrounding development that we've talked about for the south side of Market Street would be developments that would be conducted by the same LLC.
Thank you. I want to acknowledge the presence of Councilman Isaiah Thomas. And next up is Councilmember Ahmad.
I wanted you to walk us through the games that are scheduled for the proposed arena and other events that are proposed and who would be responsible for that? And what is happening the rest of the time? Meaning, this whole process was entertained because we wanted to revitalize Market Street. And so, just having games at night is not enough, right. And as a community partner we expect that entire time to be revitalized because that will bleed into people feeling safe, you know, crime, cleanliness, all of that. So can you tell us who's responsible for what and how you envision that space to be occupied during the day, during night and what have you done to actually put an infrastructure in place for revitalizing Market Street?
Sure. Thank you for the question. It's an important one and one that we've given a lot of thought to. So we would be responsible for all operations of the arena, including not just basketball games but the booking of shows. That includes concerts, family shows, comedy shows, other types of events. So everything that's happening at the arena would be our responsibility to book, manage, et cetera.
I was going to say outside of the common space that is underneath the arena, how are you developing that because you'll still be owning that space and renting or doing whatever, leasing that space. What is that plan?
That's correct. And so, we would look to -- first, we would look to design the building in a way that helps activate the street, as you said, not just on event days or event times but all throughout the day and throughout the year. So that means raising the event floor. So previous iteration has had the event floor one level below grade. That caused a lot of different issues and concerns. We've since raised it above the street level which allowed us to program the street level with retailers that could be open, A, to the general public and street-facing but, B, throughout the course of the day. So that could be things like restaurants or coffee shops or stores that help bring people there or give people a reason to be there.
So that sounds great because this would be the same thing I would say. But what is the commitment level and what is the actual granular detail about that because we're signing off on something potentially that means the ball is in your court and if we don't hold you accountable, we don't know what you're going to do. We just heard about Camden and the lack of investment in certain spaces, right. So we're just looking at track record and we're looking to see you're saying these things, and I don't mean to say you're lying, but I'm just a person who wants transparency and accountability as to how we are signing off a space with so much potential to you. So I would like to know what is the commitment level, what is the accountability process and how granular will be this plan and where would that be? I have not seen that as of yet.
(Inaudible). COUNCIL IT SUPPORT: I apologize. There's an issue with the system.