COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE Room 400, City Hall Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Tuesday, November 19, 2024 10:05 a.m. PRESENT: COUNCIL PRESIDENT KENYATTA JOHNSON COUNCILWOMAN NINA AHMAD COUNCILWOMAN CINDY BASS COUNCILWOMAN KENDRA BROOKS COUNCILMAN MICHAEL DRISCOLL COUNCILWOMAN JAMIE GAUTHIER COUNCILWOMAN KATHERINE GILMORE RICHARDSON 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 all of you 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 offered in Mandarin and Cantonese. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the roll to take attendance.
Present. A quorum of the Committee is present and this hearing is now called to order. Mr. Christmas, will you please read the titles of the bills.
Bill No. 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 14 of the Philadelphia Code, entitled Zoning and Planning, by amending certain definitions relating to signs; creating an "Arena Area" within the "/CTR, Center City Overlay District" overlay; and making related changes, including a master plan requirement 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 of the Philadelphia Code, 13 entitled "Zoning and Planning," by 14 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 very much, Mr. Christmas. Before you call the first panel, I just want to do some housekeeping announcements. I just want to make sure that in terms of today's hearing we welcome all comments during public testimony. We ask for all those who are spectators to be respectful even if you are for the project or against the project in terms of the proceedings today. In the event that things do get a little out of hand and not based upon respectful dialogue, to my left we are working in partnership with the Office of Civil Affairs, Sheriff's Office and the Philadelphia Police Department. We want to make sure this is a very robust and engaging dialogue on a very critically important proposal that's before all of us here today. I want to also acknowledge the presence of the author of the legislation Councilmember Mark Squilla. I want to also acknowledge the presence of Councilmember Nicolas O'Rourke. With that being said, Mr. John Christmas, will you please call the first panel.
That's good. Good to see you. John, can you just state your name and title for the record and please begin your testimony and also acknowledge all who are present with you at the table.
Sure. Thank you. Name is John Chin, and my title is Executive Director of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation. So we have a panel of four persons sitting here before the City Councilmembers. They will talk about the impact and concerns we have about the proposed arena. I today will give you a little bit of context so we all can understand where we come from and why we're here today and what our position is. So with that, Dear Council President Johnson and members of City Council, again my name is John Chin, Director of PCDC which has shepherd the growth of Chinatown for nearly six decades. As Chinatown's RCO, we manage zoning uses and the development and the growth of Chinatown and the development that is consistent with our neighborhood vision. As an affordable housing developer and social service provider, we have developed over 400 units of housing and have helped thousands of low-income residents achieve financial stability and remain housed. As a Taking Care of Business organization, we have kept Chinatown clean, and as a commercial corridor manager we have provided technical assistance to our small mom-and-pop businesses. And as an urban planner, we practice the principle of development for the people by the people. So the people of Chinatown trust us to protect Chinatown and guide its preservation as a thriving and authentic hub of Asian American culture. We carry this responsibility with great care. Our Chinatown and our economy have not recovered from the pandemic, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation agreed when they accepted our nomination and listed Chinatown on the 11 most endangered places in 2023, Chinatown's future has never been more vulnerable in my lifetime. This arena will push Chinatown towards the precipice. This is the reason why PCDC opposes the Arena proposal. We have seen and heard pointed questions by this body about the Community Benefits Agreement and the project in this chamber. I appreciate this legislative body for its due diligence and searching for the true impact of the Community Benefits Agreement. There are many details which are lacking. These City Council hearings are necessary and must not be rushed to meet a deadline, which is not your choosing. This is a 30-year commitment to the City of Philadelphia and has huge impacts for the neighborhoods surrounding it. It is also important for me to say that the CBA and its contents were not our choosing. I learned about the CBA terms on the same day as the public learned about it. PCDC and our community of residents, business owners, institutions and property owners had numerous meetings with 76 Development Corp. I and others met with City officials about the arena. I was very clear in our meetings that the arena does not bring any organic benefits to the neighborhood. We talked about problems, challenges and what mitigation could look like. Our committee told them that traffic and parking are the greatest threat to the Chinatown economy. Gentrification, displacement will erase Chinatown if six years of construction does not. This is not an agreement of benefits, the CBA, and it certainly does not respond with equal intensity, the severity of the problems that the arena causes our community. This CBA does little to protect Chinatown from the precipice, and I do not know that it can. For these reasons, we beseech the City Councilmembers here today to vote no on this legislation. Thank you. (Applause.)
Romana Lee-Akiyama. Good morning, members of City Council. My name is Romana Lee-Akiyama and I'm a Board member of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation. I'm a longtime Philadelphia resident. I'm a former City official. I'm a former resident of Chinatown and I'm an active member of the Asia American community. Today I'm representing the interests, needs and concerns of the grandmothers, the grandfathers, the parents, the aunties, the uncles and the children who call Chinatown home. I was raised coming to Chinatown on the weekends with my father who taught me that in order to know where you are going in life, you have to know where you come from. Maintaining a sense of identity is not just something nice to do. It's survival for those who have been historically and systemically excluded in this country. Earlier in my career I worked as a community development and professional in both Boston and Philadelphia's Chinatowns. From 2008 to 2011 I was the Deputy Director of the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, a national organization made up of nearly 100 community- based organizations spanning 4 states and the Pacific Islands. 5 We supported local 6 organizations in revitalizing, 7 protecting and growing neighborhoods 8 that serve as residential 9 communities, centers of commerce, 10 places of new beginnings for 11 recently arrived immigrants and 12 cultural beacons that provide a 13 sense of belonging and identity. 14 Philadelphia Chinatown 15 was one of the communities that 16 received our technical assistance 17 and support. There are three things 18 that I want you to know about my 19 experiences. Number one, historic 20 Asian American and Pacific Islander 21 neighborhoods across the country such as the Chinatowns, the Japantowns have continued to face external threats. All must fight to survive and some have not made it. In particular, AAPI neighborhoods that sit on valuable downtown highly-coveted lands and property have been most at risk for threat. These historic neighborhoods were created to keep "undesirable immigrants isolated" in one section of the city. And over time developers and governments realized the value of this downtown land took parcel after parcel and pushed out long-term residents one urban renewal project at a time. I'm going to be a little bit provocative here and say that we need to name the racism and xenophobia that Asian American and Pacific Islander neighborhoods have faced and continue to face, whether explicitly or implicitly. Number two, second thing I want you to know, AAPI ethnic neighborhoods must maintain a delicate ecosystem in order to keep their vibrancy. Chinatowns rely on a delicate system of small businesses, residential base and cultural institutions. When one leg of that stool is destabilized whether by development or displacement, the entire community is at risk. Boston's Chinatown faced a similar trend of development pressures from local and state highway projects, neighboring universities and medical center development. Today it continues to fight and hold on to the vibrancy because it has those three pieces in place. As a national organization we were able to build with them and support this active community because again, they had that solid internal infrastructure. 's Chinatown in comparison is an example of a community that I worked with that did not have that internal ecosystem in place. We were able -- we were not able to help them stabilize or continue to face disappearance which brings me to my third and final point. Once a neighborhood reaches a tipping point in the wrong direction, it's very difficult to come back from the brink of disaster. 's Chinatown is well-documented. It's one of the worst examples of contemporary Asian American and Pacific Islander neighborhood erasures, but certainly it's not too far from the trends. 's Chinatown population shrank dramatically to only 300 residents of Chinese dissent.
Business after business owned by Asian Americans disappeared. In Seattle, leaders of the International District Chinatown warned that their community benefits agreement was not enough to protect them. They were right. Today Philadelphia and Seattle's Chinatowns, two of the nation's oldest, are among the most endangered historical sites in the country according to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The City-sanctioned community impact study showed that 50 percent of Chinatown businesses would be negatively impacted by this proposal. We need to consider this assessment and we need to heed the warning. Lastly, I want to draw your attention to national political trends and emphasize that what happens here locally matters. We face another four years of a presidential administration that was responsible for fueling anti-Asian hate and violence and that promises to dismantle our collective multi- racial democracy. Solidarity between and across vulnerable communities will help us weather this upcoming storm. Chinatown's survival is a piece of resisting the dismantling of our democracy. Chinatown is deserving of our protection and care as a city and I urge you to vote no 13 on any legislation that does not adequately protect Chinatown. Thank you. )
Just state your name for the record, sir, and begin.
Okay. Good morning, City Councilmembers. My name is Dan Tsao. I am a first generation immigrant and I am the owner of EMei Restaurant at 915 Arch Street in Chinatown as well as the publisher of two Asian weekly newspapers, Metro Chinese Weekly and Metro Via News for the past 5 years. So I'm here today to 6 strongly oppose the proposed new 7 arena in Chinatown and express my 8 frustrations with the inadequate 9 allocation of CBA funds to our 10 community. I urge the City Council 11 to continue to evaluate other 12 options for the location choice of 13 the arena instead of Chinatown. 14 Over the past two 15 decades, Asian American business 16 owners have been instrumental in 17 revitalizing neighborhoods across Philadelphia, including Washington Avenue, Oregon Avenue and the Northeast Philadelphia. Yet our very own culture and business hub, the 150-year old Chinatown, now faces an existential threat due to this arena project. Chinatown is unique for many reasons. From business perspective it has been an incubator for entrepreneur growth that has created jobs, tax revenue, tourism attractions for the City. As a publisher, I have witnessed remarkable success stories. A small grocery store on 10th Street that grew into a supermarket chain with nearly 10 locations and in Chinatown a small (inaudible) shop that evolved into a hospitality group with over locations and multiple 15 concepts. 16 Chinatown also served as 17 an essential hub for the region's 18 3400 Chinese-owned businesses 19 providing supplies and support for 20 restaurants and other enterprises. Chinatown has also been my foundation, it's where I started my newspaper business and grew my restaurant business. EMei has been fortunate to succeed growing 300 percent versus prepandemic and expanding from jobs in 2019 to 40 jobs 5 today. On a busy Saturday we serve 6 as many as 600 dining customers and 7 fulfill 200 delivery orders. So 8 what truly sets Chinatown apart is 9 its ability to draw visitors from 10 far beyond the city limits. 11 With over a quarter 12 million Asian Americans living in surrounding countries, many are willing to drive 45 minutes or more to experience authentic Chinese cuisine and culture. This makes Chinatown unique and a powerful economic asset for Philadelphia, attracting suburban goers into the city, something very few cities in United States can claim. However, the proposed arena threatens to destroy this dynamic. The years of construction, road blocks and the traffic congestion on game days will drive away customers and disrupt the delicate ecosystem that keep Chinatown thriving. Suburban families who once made a trip to Chinatown will turn elsewhere and the delivery customers who account for over 40 percent of my restaurant's revenue will face longer wait times and forcing them to order from other restaurants outside Chinatown. Of the 120 immigrant- owned restaurants in Chinatown, many lack the resources or support to navigate these challenges. Since the arena announcement, at least four businesses have approached me about closing (inaudible), fearful of the disruptions the arena will bring. This isn't about individual business. It's about preserving a historical community that has contributed to Philadelphia for generations. Chinatown is a cultural and economic heartbeat for our city and allowing it to be sacrificed for an arena is short- sighted and harmful. I urge the Council to recognize what is truly at stake and to take meaningful action to protect Chinatown. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Good morning. My name is Harry Leong and I was born and raised in Chinatown, and continue to live, work and serve there. I am the Center Director of the Chinese Christian Church and Center and also the President of the Philadelphia Suns. Our church started in 1941 over 83 years ago. We've served the community providing for the needs and looking after the welfare of our community and city. Each Sunday over 600 adults plus another 150 children come to our church for worship services. In addition, another 600 from three other churches attend services in Chinatown so that the community is very active on Sundays. Over 1,200 churchgoers are in the community to worship, to shop, to eat, to play and to socialize. In addition to that, there are even others who may not be attending churches who come just for those same reasons, to also shop, to eat, to play and to socialize. The fear that I have is the gentrification of the community, particularly businesses closing and residents moving out as a result of that. The property taxes over the years have steadily risen. Businesses and residents have left the area because of the rent increases, well, the property owners transferred to the renters. So how can business survive and how can residents stay in this area when they can't afford it, particularly the fixed income members of our community. Last night Councilman Squilla -- thank you, Councilman, for joining us in Chinatown to hear about the legislation. I can say immediate impact of it is it's the same news. We didn't hear anything different from yesterday's meeting that we haven't heard in the past. The questions are still the same. Little bit disappointing. And one of the questions that was asked was that the Councilman has supporters in his District who are directly affected by the 76ers proposal, the Washington Square West, Chinatown as well as the Gayborhood and the surrounding city. And the question was despite the opposition why is he choosing to present the legislation that supports this project. And he brought up the SugarHouse Casino and how at the start of the casino there were not many supporters for that casino. And after it was built, people started saying, hey, that's a good thing for our community. But honestly, that's different from what we have in Chinatown. Down at SugarHouse and we all know that SugarHouse was -- there's warehouses, there's the river, there's vacant buildings at that juncture before when the SugarHouse was there and the area, it's wide streets, right. Delaware Avenue is right there. But it's different from Chinatown. Chinatown is -- sorry, I'm trying to find my point. Chinatown is currently -- well, the proposed site is the Fashion District and the streets surrounding are two lanes. Market Street is the biggest street. There's very little open space in the area. Buildings are very close to each other. There's not a -- buildings are multi-use too. There's commercial and then at least in Chinatown there's commercial on the first floor and then residences on the second floor. The area even surrounding the area is limited as far as traffic and space, so that's really different from SugarHouse. And so, that type of development is able to do it there. I don't believe that this 76ers arena that our community and the areas surrounding it can support this arena. The footprint of the arena is also not optimal. The proposed arena has a planned seating capacity of 18,500 which is about 2500 less than the Wells Fargo Center, basically a percent 6 decrease in the number of seats in 7 the area. So financially, how can 8 the owners make that work. Of 9 course the customers will have to 10 pay for it. Who knows how much the 11 regular ticket will cost. 12 In the past six years, the Sixers have been in the top 3 in 10 since 2018, primarily because it's been a competitive team unlike the Brooklyn Nets.
In 2012 they opened the Barclay Center and since 2012 they ranked no higher than 13th, and that was in 2002(sic) in attendance. The argument that the Sixers say that they want a world class facility in order to have a top team know that it's not really the facility that brings the attendance. It's actually the wins, right. It's the wins that count. So the millionaires, the billionaires are going to be the ones that profit out of this. We know that. The billionaires are going to profit from that. Lastly, much of my work in the community is serving the youth and families through education, athletics, culture and service. I was a product of the church and Suns Outreach programs, so I was a product in the program and I grew up to lead the programs. The Suns model is building and supporting a better community. The proposed 76ers Place and it's highly touted $50 million CBA goes against building and supporting the community. One of the slogans I saw in some of the shirts was Build it referring to the arena. But from what I've seen these two-and-a-half years of being involved in talks and hearing the Sixers, the cost to the City in tax revenue to the Mayor approved CBA to future costs like traffic, increased public services like police and sanitation, the anticipated effects benefiting more than the City, it's not a project that is good for Chinatown, Center City, the City nor the state. It seems like this place is sucking up more resources than it's giving. I implore our Council to stop this proposal from moving ahead and focus on communities, the constituents. Fix our schools, build housing for the needy, address homelessness, build up our youth, care for our elderly. Those are the priorities for us, for me too. I mean, we're trying to do that in our community. Let's see that citywide. Major on the majors. Major on the majors. Thank you. )
Good morning and thank you to all of you for being here. I really respect the work of PCDC. I have a few questions that anyone can jump in and answer. First, have any of you looked at cultural/Chinatown District preservation efforts in other cities? And what are some strategies that we should be implementing here in Philadelphia and which of these strategies do you see in the City's current plan?
Councilwoman, thank you for that question. What we've seen in other cities, Seattle, San Francisco, New York's Chinatown is a multi-prong approach to community preservation and we're talking about Asian communities here. Ms. Romana Lee-Akiyama mentioned the three-legged stool. The programs that we see that are successful are cultural programs within the community that attract people to the community both as residents and as visitors but paired with a very strong economic development program. One cannot happen without the other. We cannot have Chinatowns across the country where there's only a focus on cultural programming because we know that the economic engines of Chinatowns are the opportunity for immigrants who don't speak English as a first language to have economic sustainability. New immigrants who don't speak the language have very difficult times finding jobs in mainstream America, so these economic centers are really important to entrepreneurs. But they're even more important because folks like Dan Tsao, they have 40 employees so it's a path forward for immigrants behind them to earn sustainability for them and their families. So a program that we have seen matches cultural program with economic development programs. One has to exist with the other. Otherwise, Chinatowns fail.
And as a follow-up, do you see any of what you have described in the current "deal"?
I see none of that. The deal that's been presented to the public and to City Council is barely a mitigation plan. The details are so lacking. They talk about an arena that comes to Market Street to revive Market Street East. Well, we know that there's been complaints from the neighbors, institutions, hotels and conventions that come to Market Street East, that it's blighted, it's a nuisance and there's a huge problem where there's homeless people who aren't getting assistance to get housed. There's a huge problem of panhandling. And visitors we've seen from surveys are sometimes afraid of the conditions on Market Street East. Well, if we bring an arena to this location, I have not seen any plan that addresses how you're going to address the people who need help, how to eliminate the blight, how to improve the conditions of Market Street. All I've seen and heard is we'll bring the arena here and it's going to turn Market Street around. That's not good enough. (Applause.)
Okay. The $50 million CBA amount is 3.2 percent of the $1.55 billion spread out over 30 years. What in your opinion might be a more adequate amount of an investment needed to offset the arena's displacement pressures on Chinatown and how should that money be spent?
We're not here to talk about what's going to work, okay, but we understand the reality of this. This proposal is before City Council and we understand the reality is that this can go forward with a vote from City Council and it may not go forward with a vote from City Council. To answer your question, 50 million is not enough quite frankly. The 50 million CBA that we've seen, very little of that money is here to protect the community, very, very little. I think less than $10 million. So we're talking about anti- displacement, we're talking about preservation of this community. And if it works here, it can work for other neighborhoods across the city of Philadelphia. It must begin with establishing a community land trust that preserves housing so residents aren't displaced. It must preserve small businesses so the rents and real estate taxes do not displace our mom-and-pop businesses. All right. A starting fund at minimum, a starting fund at minimum has to be $100 million to preserve our legacy businesses. Okay. Without any kind of financial support for Chinatown and there's none in the CBA that I can see for preservation, our Chinatown would disappear.
If it were $100 million, what percentage should go to Chinatown?
All the money should go to Chinatown. But again, if it's successful, if it's successful, Councilwoman, right, this is a model -- commercial community land trust is a model and can be a model for other neighborhoods. And if it's working for Chinatown, this money should be piloted in other neighborhoods as well.
Thank you. Just real quick, John, in terms of rules of engagement with the Administration, how many times have you and your team met with the Administration? How many times have you and your team met with the Sixers? And then also your rules of engagement and working with the proposal with the District Councilperson Mark Squilla, just want to get an idea of how things unfolded to get us where we're at today?
We have had dozens of meetings with all three parties that you identified, who's our Councilman, District Councilman, the 76ers Dev Corp and the City of Philadelphia. I would guess that we've had a little less than a dozen meetings with the City officials. Okay. We've had more than a dozen meetings with the 76ers up until maybe eight months ago when we realized that --
Yeah. That was the last time when we realized that -- when we brought to them the major concern that we have is traffic and parking. They said to us, we will revise that traffic plan, bring it back to you to show that it will improve and can work with Chinatown. We have yet to see a traffic plan that's going to work for our community. I remind this body here that the Civic Design Review Committee met with the 76ers twice. At the end of the second meeting, they concluded that the traffic plan was improved but nearly not enough for their satisfaction. Okay. We've also met with Councilman Squilla a couple dozen times. I call him, I text him, I email him, I meet with him face-to-face. What is very disappointing to me is that all those discussions about the problems and challenges that the arena brings to us, we look at the CBA and it doesn't resemble any of the conversations we have had about Chinatown's need for protection. $1.6 million for construction mitigation over six years. Okay. We heard that the SEPTA project in West Philadelphia on the El project annually there was more funding for construction mitigation. $1.25 million for a cleaning program which we're already funded for, and we do an excellent job with the Taking Care of Business program that we get City funding from. And $3 million business loan fund, why would we want to propose to lend people, businesses who are suffering and facing elimination money that they may not be able to pay back, especially with interest.
Thank you, John. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President, colleagues. John, always good to see you. How many businesses in Chinatown do you estimate that will be directly affected by the construction?
So PCDC has counted a little under 300 businesses in Chinatown. Your city impact study for the community estimates 50 percent of those will be negatively impacted, so 150 businesses.
That's close to the numbers I was figuring the other day when I was talking about it. So you definitely don't think that the 40 businesses that are in the CBA, you definitely think that that needs to be adjusted? Would that be your observation?
Yeah, absolutely. My official testimony is that that CBA does nothing, very little to protect our community. And money for 40 businesses -- let's just acknowledge that the construction is so massive and it's so long, we're talking about six years of construction of an entire city block, even this body here has concerns about how it's going to impact 2026, right. Imagine our community. It's not going to just impact half a block from the arena construction, one block. With the vehicular traffic, the added pollution, the dust, it's going to have a huge impact both on the north side of the arena, which is Chinatown, on the south side which is the Gayborhood in Washington West.
Yeah. I want to add something about the potential traffic congestions it might create. So my business, my restaurant is on 915 Arch Street, and there's a 7-Eleven on the corner of Filbert and 10th Street, right. So for me to cut off from 676 and also get to my restaurant, I need to take 10th Street toward South and then turn left on Filbert Street, then turn back onto 9th Street and then turn left onto Arch Street to get to restaurant. So a few months ago there was a delivery truck of 7-Eleven got some issues. And so, it stopped for probably for some technical reason in the middle of the block of Filbert Street. And for the truck broke down maybe for minutes, but 7 it create traffic congestions that 8 pushed all the way to 10th, 9 somewhere between Arch and Race. 10 So it took me -- I got 11 stuck in the middle of 10th Street 12 between Race and Arch. So I 13 basically got stuck for about 25 14 minutes longer to get to my 15 restaurant because a delivery truck of 7-Eleven broke down on Filbert Street. Thank you.
Member Harrity, you're finished with your line of questioning?
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you to the panel for your detailed testimony. I've met with many of you in this process. One of the things that came up in the meetings that I've been having is the issue of not just preserving Chinatown but the growth in Chinatown. With or without the arena, what do you see as the path to growth? What does growth look like in Chinatown? Any one of you can answer that question and I have a couple more after this.
Sure. Thank you, Councilmember Ahmad, for your question. I referenced the three-legged stool, right, that magic formula for keeping a community safe and whole and with the opportunity for growth. It really comes down to strong small business sector, a growing residential base and cultural institutions. For those of you who are not as familiar with Chinatown, we have many nonprofits that exist that serve the cultural artistic community-building needs. Those organizations have kept us together. They've kept us growing. Harry's here from the Chinese Christian Church and Center. And we remain this network and fiber of the community. The residential base, you know, affordable housing is a crisis across the country. But of course in Chinatown this has always been a need, and PCDC has held that as our mission and delivered on that for all these decades. And PCDC continues to put affordable housing into the community so that is critical, right, that low income -- the grandmothers, grandfathers that I talked about earlier that they have a place to continue to have their services and their needs met. We talked a lot about small businesses today already. We talked about the negative impact. Over 50 percent of the businesses that exist will suffer, right. So thank you, Councilmember Harrity, now we know 50 businesses will be impacted. So the growth plan really is coming back to these three points, how can Chinatown regardless if the arena happens or not, how can we harness these three-legged tools, how can we continue to attract visitors, right, continue to bring in people from the community so that we can share our culture and that other people can learn about the community and Chinatown can continue to be a place that many people find home, right. I want to make this one point clear is that Chinatown is just not about the people who live there. It is a home for the diaspora of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders that are in our region and others who are allies and have extended family and that belong to the community. So I've heard a lot of comments of we only want to hear from the people who live in Chinatown. So what you need to know is that Chinatown is much more of a hub and we are dependent on folks who really love the community and want to continue being part of it.
Thank you. My follow-up question is about what is the economic impact currently of Chinatown in the entire city's economic footprint?
So I want to address this question because the economic study that -- and I think you're going to hear from other panelists later today who are going to be able to answer that question as well. But the study that was supported by the City on the economic impact did not consider Chinatown. It was solely focused on the arena and what the arena was going to bring to this city. The community impact study did not give enough attention to the economic driver that is Chinatown, the dollars that are spent in the community and the tax dollars that are earned to the City from the businesses. This is a gap. Okay. We cannot divorce these two things. So actually I want to make that point, and I think I urge City Council to look more closely at that to understand the economic devastation. We know 50 percent of the businesses but what does that actually -- do we care enough to know and to recognize that there is economic value in what Chinatown brings to this city and how do we quantify that. I ask the City to take that. (Applause.)
Yes. To that point, this data should be available from the Department of Commerce right now right today. So why don't we have -- I would go on the record to say I would like to see from the Commerce Department the economic impact by the different census tracts that are within -- and they can do it by zip codes. They have that information already. So for us to have this conversation we need that data. We need that data to say what are you contributing now, when there's the disruption what will happen to that because it comes to all of the city. It's been generated in Chinatown, but it's affecting our entire economic profile. So I want to know what is happening now, what will happen the six years and what will happen post the six years and how are we buttressing all of that in order to either maintain or grow. So that was the question. So I just want to go on the record for that. Thank you, Council President. Thank all of you for your very important testimony.
Thank you very much, Nina Ahmad. Just a quick question regarding the community impact study that was presented by the Administration. Part of the information that was provided to us talks about how without the arena moving forward, if there was no 4 arena proposal, gentrification is significantly still rampant, moving forward rapidly in Chinatown, which means if there was no proposal here today gentrification would still have a significant negative impact in Chinatown with no proposal. So I would ask the question, the three-legged stool question. What is the Chinatown CDC doing for the longevity of small businesses, affordable and workforce housing and a cultural preservation of Chinatown? And, John, could you give us an idea of what you and your team have been doing around that particular strategy every -- let's say if there was no proposal of the Sixers arena, just your plans on how you would move forward to address that three-legged stool issue?
City Council President, thank you for that question. We are facing gentrification and we are very active to trying to figure out how we ensure Chinatown's here for the next 50 years. We're doing several things here. One thing we have not talked about and we acknowledge is the Chinatown Stitch project, which is going to cover the Vine Street Expressway and reconnect Chinatown North and Chinatown Core. Investments in green public spaces in themselves cause gentrification. So our very own project to improve the conditions of Chinatown will cause gentrification. Out of this project we have set aside a foundation funding to help us figure out how to achieve equity with this project, how to not displace people and ensure that people can remain in Chinatown. William Penn Foundation, Knight Foundation funded us to invest in a study. We're hiring consultants to determine some recommendations that we can implement to preserve Chinatown. They are looking at community land trusts, commercial land trusts, which is critical to our economy because it allows second-, third- generation families who don't want to be in the business that their parents or grandparents were in. To be able to sell a property, the land trust can acquire it and that land trust can implement rules and regulations to preserve affordability, the type of use and the type of alignment with what we see in Chinatown. So land trust is one. Secondly, the other tools that are in a previous recommendation called the Chinatown Future History's Project looks at value capture. Value capture can look like a TIF, Tax Increment Finance Fund, where any appreciation in real estate taxes or values are preserved and kept for the community. It can be used to create more affordable housing. It can be used to offset rent increases for both small businesses and residents. These are the two major tools. The third thing we're doing is we've been a part of a national organization that comes out of the University of Maryland called SBAN, Small Business Anti-Network. Number four, we're working with the Asian Pacific American Historic Preservation organization looking to use best practices that they have seen across the country and Asian communities that worked. In answering Councilwoman Gauthier's question, it has to be a parallel line with investment in sustainability of our economy and cultural preservation. I hope that answered your question.
Yes, absolutely. And just the last part, so the project that you referred to that's going to connect North and South Chinatown, can you say it again just for the record?
Yes, will cover Vine Expressway and allow us to reconnect these two neighborhoods.
So something that's being built to connect the neighborhood which should be for good, but it's also going to exasperate gentrification and some of the things that you talked about that can mitigate gentrification on what you put forward. And can you give me your perspective on Councilman Squilla's Arena District proposal, his cultural preservation of Chinatown's proposal and he also put forth a TIF proposal to address the issue of rising real estate cost in that particular area of Chinatown. Just your perspective of what he has put forward that the wider public may not know about.
Sure. Councilman Squilla's proposal of a TIF aligns with our vision of the tools that we need to preserve Chinatown. The Arena District I need to look further into that, but my understanding is the Arena District is really there to mitigate any arena that comes in because that has to be funded from somewhere, right, and the funding should come from the arena, and whether it's mitigation of cleaning or making sure that there's a marketing promotion program for Chinatown, because it's very difficult -- I do want to underscore that Chinatown businesses, you know, you heard a success story of Dan Tsao next to me. But most of the Chinatown businesses have not recovered from the prepandemic levels of revenue and business. And that is a problem. I know it's a problem for the City of Philadelphia. It's been a problem for the business in the Center City downtown area that really rely on the return of office workers and we're not there yet.
Thank you very much, John. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. Thanks everyone for being here. The economic impact analysis, usually the way CBAs are created is that you do an economic impact analysis, you put a dollar amount on the impact and you create the CBA to offset any of the negative effects that would happen from the development. So my question is did you have any input into the dollar amounts determined for each of the programs in the CBA and were those the result of analysis from the impact studies from community or business engagement, discussions or discussions with your colleagues?
Thank you for that question, Councilwoman Landau. We don't know, I don't know what formula was used to come up with the CBA or the dollar amounts in that CBA. I have no idea. But you point out a very -- you make a very good point. In order to do an analysis, you have to have a foundation of data. I don't know that we have that data to determine what the baseline is for Chinatown's revenue, businesses, the number of employees we have in Chinatown, none of that. So without a baseline how do we arrive at a CBA agreement.
I appreciate that, and I appreciate, Romana, your response to Councilmember Nina Ahmad's question about that if the analysis was not fully inclusive, then the resulting report that talks about how to mitigate that impact cannot possibly be thorough and inclusive as well. Thank you.
Thank you. Just want to as just a follow-up question, because I represent Philadelphia Navy Yard, the PIDC Board, what role did, John, PCDC play in providing a level of input before the impact study RFP went out? Did any advocates from Chinatown have an opportunity to sit down with PIDC before the RFP went out to actually do the impact study?
Yes. PCDC was part of a group of folks from the Chinatown meeting with PIDC on a regular basis to discuss the RFP. I think we come from a standpoint of there's problems when the 76ers are paying for the RFP that was issued and performed. But we were part of a series of meetings talking about the RFP, the scope of the RFP and in addition to how some of the data should be analyzed, what should be analyzed, how much should be analyzed. And I think I can say that the RFP scope of work fell short because to the questions we just heard from the Councilmembers to my left, right, we don't have a baseline of economic understanding of Chinatown and the neighborhood south of the Market Street East District.
Thank you. So it would be helpful to have the economic impact that Chinatown in itself provides to the City of Philadelphia, should have been taken in consideration with the outcome of the actual impact study, correct?
Absolutely. We asked for the economic impact study connect to the community impact study because they are tied together and that never happened.
I definitely agree with that. That's very informative and good information. Thank you very much.
So in Chinatown there's about close to 300 businesses and out of the 300 businesses, there's about 125 restaurants and retail business. So 125 restaurant business, including like restaurants, bakery shop, (inaudible) shop, cafes. So due to my profession as a publisher of Chinese newspaper for the past 17 years, I got to know -- I have the fortune to work with 80 percent of the retail businesses in Chinatown. So 80 percent of the business owners I will know each other. And from my understanding, a typical restaurant business in Chinatown, their monthly revenue range from 50k to half a million dollars, to 500k a month. Okay. So during the last four years of the pandemic, delivery volume became an essential portion of revenue for any restaurants. That can be anywhere from 40 percent to 50 percent of delivery volume. So let's use a busy restaurant that can produce 500k a month as an example. For a busy restaurant with this so much revenue, about 45 percent likely will be delivery volumes. But I think that during the construction and also during the game days of the arena, most of the delivery volume is going to diminish, going to disappear. So why, because a customer in Rittenhouse Square, for my restaurant we have about 30 percent of our customers, from Rittenhouse Square from Universal City. So this customer is going to experience much longer delivery time. Previously they can get our order in 35 minutes. But during the congestion and game day, it can take as much as 1 hour 15 minutes. After two or three times they will turn away from any restaurant in Chinatown. They will order -- they will be ordering from restaurant elsewhere. So that will have a deep negative effect on the restaurant in Chinatown, can potentially bring down our revenue overall down 30, 40 percent.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jones.
Thank you, Mr. President. And thank you for taking time to meet with me yesterday. It was insightful. But I want to put on the record, Mr. President, because if you were sitting here you wouldn't have to be as dignified as you are up there. You would keep it 100. The concept of gentrification is not new to anybody in this room. Every part of the city has a neighborhood that is facing what you are facing. Economics drives it and property values drive it and we have to face it. We have to face it, however, without a community benefits agreement. Nobody came in -- except for one person I will acknowledge, Member Jamie Gauthier pulled out her poohshiesty and actually got one, but very few of us ever get the opportunity to do that. You got a couple?
All right. Okay. South Philly, all right. My point being that we approach this keep that in mind, that we are facing -- you are facing what we face all the time. So having said that, Community Benefits Agreement, I need a clarification on a number. I was given a number of 1.2 million over 10 years. To go to PCDC, is that a correct number?
That is correct, $1.25 million over 10 years to provide cleaning services.
All right. And I was then told that there was a $14 million agreement --
Just a point of information. Councilman Squilla, can you clarify your current negotiation with the Administration for your Special Arena District and what's going into the Arena District and what it covers just for the record because there are two pieces of information that are out there, and I don't think everyone knows in terms of what you have been working on regarding Chinatown and the benefits of the Special Arena District and what you're working on.
Yes. Thank you, Council President. And thank you for testifying and thank you for having me last night at the meeting in Chinatown. The original proposal did not include the Arena District. After the Mayor had introduced the CBA and the legislation, we had promised 30 days of review so that we could get a chance to see it and see if some of those mitigations that we thought should be put in place before introduction. After those 30 days negotiating with Council President's Office and the Administration, we created an Authority and the Arena District where the development 76ers would be able to fund that $14 million into that Arena District to have the people within the community -- now, the Arena District is just not Chinatown. It actually goes from Spring Garden down to Pine Street. So it's Wash West and Chinatown areas, and that money is to be used by a board set up that would be able to dictate what they believe would be the impacts on our community and how best to use that money not decided by the City of Philadelphia. And that was sort of modeled after the Stadium District in South Philly, the Casino Districts that were created after the casinos were set up. And so, this was just -- because we did believe and we heard a lot of the concerns and we didn't believe that the original CBA met the goals of what the community would need to offset some of those negative impacts. So we did add that additional dollars in there and that is now part of the CBA, as we're negotiating even additional stuff now working with the Administration and hopefully we could even add additional dollars into what we hear, business interruption plan and some other means to get additional dollars in that CBA. So that was added as we introduced it. That was not something that was in there originally. But we thought that it was important to have that before introduction and still I have to say from our colleagues here and the questions that are asked, we believe that there needs to be more in order to move forward.
For the record that don't come off my time, right, because that was a long answer?
My point to you is you should be -- I don't think it's clear to everyone that you are negotiating on behalf of your constituents to the tune of not 1 million or 1.2 but as my math, that's 15 million; is that a simple yes or no? Is that right, yes or no?
Yes, I would say we are doing that and that was something that negotiating -- and as you heard today it's still believed that it's not enough to offset those impacts. But, yes, we are still negotiating. We've done it before we introduced the bill and are continuing to do that and that's what this legislative process is for, to have those questions being asked by us and also to continue the negotiations through this process before there would be an ability to take a vote.
So, Mark, that's why I asked that question because I know how hard you fight. And when I heard it was only 1 mil I had to do my due diligence and I know better now. So I want to give you an attaboy for stepping up for your constituents. My second point in this is all of us care a great deal about what you're going through. I talked to them in the hallway. Everybody is concerned about the intended and unintended consequences, intended and unintended. But if we vote this down, tell me what you would propose for that parcel? (Applause.)
If you give me $1.5 billion, I propose mixed-income housing that addresses poverty, a social service center to address poverty and to create a small business incubator to lift our citizens out of poverty. So I don't have that money. I don't have the wherewithal. I don't have the resources or the connections to influence what goes there, but the reality is $1.5 billion can be better spent. The construction jobs will still be there, but the outcome and the equity that will be produced will be much wider and greater for the entire city of Philadelphia. (Applause.)
So all I'm going to say, Mr. President, is as we plan soberly about the future of this city we have to be responsible stewards both to them but to the vitality of our city, sir, and we have to protect them. I want to know about a SEPTA plan. I want to know about a security plan and I want to know about an economic development plan for Market Street. But when people visit our city I don't want them to come down there to that facility, whatever the vote is, and we have a wonderful super Five and Below for you to visit. That's not going to happen. Thank you, Mr. President. (Applause.)
Thank you. I get my kids bookbags from Five and Below, so you know what I mean. It's a very serious matter, but it always helps to smile. John and your panel, first and foremost any other questions and comments from members? The Chair recognizes Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President. And thank you all so much for coming in. I've enjoyed the opportunity to hear directly from PCDC, from you, John, and from the team --
Excuse me, Madam Leader. Can you speak into the microphone for documentation please?
I apologize. Thank you very much. I've enjoyed immensely the opportunity to be able to hear directly from each of you regarding your feedback around this proposal. I wanted to just get clarity on a couple things I heard just a few moments ago relative to the Community Benefits Agreement. And so, you stated that you all were in negotiations with the Sixers up until March, I believe my notes date, and you all have not had meeting with the 76ers since March?
I just want to delve into that for a moment. Is that because you all have not asked for a meeting or they have not asked for a meeting or whose ball was the court left in?
The ball is for either one of us to pick up and run and ask for a meeting. You know --
I just beg to differ. I don't think that the ball should be in your court because it's your community being impacted. Those who want to move the development project forward should be working in partnership with you and your team just for the record. (Applause.)
And I agree. That's why I wanted to ask just so that I have clarity on where this process left off. In addition to that, you talked about there being a total of 300 businesses in Chinatown. I believe you stated at least 150 businesses would be impacted. And based on the CBA that we have now for the Business Disruption Fund it's at 1.6 million, 400,000 over four years. With 150 businesses, that would be around $10,666 per business over four years, so give or take $2,600 per year per business. Have you all been involved directly in what we see listed here in Exhibit 1 around the CBA? Are you all involved in the ongoing negotiations that have been referenced over the last several moments of your testimony?
We have not been involved in what's produced on that page in the CBA. We never were involved. We currently are not involved in any conversations. And with regards to amending that number, we know that number is ridiculously low. And just for clarification purposes, our discussions with the City and especially the 76ers were not negotiations. We've consistently came to them and pointed out the harm and the deficits that would be experienced by Chinatown. Those were -- that was our purpose of meeting with them so they could understand and the CBA doesn't reflect that understanding.
Okay. My last question is regarding housing. I know we talked a lot about housing affordability and the impacts of gentrification on your community specifically. I know in the original proposal there was a housing, I think we saw some type of rendering for a housing tower. If you could just speak to your concerns with that.
Yeah. So we want affordable housing. We need affordable housing. I think that tower proposal with 400 units of housing, of which not quite 13 percent would go towards affordable 14 housing. That would have been great 15 for Chinatown. Okay. What it 16 lacked is the details of 17 affordability. 18 We all know in our own 19 neighborhoods that affordability 20 according to HUD standards is not affordability according to Philadelphia standards, all right, so that was a major problem with that. We do want the affordable housing but the details lacked in that proposal.
Okay. Thank you, Council President. I heard the bell.
Thank you. I just want to go for a point of information and clarity to the author of the bill. I just want to go to a point of information to the author of the bill, Councilmember Squilla. Can you elaborate on your proposal regarding affordable housing for the Chinatown District. Also, you introduced a bill regarding cultural preservation of Chinatown just to get feedback from Mr. John Chin and his team as well. These are things I think need to be on the record so folks can know, because there were two negotiations going on. There's the Administration and then there's Council. And so, he's been working on --
They were not negotiating with the 76ers. They were telling me what their concerns were, and I was working with them to come up with things to try to lessen the impacts. And I do believe though the Arena project pushed these things to the forefront, but I think that these are also things that we should be doing anyway to help protect Chinatown. And the cultural overlay was an overlay that would have inclusionary zoning at this point. As introduced, any project over 10 units --
What's inclusionary zoning for those who in the public that may not know what inclusionary zoning is?
Any project over units would have 10 percent affordable housing at 60 percent AMI. 60 percent AMI means that at 60 percent average median income is around $47,000. And the point of that was to hopefully grow the number of affordable units if people decide to build residential units there. We also did a bulk and massing where we chose a number at 3,000 square feet where in any commercial use if a project is bigger than 3,000 square feet, it would trigger an automatic variance. Therefore, it would have the -- the proposal would have to meet with Chinatown in order to get a variance to go to the ZBA. You couldn't do it by-right. We were worried about that goal as we heard from the concerns of keeping the small business feel in Chinatown. You wouldn't be able to combine several buildings to have a large footprint, and just by right be able to open up a chain store or a large nightclub type place in Chinatown. And the third thing -- well, there's really four things. One, we still we didn't put into the legislation yet but are looking to amend that working with Law. The third thing was the ability to have limited uses. One was adult uses. The other ones was nightclub uses that they couldn't be by-right. You would need a variance for them automatically. And the last thing we wanted to add was franchises, looking at when people see opportunities in certain neighborhoods, franchises go in and try to purchase properties. They have more resources, and that would eliminate the ability to have small businesses. So we're looking at now working with Law that maybe we could say if you have five or more businesses in a franchise, that would automatically also trigger a variance that would send that to the community and to the ZBA. That's how the overlay would work, and that overlay is basically in the area of the immediate Chinatown from 13th Street to 8th Street from Cuthbert -- or Filbert to Vine. And that was something that we believe -- and that is not in this Committee of the Whole. That's actually going to go to Rules, because we believe even if the arena doesn't move forward that should move out as a protection in Chinatown also. Now, that's not their negotiation with the 76ers. That was their conversations we've been meeting for over two years on these things --
So let's just be clear. That's not PCDC'S negotiation with the Sixers. They haven't talked to the Sixers over the past eight months regarding their issues and concerns, but they brought their issues and concerns to you which are reflected in the pieces of legislation that you have put forward; is that correct?
So also -- and thank you for the three-legged stool because I'm really utilizing that to formulate my argument of how we just objectively look at this proposal. And the cultural preservation, now we're working on Africatown in Southwest Philadelphia myself and Councilwoman Jamie Gauthier to preserve the African and Caribbean community in Southwest Philadelphia, and we may be partnering on such legislation now that I think about it. Your legislation regarding the preservation of Chinatown, what is it and give us the reasoning and purpose behind why you put forth that legislation.
Well, I think the goal is as we heard the pressures that we're seeing within the community and even projects that are supported within the community, there are still additional pressures to get added when we're talking about the Stitch and there's even another proposal for the Reading Rail Park. We know that when you do projects like that, that sometimes that's a stress on that community to encourage -- not encourage gentrification, but more people want to live in the community that has a lot of amenities. So the goal behind that is to preserve the cultural aspect of that neighborhood in a way through zoning. And it's not through the law -- what we did with affordable housing was we picked a site that was owned by the City of Philadelphia, was 11th and Winter which the Police District was there in agreement with the Mayor and with the Administration to transfer that property to partner with PCDC and a developer to build a truly affordable property there that would have 30, 50, 60 percent AMI and it would be 100 percent affordable. And that's a process to build these affordable projects if anybody's been through them in their districts, whether it's LITEC tax credits and other resources, but using resources to fill any financial gap by the CBA or the Administration who has supported that project also. So this is an ongoing project -- this is going to happen anyway also. And so, we know that the challenges that this has brought. We've been meeting and listening, John said dozens of meetings. It's been a lot and not just with PCDC. There's other organizations throughout the community, Save Our Town Coalition and others that we heard repeatedly, what their challenges were and concerns are. And so, part of the CBA also was creating an Oversight Committee for traffic congestion, parking and street access and having all the players in there who would determine how this plan is set forth and it was include people like SEPTA, PATCO, the community representatives, the RCOs, the small businesses, the Police, Fire Department, Parking Authority, the parking regulator, small businesses. And so, that we could keep the people actually informed, but the people who are actually being impacted are also part of that transit plan. So that's also part of the municipality that we had set forth in our -- not the municipality, the Arena District, Special Service District, would have that organization as part of that to then relay to the City and to the organizations that are going to be impacted the most on what needs to be done. Jefferson was also part of that because of access 24/7 that's needed for the hospital. So all these things are in place, but what the concern is saying, all right, they're all in place but the plan's not in place right now, so how do you know what's going to happen in the future and really even putting the plan in place. And when we see these temp -- there you go -- temporary plans in place, until we actually see it in action we're not going to really know what those impacts are. And we see from the studies that 40 percent of the people need to take public transit in order for it to work. We talked to other places throughout the country who have built downtown arenas now compared to having arenas in rural, which is mainly autocentric places. The goal is now to get people into using public transit to try to reduce our carbon footprint to get people to use that. And what changed that behavior, what was the big things that changed the behavior for people to be able to drive to an event to now would take public transit. Whether you live in Montgomery County, in the counties or you live in Jersey and you're saying I'll always drive, I'll never take public transit. Well, if you come to the arena now and people tell you, well, there's no parking there so you can't drive, you have to take public transit, right. And you incentivize the use of public transit.
You have in other municipalities where they made the arena facilities have transit passes with their tickets. Then you started to see that change where people now when they drove 80 to 90 percent of the time are now 50 percent of the time taking public transit. These are all the goals that we've been working on and setting up in what we have added to the legislation and added to the CBA. But as you hear, it was not negotiated with the team but negotiated through me from what I heard the concerns were.
Thank you. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Quetcy Lozada.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just have one question. Has any of the --
Excuse me, Quetcy. Can you speak into the microphone please?
-- the impact studies been able to show the number of jobs that would be impacted in the Chinatown Cultural District? And can you share with us of those jobs what is the breakdown? Are there just members of the Asian community that are employed in Chinatown? Are there Latinos employed in Chinatown? Are there African Americans employed in Chinatown? What is the makeup of the businesses and their employees?
Yeah. I can give you an example of my business like a typical restaurant in Chinatown. So currently we have 40 employees, and I think that we have a very diverse team of staff members. So we have Chinese, we have a Hispanic. We have about maybe eight or nine Hispanic staff members and we have two or three African American employees, and we have, I don't know, three or four White American employees so that represents the demographic of my business. And I mean, also before this panel finish I want to present you -- I want to present all the City Councilmembers a scenario. Okay. So I know that this has been a very long and stressful year due to this project. So let's imagine that all of us will be traveling to Japan, Tokyo. We're moving over there. And let's say we might be settling over there for a few years or maybe even a couple of decades. And then we realize that, wait a minute, there's lots of language barriers, that's culture barriers, right, also possibly discriminations in Tokyo living in a foreign country. It's very challenging for anybody. So let's move suddenly. We realize on the corner of Tokyo there's a small district for African Americans. And then where you can get all the comfort food from Philadelphia you can get a cheesesteak, you can get hoagies that makes you feel you at home --
I eat tofu just for the record. I'm vegetarian.
We have very good tofu at the restaurant also. So moving forward, many of us might end up settling down in Tokyo, having kids, having a business in Tokyo. years later suddenly the 12 baseball team of Tokyo said, you 13 know what, let's put up a stadium in 14 this African American District. I 15 want to ask every one of you how 16 would you react and how would you 17 protest. Thank you. 18 (Applause.) 19
Dan's business is pretty much reflective of our community. We actually have a mixed group of -- our Workforce is actually fairly mixed. It's not only Chinese. People view that -- it's other Asians as well as Hispanic. I mean, you know that the Hispanic community, Mexican community has actually served in the food industry around the city. So it's pretty much around the city too as well. It's a mix.
Thank you, Mr. President. Hi. Good morning. Just a couple of questions for you. What would you say -- I don't know if you have this data with you -- the total number of households that comprises Chinatown? What would that number be roughly?
I can get that number for you, but population-wise we have about 5,000 people living in Chinatown. If we expand to Chinatown North, it's 8,000 people.
So somewhere between 5 and 8 depending on where you draw the boundary at?
What's the total number of low and affordable housing units in Chinatown right now would you say? So for whatever the number of total units are, what would you say the number of low-income or affordable housing units are there right now?
We have about 280 units that have used government financing. There are other households and apartments in Chinatown that I would say meet the low-income guidelines for rent, but we're talking about very substandard housing. So 280 that has been financed by government funding.
So 280 you would say quality housing units for low to moderate or affordable housing?
And of those say 280 units, can you give us some information on the demographics of the households?
Yes. We have multi-family, but I would say of the 280 more than 50 percent of the residents are seniors.
And other demographic data, do you have the racial breakdown of what those 280 units look like?
Yeah, I do not. But I would guess it's majority Asian American of those 280 units.
Thank you very much. I want to thank you for your very, very informative testimony, and obviously members through their questions will continue to stay on top of these issues and addressing your issues and concerns. Mr. Christmas, please call the next panel.
Ms. Tami Sortman, Washington Square West Civic Association Board member. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good morning. Thank you for taking time out of your schedule. Just please state your name and begin your testimony.
Absolutely. Good morning. My name is Tami Sortman. I am the President of the Washington Square West Civic Association and I want to point out that I am privileged to have been living in the Gayborhood for over 13 years. I have two of my Board 14 members with me today and they'll 15 introduce themselves once they start 16 speaking; is that okay? 17
Thank you. 20 So I'm going to start off with a 21 statement and then we'll go right 22 into four sections that we wanted to 23 discuss today. Again, thank you for 24 the opportunity to speak today on behalf of the Washington Square West Civic Association. I just want everyone to know that we are the oldest civic association here in Center City, established in 1935. Our community is deeply connected to the fabric of Center City and uniquely positioned to experience both the challenges and potential impacts of the proposed 76ers arena. I want to state where our borders are. Our borders are Market Street, the south side; to South Street, the north side; from Broad Street, the east Side; to 7th Street, the west side. I also want to state on the record that for Washington Square West Civic Association we were never consulted during the Mayor's CBA and as John Chin stated, we did not find out anything about that CBA until the day it was presented. As the President of the Civic Association, I represent a neighborhood rich in history, diversity and vibrancy. Our community includes residents along with students, small business owners, a trauma 1 hospital, historic landmarks and the heart of Philadelphia's Gayborhood. This proposed arena is a project of great magnitude. However, we see significant risks that demand thoughtful consideration. I'm joined today by Peter Coe as well as Katie Dylan-Lowe, both valued Board members of the Washington Square West Civic Association. Together we bring the voices and concerns of our neighborhood to this hearing. It is important to note that after thorough discussion the residents of Washington Square West along with our Civic Association Board have voted against the proposed 76ers arena on Market East. Everyone who's been following this project know that we as a civic association are riding two horses. To be clear, on the one hand we are already on the record that we are opposed to the arena going ahead and we call on Councilmembers to vote against it. On the other hand, we are aware that if it does go ahead, there are going to be numerous negative consequences which will need to be addressed. So today we will share our concerns briefly under four key areas should the arena go forward. These are community impact and livability, safety and public nuisance prevention, transit and traffic management and representation of economic support. This arena proposal is not just about a building. It's about the community that surrounds it. Washington Square West is not an afterthought. It is a vital part of Philadelphia's cultural, economic and historic landscape. Our neighborhood has spoken through their vote. We oppose the 76ers arena on Market East as it stands. We are asking for collaboration, transparency and a meaningful action to ensure our neighborhood remains vibrant, safe and livable. I'm now going to ask Peter to start with our first area.
Thank you, Tami. And thank you, Councilmembers, for this opportunity to speak. My name is Peter Coe. I'm a homeowner on the 1100 block of Spruce Street in the middle of the Gayborhood. I've lived there since arriving in Philadelphia three years ago. I'm an active member of the neighborhood since I arrived and a member of three civic groups, including a Board member of the Friends Of Louis Lahn Park and for the past year a Board Director of the Washington Square West Civic Association with a special responsibility as Chair of the Action on Trash Committee, tackling the biggest daily challenge we face in Washington Square West which is keeping the streets clean. To the point of community impact and livability, which Tammy has touched on, Washington Square West stands right on the edge of what could become a new Stadium District. We believe the negative consequences of that proximity will be considerable, particularly for residents focusing on quality of life. We have a number of questions for Councilmembers as they consider this legislation. First of all, what measures will be implemented to prevent disruptions to livability in the neighborhood, for example from additional noise, littering and disruptive behavior from arena patrons. Parking opportunities for residents in our area are disappearing almost every day. Will residential parking protections such as stricter time limits be enacted to deter arena attendees from using neighborhood spaces? The unique historic character of Washington Square West has been recognized very recently by the creation of the Washington Square West historic district. The protections that status provides is very welcome, but it only extends to its buildings, not to its residents and small businesses which are at the heart of the community. What can the City do to ensure the character of our neighborhood is preserved, our residents are protected and conditions are created in which those small businesses can survive and thrive? And then we look at expanding services. We believe the Stadium District, as it's being named, if it comes into being should encompass not just the stadium, the immediate area around the stadium, but the whole of Washington Square West and Chinatown, but Washington Square West as far as the north side of South Street, which is the southern limit of our boundaries. And this should include year-round trash and street cleaning services which are equivalent to the service that City Center District currently provides between Market and Locust Streets under a completely separate agreement. So will the City consider extending the bounds of the Stadium District to include this whole area and without any extra burden on local taxpayers? Then we come to PATCO. And you may or may not be aware that the PATCO stations located on Locust Street run through the center of Washington Square West, and they are an ongoing source of concern for residents due to poor maintenance and unclear accountability. With increased pedestrian traffic from PATCO, riders heading to the events, these issues will only intensify. So we ask the City to provide clarification on who is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of these stations. And regardless of whether the arena is built, the responsible party must take immediate and sustained action to address maintenance issues, ensuring those stations remain clean, functional and safe for all users. If the arena does proceed, then the City must also account for the increased pedestrian traffic to and from PATCO stations in its broader transit and safety planning for Washington Square West and the Gayborhood because we're not just talking about Market Street, people who arrive at a stadium event, whatever that event is, are not necessarily going to come off Market Street. So the questions that derive from this are who is ultimately responsible for the maintenance of PATCO stations located in Washington Square West?
What immediate steps will be taken to improve the condition of these stations and to address long- standing issues like cleanliness, homeliness and maintenance, and how will the City manage the anticipated increase in pedestrian traffic from PATCO riders. Thank you.
I'm going to speak briefly on safety and public nuisance. Washington Square West is a densely populated neighborhood that faces unique challenges during major events. Yet police presence is now low in our neighborhood and has been for many years. We urge the City to increase police presence before, during and after the arena. This includes visible foot and bike patrols, along with rapid response units to prevent and address disturbances in realtime. The question of funding of these measures is critical. We ask for clarity on how additional safety resources will be financed without overburdening local taxpayers or diverting essential services from other areas of the city. So questions we have in regards to that is: What specific plans are in place to ensure increased police presence before, during and after arena events in Washington Square West? And we want to make sure that PATCO is included in all of this, because again it is a piece of land that runs directly through the center of our area and so we have a lot of people coming and going from Locust Street to many other parts of the city. And if this arena comes, we will have a huge more increase of pedestrians walking through this neighborhood? Will there be safety measures, including collaboration with the Civic Association for ongoing safety assessments and adjustments? Also, how does the City intend to fund these additional safety measures? I also want to talk about the LGBTQ community. Washington Square West is the home of Philadelphia's Gayborhood, a cornerstone of the LGBTQ+ community. Philadelphia has been inviting the LGBTQ+ community from across the world here to Philadelphia to visit our Gayborhood for over years. 11 Large influx of event 12 attendees in the proposed arena 13 raised concerns about maintaining a 14 welcoming and safe environment for 15 all. We are asking the City to 16 implement measures that will 17 safeguard LGBTQ+ residents and 18 visitors from harassment, 19 discrimination and homophobic 20 behavior. This will become even more vital during high-traffic areas on event days. To promote inclusivity and safety, the City should require educational programming for all arena security teams, Jefferson police, PATCO police and the Philadelphia police, emphasizing cultural sensitivity towards diverse communities. So the types of questions we have are how will the City ensure the safety of LGBTQ+ residents and visitors, especially during high- traffic event days. Will the City implement mandatory inclusivity training for arena security teams, Jefferson police and PATCO police along with Philadelphia police to address harassment and discrimination concerns. Are there plans to be established a direct reporting system for incidents of harassment or discrimination in and around the arena. Lighting is another issue that we want to bring up. Key areas in Washington Square West such as the number streets from 10th to 13th Street all the way down to South Street, including residential areas and small streets, would serve as vital pedestrian thoroughfares. However, inadequate lighting proposes risks. So we strongly advocate for upgrading street lighting as well as business lighting in critical areas to enhance visibility and safety, particularly after dark. So our questions are what plans do the City have to improve street lighting and business lighting and visibility in the key areas that I've just mentioned? And how will these improvements be prioritized and funded? I'm next turning it over to Katie, who's going to talk about transit.
Hello. My name is Katie Dylan-Lowe. I'm a Board member of the Washington Square West Civic Association. I am the community engagement coordinator. I've lived on Jeweler's Row for years as a 6 renter, one of over 70 percent of 7 the population of Wash West is 8 renters. 9 Washington Square West's 10 small historic streets, many of them 11 being single lane, are not equipped 12 for the influx of traffic that would 13 be expected of an arena event. The 14 TIS clearly states that any more than 40 percent of attendees driving to the venue would cause traffic gridlock, affecting the quality of life of our residents, visitors to our neighborhood businesses and, potentially and most seriously, our hospitals. How can the City realistically hold the project owners or even those who choose to drive accountable so that the 40 percent of public transit usage can be achieved? What is the accountability plan? We've heard that neither the City nor the Sixers are planning to subsidize the extra trains that would be needed to accommodate the arena event-goers and also to achieve that 40 percent attendee ridership on public transit. Wash West Civic joins with many of our Councilpeople who have already noted that a plan must be in place to support SEPTA and fund the needed trains before this project could possibly move forward. There could be up to 900 ride share cars coming into the city, which would be divided into three ride share drop-off locations, and one of them which is in Wash West. The proposed ride share drop off location is either the 900 or 1,000 block of Chestnut Street, maybe both, which is less than 500 feet from Center City's only Level 1 Trauma Center. Why was this location chosen given its close proximity to the hospital? Could we choose a different zone such as Ludlow Street which is not a highly trafficked street? How will ride share pickup and drop-off zones actually be managed to avoid sidewalk crowding and traffic disruptions? And how would geo fencing work and would that prevent people who are unrelated to arena traffic from being able to call a ride in that zone? We just don't know. The 40 percent threshold for drivers into the city is repeated many times in the TIS. We know that multiple studied intersections fail PennDOT's rating system at 40 percent and even 30 percent. The TIS modal split assumes the percent of attendees will arrive for ride share, but does that 10 percent of ride share cars not bring the total number of cars coming into and then exiting the city up to 50 percent? This is unclear. And if it does raise that number of cars to 50 percent, that is a massive oversight in the transit traffic management plan. No intersections south of Chestnut Street aside from Broad and Sansom were studied, so we do not really know how traffic will impact the small streets of Washington Square West, but we do know there will be traffic in our neighborhood, arena traffic in our neighborhood, as a number of designated parking garages and lots are in Washington Square West. We hope to see in the near future the results of the Jefferson traffic study. Sharing those findings would help us understand the potential impacts to our neighborhood and it could help alleviate some of the concerns that many of our neighbors have expressed about access to Jefferson's Level 1 Trauma Center, Stroke Center, Will's Eye emergency room and the maternity ward at Pennsylvania Hospital.
Thank you, Casey. So addressing our fourth area, we want to talk about representation and economic support, again should the arena go ahead. And considering the significant ongoing impact that an arena is likely to have on Washington Square West, our neighborhood does need to have a voice in decision-making throughout the arena's lifetime, not just on one morning at Council. So we can help ensure long-term oversight and accountability. We should also note that small businesses in our neighborhood are critical to our community's identity. So our remaining questions to the council are first with regard to support for small businesses. What specific resources will the City provide to assist small businesses in Washington Square West that may experience disruptions from the arena during the construction period and beyond? And will the City support establishing a conservation zoning overlay for Washington Square West to preserve its historic character and promote local business retention? And finally, in terms of representation the current oversight structure that's being proposed lacks adequate neighborhood input. Will Washington Square West receive a formal seat on the Arena District Board to ensure our long-term representation. So these are the four focus areas outlined by my colleagues and they cover our most pressing concerns. We do have other concerns. But given the time limits this morning, we have not brought before you. But we can provide these to the Council in writing after this hearing if you wish. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you all so much for your testimony. For the record, the Chair recognizes the presence of Majority Whip Thomas for this Committee hearing. Are there any questions, colleagues, for this panel? The Chair now recognizes Councilmember Gauthier.
Thank you. Good afternoon. Your neighborhood now has one of the biggest historic districts in the city. Can you tell us whether there's anything from your experience that we should be including in our conversation about how to preserve Chinatown?
Right now our historic district is so new it was literally just voted in a couple of months ago. We haven't had enough experience I think to know.
True. We are going to be speaking more with the Historical Commission on learning more about what we can and can't do as that Historic District.
Gotcha. I wanted to talk a little bit more about the Gayborhood. I saw in the Inquirer that two minority-owned LGBTQ establishments closed due to rising rents. What do you think about how the arena will help businesses due to additional tourism? Do you think that the arena will help businesses due to additional tourism or do you think it will cause negative impacts?
At this point we all feel that it would be a negative impact on our community moving forward.
I think I can also add that I've had informal conversations with members of the Association of Philly Tour Guides and a number of them are very opposed to the project as well because of the impact they think it will have, particularly on Historic Philly.
And what would you like to see in the Community Benefits Agreement that could counteract some of these expected impacts?
We really don't want to speak about the CBA at this time because we are against this project. So if we start to try to negotiate, which we have not had an opportunity to even discuss with anyone at this time, it's not something that we would want to bring up right now.
I think we would also want to add, like the Chinatown delegation, we believe that the CBA is grossly understated and completely inadequate for the negative consequences that are going to follow.
When you say that you have not had an opportunity to provide input or comments on the CBA, can you expound on that?
We had no 2 input whatsoever in regards to the CBA. We have only met with the Mayor's Administration once during these two years of this. So everything is has not been discussed with us at all.
Have they reached out to you? Have you reached out to them? What has that looked like?
I was going to add that that meeting, the formal meeting with the Mayor's team was only very recent.
I'm sorry. I had to step out for a second. Thank you, Majority Leader. Just for a point of information, have you met with the District Councilperson regarding this particular project who represents Washington Square West?
With Councilmember Mark Squilla who represents your area, your neighborhood?
Have you expressed any issues and concerns regarding the arena proposal to Councilmember Mark Squilla?
Okay. Are any of the things you have expressed to him reflected in the current Community Benefits Agreement and/or his Arena District proposal?
Well, again we haven't had in-depth conversations in regards to the CBA with anyone. We have brought up concerns with the Councilman but have not gone into any detail.
Okay. Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Mark Squilla.
Thank you. Just a point of information. Again, sort of like Chinatown there was no interest in speaking about a CBA from Washington Square West. I think what I did the best I can is listening to what those concerns are, understanding we heard about greening -- I mean, cleaning, lighting, security and other things and how they were going to be part of the CBA, but there was no ask to say that this is our request in the CBA because the community was opposed to the project. And so, we took the same tact as we did with the Chinatown community and did what we did, fought to introduce and amend the CBA to include some of those things. And I just want to add, I know you mentioned I think the safety, security headquarters that would be at 11th and Market. It's part of the CBA that would be funded by the arena to develop that and that would be four event days and evenings that would include PATCO, SEPTA, Center City District and the Police Department that would man those facilities and have them for all event days working out the logistics through Jefferson also who has security at the time to work through that. But these conversations that I had with the community were related in what I presented as we introduced the CBA, but there was no 7 negotiations as far as this needs to be in the CBA for us to support it because they were opposed.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your testimony. Mr. Christmas, please call the next panel.
Mr. Arthur Acolin, Dominic Vitiello, Paul Heaton, Lorenzo Cannon-Umstead, Alex Jin, please come forward, take a seat at the microphones, the desk. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Hello. How are you doing? Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Arthur Acolin. I'm a Real Estate Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and before that, I lived in Philadelphia for over a decade. I love this city and hope to be able to live here again in the future. I believe that private investment is needed on East Market Street. I also believe in serious data and analysis to support investment decision. I have not seen that being produced in support of the proposed arena. Analysis and assumption that should have been made public over the last two years to back up the figures presented by Sixers remain undisclosed. The economic impact study commissioned by PIDC, which is largely based on input from the 76ers, also lacks key details. And despite the repeated inquiries from this body to release them, the report remains undisclosed. It's kind of hard to imagine what trade secret or rather what undefensible assumptions are in this report that we still don't really know how those figures were derived and where they come from. However, there is convincing evidence that the proposed 76 Place could cause substantial harm to existing businesses. These negative impacts are not properly accounted for at this stage. In particular, it's important to take seriously the Community Impact Study Commission by PIDC, which has been emphasized earlier today already, indicates that 50 percent of the over 300 businesses in Chinatown alone are expected to experience a net negative impact and only percent of the 300 businesses are expected to see a net positive impact with the other 30 percent experiencing mixed impact. This means that 76 Place (inaudible) a crucial tax base on economic engine for the city of Philadelphia and the state of Pennsylvania. The disruption and loss of small and midsize businesses in the area could have long-lasting negative consequences for Center City and beyond. And somehow those negative consequences were not incorporated into the economic impact study or used as a basis for the CBA. At the same time, the PILOT and Use & Occupancy agreements represent major tax subsidies that add to the bottom line of the team's owner without being available to other businesses in the City. Overall the tax subsidies the City is offering the team represent over half a billion dollars between now and 2062 with little tax benefit for the City and School District until 2032. In deciding whether or not to support the project, the City should be clear that this represents large subsidies from city taxpayers to build this arena that are not available to other for-profit businesses in the area. The fact that previous sport venues have received similarly beneficial tax treatment does not make it good policy, does not make it good economic and urban development policy. Meanwhile according to the community impact study, the small businesses in Chinatown that will be negatively affected by the arena have seen their property taxes increase by 68 percent from 2014 to 2023 and their Use & Occupancy payment increased by 46 percent from 2015 to 2023. 2 million in Use & Occupancy tax payment. This is substantially more than the $500,000 payment that the 76 Place will finally start paying in 2032, a negotiated amount that is even lower than what the $620,000 Wells Fargo Center advantageous Use & Occupancy payments are today. We search a high cost for the existing community and limited tax benefit. The City might want to consider alternative projects that invest and operate in synergy with existing tax base rather than jeopardize it. Local businesses and workers generate significant contribution to the local economy that are not easily replaced. In closing, the evidence today indicate substantial risk and little guaranteed return associated with this project for the surrounding neighborhood and for Philadelphia at large. Thank you.
Thank you. Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony, sir.
Good afternoon. Thank you. My name is Dominic Vitiello. I'm a Professor of City Planning and Urban Studies at Penn and I've lived in Philadelphia for 50 years since I was 1. I do a lot of work in Africatown, Chinatown and many other communities around Philadelphia. So the proposed arena has been touted by its backers as a real boon for economic development and a way to spark revitalization on East Market Street. But in reality arenas are a bad form of economic development, especially for downtowns. This is a bad deal in so many ways. There is a broad consensus among independent economists around this country that arenas and stadiums do not add net tax revenue and other economic benefits to cities. And if you just heard the subsidy figures that the City is proposing to give to the 76ers, I think you can appreciate why. So if the support in this room for this Arena proposal is about jobs, I think my most important message about jobs is that there are other much better ways to get many more jobs in construction on East Market Street in South Philadelphia and elsewhere. My father was a member of unions for his entire life. I obviously work in a non-union shop, but I want to use the rest of my testimony to talk about the ways in which arenas do not revitalize downtowns. Instead they generally have the opposite effect, and we've seen this in American cities writ large. C. are dead zones on non-game days. And on game days, their crowds disrupt nearby businesses and residential neighborhoods. Philadelphia has a vibrant downtown, a 2/47 downtown increasingly. S. downtown, and one of the main reasons our downtown population and its tax base has grown in recent decades is that Center City has a human scale with neighborhoods that have dense ecosystems of small businesses, serving residents and visitors alike, and an arena would do tremendous damage to these businesses and the broader vitality of Center City. The proposed arena threatens to reverse the growth that we have experienced with huge consequences for the City's broader tax base and economy, because downtown vitality affects the entire City's economy. Small businesses rely on regular foot traffic and many, as you've heard in testimony today, also depend on easy automobile access and parking for customers and delivery drivers. Pre- and post-event traffic at the proposed arena would decimate these businesses in the neighborhoods on both sides of Market Street, causing many to close entirely. And arenas. To a question Councilmember Gauthier asked a moment ago, right, internalize spending, right. They capture as much spending as possible really rarely benefiting nearby small businesses that aren't in adult entertainment or some other things that we evidently don't want to encourage, right. So the great majority of so-called downtown NBA arenas are actually on the edge of downtowns. They are next to highways and large parking facilities and not in the heart of downtowns. Other cities have been really wise to keep arenas out of the heart of their downtowns. Instead the purpose-built stadium and Arena Districts that they have developed, which I know some of you have studied recently as has our Mayor, when done well they include a mix of compatible uses, typically much larger businesses and not the small shops and small residences that predominate in Center City and make it the interesting vibrant place that it is. I also want to stress that no CBA or Stadium District or other measures you can take will truly mitigate the disruptive and damaging effects on our downtown if we build an arena, including the livability and economic vitality of Chinatown, the Gayborhood, Washington Square West and surrounding neighborhoods. And, yes, I know Councilmember Jones has stepped out, neighborhoods around our city are experiencing gentrification but only one of them is being targeted by an arena which is a fundamentally different proposal for land use and neighborhood economies.
So you have a clear choice, in my view, between the proposed arena and preserving and enhancing the vitality of these neighborhoods from the inevitable disruption that arenas have on residential and small-scale commercial neighborhoods. Please do not deceive yourselves into believing you can preserve the vitality of our downtown if you allow this arena to be built. Thank you. )
State your name for the record and begin your testimony.
Hi. I'm Paul Heaton. I'm a Professor of Law at the University of Pennsylvania. I also have a Ph.D. in economics. If you look at the text of Bill No. 2 240966, it claims that the arena will create thousands of construction jobs and hundreds of permanent jobs in the city. However, the economic impact studies used to support these claims are deeply flawed. City Council should not rush to approve this legislation when you've not been given a complete accurate accounting of the economic effects of the arena. The impact studies are flawed in at least three ways: First, they claim to assess net impacts but actually completely ignore significant economic costs and harms from the arena. For example, later today you'll hear from SEPTA that they anticipate tens of millions of startup costs and tens of millions of annual continuing costs for operations associated with the arena. None of those costs are included in the economic impact study. Those are costs that will have to be borne by SEPTA's customers or City or state taxpayers. Again, not in an economic impact study. We know that if we don't meet the transit target of 40 percent, the City's own studies say that that's going to create substantial gridlock. But again, there's no calculation of the economic costs of that lost mobility. The studies also ignore the opportunity costs of other potential useful uses for the Market East parcel as well as potential expanded redevelopment of the South Philly sports complex. It's quite possible that alternatives to the arena could actually generate even more jobs and more City tax revenue than what's been proposed here, but you haven't been given information about alternatives. I'll also note that these studies have serious methodological problems. As one example, no one seriously thinks that the Wells Fargo Center is going to actually get more events and more business if the arena is built. But if you look carefully at the CSL study, what you'll see is that all of the comparable cities that it used to build its jobs estimate were cities where the existing arenas actually gained business after a new arena was built. In a lot of ways this study reminds me and it has similar problems to the study that was shared with this Council back in 2015 when you were asked to approve the Fashion District Mall. If you go back to that study, you were told that the mall was going to generate 1,400 new jobs. I think we know how that turned out. And so, if you approve this, right, I think you can understand that it's going to generate many, many fewer jobs than you've been promised by the Sixers and by CSL. Finally, I'll just point out that taken on its own terms the CSL study tells us that the arena is going to create significant economic harm. So if you look in the tiny fine print on , the study gives us the startling estimate that 41 percent of the arena's total revenues will be cannibalized from existing sitting businesses or leak out of the city. So by their calculations, that's about $75 million per year. So if you approve the arena, what you're going to be doing is having hundreds of millions of dollars that would go to existing City businesses today that end up getting transferred over to Harris Blitzer & Live Nation. Now, if I were you I would probably want to know before voting on the arena like what are the businesses in my district that are going to lose revenue that may have to downsize as a result of the arena. But the economic impact studies you have really hide the ball on these issues. So just to summarize, I really don't think you want to vote to risk our Chinatown unless you know for sure that this project is going to be a net win for the city, but you're missing really critical facts and data that you need to make that determination. Thanks. (Applause.)
Thank you. State your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Thank you. My name is Alex Jin. I hold a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University where I'm currently a postgraduate research associate. I am a resident of Chinatown North and have lived in Philly for around seven years. So like everyone else on this panel, I believe in the need for a revitalized Market East for the future of Philadelphia. History has shown, however, that grand magic bullet construction projects are never the solution. Back in the 1960s and '70s, for example, the Vine Street Expressway was touted as a pivotal infrastructure project that would bring back much-needed jobs and commerce to a city struggling from post-war deindustrialization. Under the guise of urban renewal, highway projects were said to be literal lifelines into the city that would shepherd in money back from the suburbs. We know today that I-676 has not only done little to alleviate congestion in the city but also had largely negative economic impacts in how its construction disrupted regular business and cut communities apart. The recently awarded 158.3 million federal transportation grant for the Chinatown Stitch is, after all, an implicit acknowledgement of the economic and social harms the highway had on downtown Philadelphia. What I find especially troubling about the 76ers proposal is how economically and scientifically unserious it is. Arthur has already touched on some of the economic losses both to Chinatown and to the City, especially in terms of lost tax revenue that would amount to close to $600 million over the next 30 years. We also know that the 76ers has a history of false advertising and failing to live up to their promises. Just eight years ago the 76ers built a practice facility in Camden in exchange for a $82 million tax break from the New Jersey state legislature. There the 76ers touted how a practice facility would not only generate more jobs but also revitalize all of Downtown Camden. As of 2023, the 76ers employ only 11 Camden residents out of its 275 employees there, which amount to 4 percent of its overall workforce. And the area surrounding the practice facility remains destitute. In 2022 New Jersey's Economic Development Authority went as far as revoking part of the 76ers tax break in Camden because the practice facility had failed to live up to its promises of job creation. As the acting State Controller Kevin Walsh said at the time, "It is easy for a business looking for tax credits to promise results but harder to deliver." The question facing Council today is whether we want the City of Philadelphia and its many taxpayers to foot the bill for yet another grandiose infrastructure project unlikely to generate real economic growth built by and for billionaires with a track record of failing to live up to their promises. Thank you. (Applause.)
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Thank you. Council President, Council, to my organizing colleagues here in Chambers today, neighbors, workers and the people of the city of Philadelphia, good afternoon. My name is Lorenzo Cannon-Umstead and I'm from 215 People's Alliance and Black Philadelphians for Chinatown. Lastly, I'm a 3rd District constituent. Good to see you today, Councilmember. I oppose Bill No. 14 240966. Before speaking directly to this bill, just a little bit about myself for those that wonder. I'm the Northeast organizer of 215 People's Alliance, which is a multi- racial working-class organization, building people power across the whole of Philadelphia. As an organizer in our city, I have experienced organizing alongside and facilitating to youth and all high school types around our city, public, charter, private, parochial, however y'all want to do it. I also have experience working for our Streets Department, cleaning out our alleyways and our blocks and lots that were less desirable to address and physically work on based on the conditions of those during that time. To these issues, I have placed my feet directly on our land. I have worked in warehouses, receiving mass deliveries to feed people in the city. I am no stranger to labor. I love labor organizing and I love a good labor organizing struggle. But when that labor organizing struggle is just and when the politics of said labor struggle has a dialectical materialist lens, intentional or otherwise. Currently at 215 People's Alliance we are trying to address trash clean-up and short dumping in our city as it pertains to a cleaner and greener Philadelphia. One thing I'm having a bit of trouble with is that a new state-of-the-art arena, right, a NBA arena on Market Street, how will that contribute to a cleaner and greener Philadelphia. I'm thinking about food waste, plastics and other waste materials from the pro shops. Has the extra labor that is needed to keep Market Street clean on game days been considered? People will choose to tailgate or pregame if they see fit as people do in the city in our neighborhood, residential areas in Market East. Have all of our City branches considered this? And you know, pardon me if it's been mentioned, and this may be somewhat of a moot point to some based on the institution. But the time that I have dedicated to this hearing and watching this hearing, I have yet not heard the fact that the very land we are debating over a charter school sits across the street from it. Now, I realize this charter school is not within our public district, right. But it is a school with Philadelphia youth who sit in that building every day during the school year. Now, I wonder if there has been any attempts made to form an open and direct relationship with schools and youth programs in our city, especially to those middle and high school institutions that have basketball teams. Have the 76ers reached out to get with these youth in programs to provide them with resources, especially the schools that will be in geographic proximity to this proposed arena. What impactful or ancillary benefits does this provide to our youth in this city? How will their day-to-day lives be affected by the Market Street construction? And I can kind of recall some years back I went to West Philadelphia Catholic High School. I'm also, you know, a West Philadelphia resident. In the late 2000s during the SEPTA reconstruction, our lives as West Catholic students and West Philadelphia High School students, the public school, all of our lives in the neighborhoods of West Sunset Park were all affected by that construction during that time in the late 2000s -- excuse me, Walnut Hill, pardon me. As this hearing continues, I've urge all of us in these chambers, those of us watching on stream on Channel 64 or even those watching on the YouTube playback, please consider some serious answers to these questions. Thank you all. I appreciate it. (Applause.)
Thank you. Questions or comments from members of the Committee? Councilmember O'Rourke.
Councilman O'Rourke, please speak into the microphone please.
And good morning to all the panelists. What I'm hearing from this panel is a lot of evidence that this is a bad deal, maybe even worse than we already realize. Other members have throughout the course of listening raised points. The extremely high cost to local businesses, potential tax subsidy hand-out of almost 600 million and a huge burden on SEPTA and are just not worth the poorly- supported claims, as I said last week really this bet's kind of how it's turning out to be, of this economic development for Market East. That having been said, I actually agree citywide thinking that development of Market East is ideal. So what types of alternative projects would lead to a healthy redevelopment of Market East in your assessment?
Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm not an expert. I think we've heard a lot of different proposals, a biosciences hub. We heard earlier today about proposals for a small business incubator. Ultimately, I think it's obviously the role of this Council to make those decisions. I guess what troubles me is the Sixers want an arena. You have one option before you and it seems like the choice is kind of either take our option or go home. And I think really the right way to think about that is to think about trade-offs, right, what are the values and benefits of this option as compared to other things that we might do. And I guess what bothers me about the economic impact studies that you've been given is they don't really think about alternatives. There may be a deal that's actually better for unions that generates more City tax revenue but that doesn't have these harms to Chinatown, but that's not something that you've been given information about.
So I think almost any other use would be less disruptive than a stadium or an arena that brings many thousands of people, at the same time internalizes their spending, sends the profits to New York or somewhere else and then sends everybody away without benefiting the rest of our downtown and our city. The East Market development, which many of the people in the room I think are familiar with, on the 1100 block of East Market Street on the south side cost over $1 billion to build. It's a mixed use high-rise luxury apartment building or buildings that created extra little streets that are very vibrant. Every single -- Arthur went through there this morning. Every single retail space is rented. Jefferson Hospital takes up part of it. That's over $1 billion to redevelop one block of Market Street, right. There are some other available surface parking lots, right, with nothing to knock down on at least a couple of other blocks of East Market Street. We could build similar things, right. I've been saying for two years, right, if you know what photoshop is, right, it's a way to play with photographs and sort of manipulate images, right. We could just sort of photoshop the East Market Street redevelopment onto this block of the Fashion District and we'd have a much healthier sort of development mixed-use with just as many jobs and maybe better jobs too for our downtown. It'd be -- I can go on about this, but I think almost anything else we lack -- I'm not accusing you of this, right, because this is now, right, this has been put in front of you recently, right. But I think we've lacked a fair bit of imagination about what could go on East Market Street. It's been well more than a decade since the City Planning Commission produced a plan for East Market Street. Let's imagine something different, right. We can be creative. I know you all can, right, in imagining something better for our city that creates more jobs and better jobs. And I can go on, but I hope I've answered your question. Thank you.
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes -- are you going to say the same thing?
Yeah, could I just add really quickly that all of these potential features, which is a sort of under-remarked part of the legislation, will be foreclosed by the building of the arena, right. Currently the way that the legislation stands they're going to be handing over this land to the City, which they will then "rent," right, for $10. They're not going to be paying any property taxes or Use & Occupancy taxes, which again amounts to over a $600 million tax subsidy. And at the end of their 30-year lease, as long as they meet certain requirements, they have the opportunity to buy that land, right. The City will no longer after giving them this for free have the opportunity to use that land for all of these other opportunities. It's a land grab. (Applause.)
Thank you very much. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. Arthur, you spoke a little fast for us. So I would like you if you could go back, tell us just for a second a little bit about yourself and tell us please what you calculated as the tax consequences and how you got there.
Yes. I'm Arthur Acolin. I'm an Associate Professor of Real Estate at University of Washington in Seattle. And my accent is from France, not from the West Coast. The calculation, if you just kind think about that that project, right, like traditionally 30 years ago when you were doing this kind of deals, the City was providing land, they were providing a lot of funding. There were probably a lot of direct advantages. Over time there has been that change toward having some negotiated agreement and a little bit more shifting toward the teams, but the teams are still getting fantastic tax breaks. And in this case, when you look at the Payment In Lieu Of Taxes for the property tax, when you look at the Use & Occupancy agreement, you can just think about a project that is worth conservatively $1 billion when they have finished it and you can assume that if it was any other project like Market, after 10 years they would be paying property tax at the full rate. They are already paying Use & Occupancy tax. And if you apply those same formula that you have that you're applying to all other properties, you can estimate what that development will generate in taxes. And you can just make the difference between what the PILOT agreement and the Use & Occupancy agreement are contributing is what that would be contributing.
Thank you very much. Thank you for your informative testimony. Members, I know we're coming up amongst lunch but I want to push through this last panel and then we'll break for lunch because we're going to have a long day irregardless. And so, Mr. Christmas, can you please call the next panel. And also for the record, I want to acknowledge the presence of Councilmember Isaiah Thomas and also recognize Councilmember Minority Leader Kendra Brooks is also present.
Would Xu Lin, Debbie Law, Annie Lo, Eric Law and Mike Ha, please come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Hi. Good afternoon. My name is Michael and I'm the owner of QT Vietnamese Sandwich Shop that's three doors down from the Greyhound Bus Terminal. My wife and I opened the shop about, I don't know, 15 years ago, about 2010 roughly. And we're --
Excuse me, sir, just real quick. Can we take all conversations, sidebar conversations out the chambers please.
So first of all, I just want to say that when this proposal was presented they were saying that the people from the public would come in and they would frequent Chinatown prior to the game and eat our food and enjoy the culture and stuff. But in reality, that's not the case, because most people are rushing to the arena. Most people want to -when you go to a game, any game, you're not thinking about for instance my hoagies, my bahn mis, which I would think that about 50 percent of people sitting here today don't even know what it is. So we're a niche market. And the reason we're in Chinatown is because we serve authentic Asian cuisines. Now, when you come to game night, you're not thinking about authentic food. You're thinking about cheesesteaks, you're thinking about hot dogs, you're thinking about beer and pizza --
Excuse me. Point of information. I'm vegetarian so --
When I go to the game, my wife took me to Chinatown a couple times. I told you -- a little bit of tofu, seitan.
-- if you don't know what that is. I'm more than happy to serve anyone a bahn mi and just explain the history of bahn mi. And by the look of some people's faces, they don't know what the hell the bahn mi is. But it's a hoagie. It's a Vietnamese version of a hoagie.
Excuse me, sir. Please don't make assumptions and stereotypes about -- all Black folks don't eat chicken. I had a bahn mi sandwich. My wife showed me what the bahn mi sandwich is so I'm familiar with a bahn mi sandwich and so is my children. Just letting you know.
I got that. Okay. So going to the next part then. So the traffic, the noise and the pollution that's going to be generated from the construction will most likely push out customers because my place is a take-out joint. So if there's noise pollution and everything else that's associated with the construction, it's going to adversely affect our business. Our delivery guys won't even come into our facility because why would they spend the extra amount of minutes that's needed to get into our place, wait for the food to be ready and then head back out where there's, I don't know, God knows how much construction that's going on, how much noise and pollution and everything else that can affect their delivery time and quality of the food. So we know that that's just not something that we would want. And QT has probably been supporting the UNITE HERE workers at the picket lines and feeding them and making sure that the people that truly value our presence in Chinatown are given food to do what they need to do. And even through all the decades of the abuse and intolerances that immigrants have faced in our community, our community has been here for over 150 years. We started here on Race Street, not by choice but because the powers that be said that we can only dwell in the slums with the individuals that were deemed unacceptable by society. We were allowed to raise our children, they said, but only in areas that were so dangerous, so despicable and so impoverished but nowhere else. Through it all we rose, we worked, we learned and we build. We thrive through the worst conditions, but today I am here saddened by what it means to be blue. We didn't lose this election because America is racist. We lost this lection because you have forsaken us. You have forsaken all the communities that represent, the make up America. You put forth the profit of a franchise that's only been in existence for about 50 years over a community that has supported you for 150 years. I'm not sitting here and begging you to reconsider. I'm sitting here with the spirits of your forefathers asking you to remember the struggles and the sacrifices that your ancestors made. Don't let greed, ego and ill-conceived notions of a legacy cloud your judgment. Don't let corporations use you in the name of progress. Thank you and God bless America. (Applause.)
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Good afternoon, Councilmembers. My name is Annie Lo, and I'm a legal fellow at the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund or AALDEF for short. AALDEF is a 50-year-old organization that fights to secure the civil rights of Asian Americans and communities of color across the country, and we represent Asia Americans United, one of the leadership organizations of the Save Chinatown Coalition. Thank you for the opportunities to testify on the arena, which AALDEF views as an existential threat to Chinatown. AALDEF works in Chinatowns and other communities of color across the Northeast to advocate for zoning protections and planning decisions that protect the right of low-income and immigrant communities to live in safe and affordable environments, including in New York and Massachusetts. In Philadelphia we are dismayed that the City's review of the arena proposal has fallen so short of these counterparts, especially when the arena will severely harm a historic community of color. Today AALDEF urges you to reject the enabling legislation for the following reasons: First, the legislation fails to mitigate the clearly- identified negative impacts the arena will have on Chinatown's future economic viability. Second, at every step of the way from the proposal of the arena site to the hasty introduction and consideration of legislation, the Chinatown community has been excluded and sidelined. Finally, the legislation lacks key details related to the enforceability of the arena agreement and potential financial obligations of all Philadelphia residents. Though we need not look further than the City's own impact studies to understand the arena's harm, AALDEF's analysis confirms that Philadelphia's Chinatown is at a critical inflection point and cannot withstand the arena's construction. We undertook a comprehensive land use survey of Philadelphia's Chinatown 10 years ago and are currently working on an updated report a decade later. Even our preliminary findings now show that Chinatown's commercial uses have dropped from 53 percent to only 37 percent of the neighborhood's overall land uses in the past decade. Of those businesses that remain, over 90 percent are small businesses or local chains. So when the City's study projects harm to 50 to possibly 80 percent of Chinatown's businesses, we know who will disproportionately bear the consequences, Asian small business owners, and as we heard earlier, low-wage workers of color. We question why this City Council would even consider approving a project with such a stark and disparate racial impact. And as for the mitigation, it's clear that the CBA falls woefully short of what this entire city needs. The Sixers need to offer much more than 50 million over 30 years in order to come close to mitigating the impact of the arena and supporting the entire City's needs. Additionally, for over two years Chinatown has encountered a lack of transparency, a pattern of exclusion from the deliberative process and a disregard for standards of planning that major cities should use to make large scale development decisions. The City including Councilmember offices have rejected dozens of the Save Chinatown Coalition's right to no request for basic information about government meetings with the Sixers and other agencies. Though they are now eager to distribute a list of meetings with Chinatown advocates to you. The zoning overlay proposal for Chinatown introduced last week outside of the scope of these hearings feels par for the course of how aspects of this proposal have been rolled out without any pretense that public input from Chinatown is valued. Finally, the legislation lacks critical information, including the underlying sublease agreement between PAID and the Sixers. Without this document, City Council does not have access to the City's full legal and financial obligations under the deal.
We do not have a complete picture of the City's potential enforcement mechanisms and the terms under which they may be pursued. And while the agreement precludes the use of the City's capital funds, City and state resources could clearly still be implicated in indirect ways through maintenance, policing, transit and other operational costs. Language in the term sheet even allows the possibility for CBA funds to be used for "substantially similar purposes" instead of the enumerated provisions. So for the foregoing reasons, AALDEF urges City Council to reject the arena legislation. The future of Chinatown depends on your actions to save it now thank you. )
Thank you very much. State your name for the record. Please begin your testimony.
Good afternoon. My name is Xu Lin. I am a small business owner in Chinatown. My family and I started a restaurant in 2015. It's half of a block from the proposed arena. I grew up in Chinatown and now live in South Philly with my family. I still have about -- well, I have family members who still live in Chinatown. Most of them have jobs in the community. I have two kids, age 6 and 4, both go to schools in 7 Chinatown. 8 My community is here in Chinatown. I lived here for 10 years. When I first came, I didn't speak any English. Chinatown was a place I could find a shelter, a place where I didn't have to worry about how I looked or what language I spoke. I had two good friends from high school. They are Mexican Americans. They used to hang out in Chinatown all the time. When I asked them why they go to Chinatown so often, they said it's simple, we don't always have to watch our backs and the food is not expensive. I share their experience in that sense. Chinatown is diverse, friendly with affordable food and full of cultural events. It attracts not only people in the city but also people from the suburbs. It helps the city's economy by tax revenues and job creations. We chose to open our restaurant in Chinatown because of everything I mentioned. It is not a big restaurant, but we employ about people, both part-time and full- time. When the arena proposal was announced, we looked into other Chinatowns in the country where big developments came into Chinatown. These Chinatowns either disappeared or barely survived. When the community is not there, the small businesses either have to shut down or relocate. It took years to build a business with some kind of stability. We went through the pandemic, labor shortage and the inflation. I don't think we could survive the arena. The six years of construction alone will kill my business. My customers will not want to sit in my restaurant where road closures, noises and air pollution are always an issue. Parking and traffic is already an issue. The Sixers said that they will have to shut down both 10th and 11th Streets for a period of time whenever they have games. It will make things much worse not only for small businesses in the area but other residents here. I have two young kids. They are biracial, but they pass for Asian so their lifelong struggle, you know, one of them will be people asking them where are they coming from. I want Chinatown to be there and our people have been here. We have roots here and Chinatown is an active resistance to racism. I'm not opposed to the arena. I'm opposed to the choice of location that doesn't make any sense. I ask you to stop the arena at this location for my business, my family and my community. Thank you.
State your name for the record and please begin your testimony. You dropped something.
Good afternoon. My name is Debbie Law. I was born and raised in Philadelphia's Chinatown. I'm a proud alumni of McCall Elementary School, Philadelphia High School for Girls, McCall.
Philadelphia High School for Girls and Penn State University. And I --
And I still live in Chinatown. My late grandfather came to the U.S. in the '70s. He opened the Imperial Inn Restaurant, if some of you recall. It's one of the longest running Chinese restaurants serving authentic dim sum in Philly Chinatown. It's closed now but some of you might recall it. My family has been in Chinatown for generations. I'm third generation here. Chinatown has always been a place I called home. It's a community of mine. My family and relatives have opened shops and restaurants in Chinatown. We're very invested in the community. I want to piggyback off one experiment. I just dropped something -- I want to ask people in this room do they know what this is? Does anybody know? This is a red envelope. Something this small holds a very cultural significance importance in our lives, in Chinese people and Asian Americans. So my question to you is do you know where you can get one of these in Chinatown or anywhere besides Amazon, anybody? (No response.)
You walk down 10th Street, the main street of Chinatown, there's not one shop that sells it and I'm going to tell you why. Again, my family and relatives have shops in Chinatown. Two of these small businesses has already been impacted by the proposal of the arena. I'm going to speak about one shop in particular because it's the one that's mostly impacted. It's called Chinese Culture and Arts. It was one of the last stores standing that sells cultural artifacts such as red envelopes, lanterns, teacups, Buddha statues. And it's not just for Asian people. Other people came to Chinatown for it, right. We also carry books, magazines, CDs, newspapers that's all in Chinese. It's a language that's familiar to people in my community. And it's stuff that you can't really find anywhere else besides online right now. That shop didn't just sell Chinese goods. It also served as a resource hub for people within the community. We had 3x5 cards hanging on our store window to advertise where they can find housing, where they can find jobs, where they can find nannies, where they can find a doctor, where they can find help finding immigration papers, right. These were all information written in language that they can understand. It was like the Public Square. When new immigrants come to Chinatown, they would come into my shop, my family's shop and ask, hey, where can I find a doctor that speaks my language, where can I find people who can help me fill out my paperwork, where can I find insurance, where can I find a school for my kid. It was more than just a shop. It was a place where people congregated and shared information. It was a community. During the pandemic our store was deemed essential because we sold newspaper, Chinese newspaper, that provided information for people. As the world was trying to figure out how to handle the pandemic and all the chaos that it was creating, we served as an information center right for people who were vulnerable, people came into the shop because they didn't understand what was going on. We stayed open throughout the pandemic. We provided gloves, hand sanitizer, face masks for people within the community as well as other people who's willing to come in and for small businesses in Chinatown. We had newspaper from China and Hong Kong telling them what's going on back in their country. Unfortunately, this store was displaced and this just provides you with what's going to happen if the arena is going to get built. We were located on 10th Street, the main street of Chinatown we were 50 feet away from where that Chinatown Arch is known as the Friendship Gate. That big arch that people think about Chinatown, we were 50 feet away from it. We're no longer there. We were forced out. I'm going to tell you why. Our lease was up for a 10-year renewal. We were there for 35 years. Leases come 5, 10, years. 13 Up for renewal and we tried to 14 negotiate with the landlord for a 15 year and a half. And the later came back to us and said, well, an investor is willing to pay three times the amount you're paying as well as a renewal or a sign-on fee and that they're going to rent out the entire building. We can't compete three times the rent. We can't compete with somebody who's going to rent out the entire building. We're a small business again. Ultimately, we lost our space because the landlord wanted more money. Now, these rich investors are holding on to this building, not to provide any other small business but they're waiting for the opportunity to make even more money for franchises, for bigger businesses. These so-called investors, right, these are predators who's preying on my community. I lived above that store so I was displaced. This happened to me and this will happen to other people. People will get priced out and that's just reality. Now, my shop sits on 11th Street. It's less than half the size. There's no foot traffic.
We face the back of the Convention Center, that small street, 11th Street that nobody hears about. Yeah, we're there. Eighty percent of our business has dropped. We had three to four employees that we had hired. We're down to one because we can't -- the business was just that bad because of our location by the -- not everyone knows that we relocated. People from the Northeast, from South Philly come to Chinatown. They look for a shop. They can't find it because we're no 12 longer at that location that we were for 35 years. My neighbors around me that used to be an arts and craft shop, another porcelain shop, they're no longer there neither. Like I said, we were one of the last standing business in Chinatown that sold cultural significant items. Give me a second. The proposed arena would be incredibly harmful to my store, especially to elderly customers. These senior citizens come from all over Philadelphia because it's a sense of familiarity for them. Some of them even walk daily from South Philly to Chinatown just so they can speak to somebody that speaks their own language. It reminds them of a place back home like China, you know. People are just that friendly. Again, we were like one of the only stores left with Chinese newspaper and information in their native language. Some of them ask me what will happen if the arena is built. And I say, I don't know, but hopefully we'll still be here, but I can't guarantee that we will be. I'm not even sure if our business can survive this six-year construction. I heard that last night at the meeting with Councilman Squilla that there's going to be money set aside for impact on the construction, right. What does that pay for? Are you going to pay for the loss in revenue? Are you paying for my employee wages? Are you paying for my rental payment? What does that fund pay for? And there's 150 businesses in Chinatown. Are you going to pay for everybody's loss in whatever you're supposed to pay for or is it just like $1,000, here you go. $1,000 is not even somebody's salary. And is this money split with the rest of the Arena District? I don't understand that. I'm sorry. I don't -- and then these 76ers people are saying that, oh, we're going to bring business to Chinatown, we're going to bring business to Center City. Well, my shop is a small mom-and-pop shop. These people who go to games aren't going to come to my shop. They're not going to buy a red envelope. They're not going to buy teacups, right. They're not -- maybe to other businesses great for them, you know. I'm not a restaurant. I'm not a bar. I'm not going to see any positive out of this for myself. We're going to lose even the smallest amount of customer we already have, because you ask them why. They say, I don't want to come because of the traffic, because of parking and it's so crowded, why would I even come down there. Even on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday, you see how crowded Chinatown is. People are going to be deterred from coming to Chinatown if the arena is built. The displacement has already happened to me and I'm surviving displacement right now, but I can't imagine other small businesses, you know, surviving this. And so, I urge Council, and you guys are people in position of power to help us and to vote no 4 on the arena. Thank you. )
Thank you for your testimony. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Good afternoon. Thank you for being here. First, I wanted to say to the woman that was just speaking, I'm really sorry about the loss of your previous business and your home. And we've mostly been talking about the economic impact of the arena. But I agree with Councilmember Ahmad that we also have to consider if displacement occurs, that there's an economic impact that we're losing with the loss of Chinatown and any CBA has to mitigate that. I wanted to ask some questions about engagement. We've been hearing conflicting reports about whether or not communities were engaged in negotiations prior to the settlement of a CBA by the Administration. Can you talk about what that engagement has looked like?
What I can say is that the Save Chinatown Coalition has reached out directly to different members of the Administration into the Sixers and they have refused to meet with them on those terms. I think some of the meetings that have been referenced earlier from members of the Administration last week have not been what Chinatown residents, everyday Chinatown residents and business owners, are referencing when they're saying that their requests for meetings have been denied.
Thank you. Also, I know that it's hard to -- I know that it's hard to oppose a project but also talk about what can be in a CBA. I appreciate the difficulty in that. But I do want to know what you think about the CBA, what do you think about what's included in the CBA as mitigation on displacement impacts for Chinatown? What do you think needs to be increased or added to the CBA and what do you think might need to be removed? What are your opinions on that?
So I heard that the $50 million is for the entire surrounding area. To build a restaurant my size, which is not big, we hired 20 people to build a restaurant. We built it in 2015. The pandemic changed everything. To build a restaurant my size is going to cost anywhere from $600,000 to I'd say a million in this kind of -- with the inflation and labor cost. And then there's employees who 6 lose their jobs. 7 I don't know how the 8 money will compensate that, because 9 my business will be done. I'll have 10 to shut down and I'd have to think 11 about my future and my staff will 12 have to think about their future, 13 and they have families to feed. I 14 just don't know how -- there isn't 15 enough money to make up for that 16 kind of loss. 17
I would just add 18 that I feel like the term community 19 benefits agreement in this case is a 20 misnomer. To be clear, there is not one set way to structure a CBA. In certain jurisdictions, sure, there are local laws that might govern standards for CBAs and require certain types of parties to be party to certain CBA agreements. That's not the case here in Philadelphia. And so, let's just be clear that this CBA was structured on the Mayor and the Sixers terms and is just one way to present a potential mitigation plan. And as you've heard from so many, it clearly just does not fit the bill.
Do you have -- do you have thoughts on what you -- I'm sorry.
Thank you, Council President. I overlooked Mr. Eric Law.
Thank you, Council President. First off, this chamber looks way smaller than in the streams. Just wanted to point that out. My name is Eric Law. My sister Debbie -- just like my sister Debbie, I'm third generation Chinatown -- Philly Chinatown resident. And I just wanted to tell you guys my story. Grew up in the Philly public school system, went to Central 261. Went to Penn State, studied accounting. And currently I am manager of my family's business, retail gift shop in Chinatown. I've also been a community leader in Chinatown with the Philadelphia Suns. I think you've heard from Harry before. And, yeah, I've been with the organization since I was 12 years old, you know, picking up the basketballs, you know. And since then I've become a coach. I've become a mentor. I've become a board member. And I say that just to highlight the fact that organizations like the Philadelphia Suns have focused on youth development, and it's important to the community that I wanted to highlight. Of course, you know, growing up hooping I'm also a basketball fan. I'm a Sixers fan. I'm a Philly sports fan, as you can tell by my hat. Also, go Birds; Dallas sucks. And this is personal aside. I wear sport hats all the time. And as a personal protest, I haven't worn my Sixers hat in the last two years. That's some little -- but I just wanted to say that. It's tough to support a team, well, one thing that's losing and that is trying to destroy my neighborhood, you know. I want to say that for my family it is a special case since actually you guys have heard and read about Chinatown D.C. We've had businesses there in the '90s, and we actually had to leave right before the then MCI Center when it was proposed. I remember the lot. It was a big giant parking lot. We used to play football there. I went back years later and my family shop became a Fuddruckers. It became a Fuddruckers with like Chinese characters on it. That's disrespectful, you know. And I say that because if you guys green light this 76 Place, that could be our future, our Chinatown's future. And us being from Philly, we pride -- you know, Joshua Harris is definitely not from Philly. But we pride ourselves on our character and our being authentic. And I feel like Chinatown in Philadelphia is embodiment of that authenticity. And if you looked at the history of Chinatown, in the beginning it was just a conclave. It was a skid row and we've kind of grown organically and built something that was very, very, like I said, authentic, very unique, yes. And through the times we've faced many times where we we've been asked to take one for the team, whether it was the Convention Center, whether it was the Rail line, whether it was a prison, et cetera. I mean, how many times does Chinatown have to be asked to take one for the team. Councilmembers, you guys have the power to stop this. You guys have the power to save Philly's Chinatown please. Thank you. (Applause.)
Before we break, the Chair recognizes Councilmember Brooks and then we will be breaking for recess. Councilmember Brooks.
Thank you. So my question is similar to Councilmember Gauthier. So what has been your interactions with the Sixers organization and the Administration in terms of dialogue about your concerns about this proposed arena?
I went to two town hall meetings in Chinatown where the Sixers came to say they are going to build an arena whether we like it or not, and that was the end of the conversation for us as residents, as business owners.
I'm going to add onto that. I also went to the public meeting that was announced and there was two of them by the 76ers. Apparently I found after the fact there were closed-door meetings with stakeholders. I wasn't part of that stakeholder -- I'm a small business owner. I wasn't involved in that. It was stakeholders that was on their side. I wasn't a part of any of that discussion until maybe two weeks ago I was considered a stakeholder. I live in Chinatown. I have business in Chinatown. Why am I not a stakeholder. Maybe because I'm not vocal enough, right. But it's time to speak up and speak out. I never had any one-on-one meeting with them, which I don't need to, or any group meeting with the 76ers. I'm sure PCDC had, right, PCDC, I mean people of organizations. I'm just me and I haven't met with them. They haven't asked me. You know, they just told me that this is going to happen regardless if you like it or not. If you don't like it, we're going to move to New Jersey. That's all I'm aware of.
Just for clarity, you said the business owners and community members saw two posted meetings that you thought were open to --
Those were two public meetings that was announced to the community that was hosted by the 76ers. Other meetings I'm not aware of. Is that what you're asking?
Like smaller committee meetings I'm not aware of them. I wasn't ever asked. Maybe I needed to approach them, but I'm not really sure how that works because I don't know politics. I don't know how this works. And to piggyback on that, I speak English and I can read and write English. There's a lot of businesses, small businesses, that don't know how to read English or don't understand what's going on. We received a flyer three days right before the Mayor's town hall meeting and my shop didn't get one. Only selected stores got it. And that flyer wasn't available in Chinese, and it was handed out Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. Shops close at 5 o'clock, guys. You can't hand out a flyer and say come meet us if it's not even in language they can understand, right. And three days before on a Sunday night? Come on guys, do better. Sorry.
Thank you very much, Member Brooks. We will now recess until 2:15. And just, members, I just want to ask everybody to be back here promptly so we can get started because we still have another three panels and also a significant list of individuals who want to participate in public comment. So please be back so we can start promptly at 2:15. (Lunch recess.)
This hearing will now come to order. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the next panel.
Ryan Boyer, Ben Connors, Teila Almond, Daisy Cruz, Layla Bibi, please come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony. How are you doing, Ms. Bibi?
Pretty good. Just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony and your title.
Hi, how are you. Good day, President Johnson and members of City Council. Is this -- can you guys hear me? All right.
Good afternoon, Council President Johnson and City Councilmembers. My name is Layla Bibi. I'm a Council Representative with the Eastern Atlantic State's Regional Council of Carpenters. MS. McGUIRE: Good afternoon. My name is Elaine McGuire. Good afternoon, Council President and Councilmembers. My name is Elaine McGuire. I am a Member Service Rep for IBEW Local 98. (Applause.)
Good afternoon. My name is Ryan N. Boyer. I'm the Business Manager of Labor District's Council of Philadelphia, Baltimore and Greater Washington D.C. as well as the Business Manager of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. (Applause.)
And good afternoon, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. I'm Ben Connors, President CEO of the General Building Contractors Association of Greater Philadelphia. (Applause.)
Thank you. So when you get ready to get started, please begin your testimony. Whoever would like to go first.
Good afternoon. My name is Daisy Cruz. I'm with 32BJ SEIU. I'm the District Leader for the MidAtlantic 1201 District, which includes the City of Philadelphia. Our union has over 20,000 members here in Pennsylvania, with over 12,000 in Center City. Thousands of our 32BJ members work in Center City and travel into Center City every single day. Our members are cleaners, security officers, building engineers and maintenance. Our members greet you at the door, clean and maintain buildings and keep you safe every single day. 32BJ supports building the arena. Our members are watching Market East and all of Center City lose business, lose tenants and jobs, jobs with labor standards that we fought hard to win. We want to bring business and jobs back into Center City as long as they're going to be good union jobs. These jobs will pay living wages, provide health insurance and an opportunity to have a secure retirement. A project of this magnitude will be a powerful job creator that the working class of the City of Philadelphia desperately needs. We cannot let this opportunity go anywhere else. Most of our members in Philadelphia are were born and raised in Philly and are raising their families here in Philadelphia. Their livelihood and their families depend on the economic health of Center City. We have to rebuild Center City in a way that creates as many good jobs as possible. The arena cannot do -- the arena can do that. We're excited that the arena will come at no cost to taxpayers. This is unheard of even when it comes to stadiums and arenas being built. While we want the stadium to be built, we also want to do everything we can to protect Chinatown. Not only is it a neighborhood, it's another economic hub that brings people into Center City and it's a culture hub that deserves investment and protection. The City and its leadership has the obligation to protect Chinatown. We agree that there should be more money put into the Community Benefits Agreement and we need to ensure that we get the best deal possible for the future of our city and it's people. By investing in the arena, we can protect Chinatown, bring more people into Center City, protect family- sustaining union jobs and we need your support to make Philly as strong as it can be. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon again. My name is Layla Bibi and I'm a Council Representative with the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. Today I am offering testimony in support of 76 Place and urge our City Councilmembers to support this project that will not only shape the future of our beloved Philadelphia, but it will also provide significant opportunities for our residents and workers. As a union carpenter and former apprentice and also someone who was born and raised in Philadelphia, I know firsthand the importance of having projects in the pipeline and the positive impact good union jobs have on families growing our middle class. This project will generate thousands of union jobs during its construction and spur development on the long neglected Market East corridor. Through programs like Everybody Builds, the 76ers have made a commitment to build a talent pipeline to diversify the trades and get more Philadelphians into our unions. The economic impact of this project does not end with construction jobs. 76 Place has made an unprecedented commitment to ensuring Black and Brown Philadelphians have access to the long-term employment opportunities at the arena. And through their economic opportunity plan, we ensure the diversity of the city of Philadelphia is reflected in the makeup of the arena's vendors, operators and employees. As Mayor Parker has said, this project is a project for all of Philadelphia. The 76ers share in this vision and have committed to a $50 million Community Benefits Agreement, which is the largest in the history of our city. This investment will not only help to jump start a broader City-led focus on Chinatown strengthening this treasured community, but it will also provide citywide benefits, from education to economic opportunity. This investment will help uplift communities across Philadelphia. The agreement between 76ers and the Parker Administration will ensure that our hometown 76ers will continue to play in Philadelphia for at least another 30 years. This is not only a win for basketball fans like myself, but a win for our city as a whole because it is a long-term commitment to improving our city, our economy and investing in our residents and neighbors. The 76ers are making this commitment without seeking City taxpayer money. 3 billion project entirely with private funds. Supporting this project isn't just about building a new home for the 76ers, but rather it's a signal to the world that Philadelphia is open for business and ready for large-scale investments into our communities, infrastructure and our people. The immediate impacts of the project are clear, but let's not forget the long-lasting impact of 76 Place. 76 Place is projected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new tax revenues for both the City and the School District, boosting essential services for our residents. In short, between the Sixers' private investment and the new tax revenues this project will generate, this is the best financial deal the City has ever struck for an arena or stadium. It's a smart deal and more importantly, it's the right deal. With commitments to expanding economic opportunity, investing in our young people most importantly and supporting adjacent communities, this agreement will not just benefit our City sports fans but all of our Philadelphia residents and neighborhoods. Thank you for your time. ) MS. McGUIRE: Good afternoon once again. My name is Elaine McGuire. I've been an IBEW member for over years. Just to 16 let you know that we are standing in 17 support for the building of 76 18 Place. Philadelphia is one of only 19 a handful of cities without a 20 downtown arena. Cleveland, Houston, 21 New York, Denver, Detroit not only 22 have one but they have three 23 downtown arenas. 24 The construction of 76 Place will generate 9,000 jobs for the Building Trades brothers and sisters; 9,000 jobs for the Building Trades. We go out and recruit young people in the schools.
We go out and do career fairs and we're introducing them to the Philadelphia Building Trades. And now as we introduce them to the Philadelphia Building Trades, we have to have these jobs where we can place them. We have pre-apprenticeship programs. Local 98 has a grant-funded Rosie's Girls, which is recruiting young girls in 11th and 12th grades that come into the trades. Now, if we are recruiting them where are we going to send them, what jobs are we going to give them, what jobs are we going to introduce them to. 76 Place is an awesome opportunity for our young boys and girls in the city of Philadelphia to plant their seeds to show that they are part of Philadelphia landmark, to show that they put their hands in Philadelphia landmark. Me being a 25-year plus member of IBEW, I'm able to point at different landmarks in the city of Philadelphia to show that I helped build that, and that's what we need for our young people today. There will be diversity and inclusion in both the construction and the operational process of this 76 Place. The build and run of 76 place will look like us, the people of this city, the City of Brotherly Love. The Convention Center also had opposition when they was getting built. I was on the Convention Center expansion for three years building that project. I was one of the main figures there on that project and I made sure that it was diversity and inclusion, not only with IBEW Local 98 but with all the trades. And that's what we still have to stand firm on believing that our people are good enough to do these buildings, our people are good enough to build these buildings, these buildings that we stand in, these buildings that we go visit. These buildings, our people, the union people, are good enough to not only build it but to work there. ) MS. McGUIRE: I'm sorry. I'm just passionate about what I do. I'm passionate about the city of Philadelphia. We have visitors that come to the city of Philadelphia and we need this arena. What's going to happen to the Gallery -- well, I call it the Gallery. That's what we called it back in the day. ) MS. McGUIRE: But what's going to happen to the Fashion District? What if we do not build this arena? People will come, visitors will come when there's a game. They'll come, they'll go visit the restaurants and the stores of Center City. We could bring Center City back alive again like it used to be. So that's why we need to build 76 Place. ) MS. McGUIRE: Now, in closing -- I'm closing, I'm closing. They say preachers don't know how to land. I know how to land. So when I was at the Convention Center, I had the opportunity to meet the late President CEO Ameenah Young. And she had told me, she said, if you build it, watch it work. She said, if you build it, watch the magic happen. And that's what we need to do. We need to build 76 place and watch the magic happen. Thank you. )
I'm glad I get to follow that. Well, good afternoon. Again, I'm Ben Connors, President CEO of the General Building Contractors Association. GBCA is proud to represent over 350 companies throughout the Greater Philadelphia region. Our members specialize in union commercial, industrial, institutional construction. And our members are the contractors that have built this city and continue to build this city, something which we're immensely proud of. GBCA strongly supports the 76 Place development project. This arena presents the city with an opportunity to revitalize Market East corridor, creating 12,000 new jobs, and as has been said 9,000 of which will be union construction jobs. In addition to the jobs, the project would generate over $1.5 billion in tax revenue for the School District of Philadelphia and the City. This once-in-a-generation investment in Philadelphia will create approximately $2.34 billion in total economic impact, $2.34 billion. Philadelphia along with our schools and residents cannot afford to pass up this moment. GBCA and our members are shaping both the Philadelphia skyline and the next generation of leaders. As a founding member of Everybody Builds, a nonprofit focused solely on diversifying Philadelphia's construction industry, we are confident that this project will create more opportunities to expand our diverse workforce. We are encouraged by Everybody Build's approach of establishing a more collaborative model, working with multiple developers, contractors and unions to create more sustainable pathways into construction. In partnership with our member companies and Everybody Builds, 76 Place will not only add more family-sustaining job opportunities in union trades, but it will also create opportunities for merging and diverse contractors. I'd like to also give credit where credit is due. 76ers were one of the key conveners that led the creation of Everybody Builds, and they continue to be a leader in that effort today. The union construction industry is unique in several key ways, particularly when it comes to career paths it offers individuals. It stands out as one of the few sectors where a person can begin as a skilled trade person and over time if they choose, work their way up in leadership or ownership of a company. It's one of the few industries where that upward mobility is possible every day with every project this potential for upward mobility is something that the largest poor city in America is in dire need of. And it's made possible when there are structures and opportunities inherent in large scale, high value projects like 76 Place. 76 Place represents more than just a boost for Philadelphia. It is an investment in our workforce, our city and our future. We cannot afford to let this moment slip by. Together we can build a stronger, more inclusive city for generations to come. GBCA strongly supports this project. We request that Council does as well. Thank you. (Applause.)
I'm Ryan Boyer, the proud Business Manager of over 30,000 construction workers in this area of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council. (Applause.)
And I would like to first thank the Council President and Councilman Squilla for having us here and convening this very important testimony and hearing. This is about the future of our city. I started off this morning writing something, but I said, no, I'm going to speak from the heart because I need to look at the souls of the City Councilmembers who have a very solemn duty to vote for what's best for the City of Philadelphia. And if we look at what's happened down at 8th and Market for more than a generation, we know that we need investment, we need energy. It was just announced that a New York developer brought the Wannamaker building out of foreclosure. What does that pretend -- do we have a big Five and Below, as my Councilman said, and nothing on the other end or do we have the courage to do what members in this body did almost 30 years ago, where I think the only Councilperson here was O'Neill when they voted for that Convention Center that she said, the original one. The expansion, I was a proud board member when that happened. And I'm going tell you what the Convention Center did. It brought back the hotels in Philadelphia, hundreds of millions of dollars in hotel taxes. Our hospitality industry was saved. It created Visit Philadelphia. It created the 2-for-1 night. You remember those commercials, get one and get a night free. And it created light there, the biggest Convention in Philadelphia, over 177,000 registered Conventioneers. And during those times, 900 trades men and women working in the Convention Center. But it doesn't stop there. What about the Reading Terminal, those businesses that are immediately adjacent? When we build Sixers Place, it makes us a prime competitor to the Javits Center to not only expand that and expand across the street. We're talking about is Philadelphia open for business. What signal does it send to all capital if we turn away $1.5 billion in private capital? (Applause.)
And we can argue about the 50 million in the CBA all we want. But the reality is if this doesn't happen, there will be no CBA and the gentrification will happen in Chinatown and we will have people getting shot like they did and Jefferson Hospital may have to make different decisions about where they're going to build their towers at. So how are we going to house our sick? These are all -- you are all very intelligent people. The problems that Chinatown have are real, but we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We could build the center. We did it. We could take the lessons that we learned from the expansion, the good and the bad. Is disruption going to happen? Yes. But we cannot allow us not to grow, because either you're growing or you're getting pushed behind. Right now we're the sixth largest city. I don't want to be seventh, eighth and ninth. These are the things that keep population in our city. Rosie talked about the jobs. The jobs are given. But it's what is the soul of our city going to be. Are we going to have opportunity for everyone or are we going to frustrate every opportunity because it isn't a perfect deal. Nothing's perfect. Let's not throw away the good trying to find the perfect. (Applause.)
You are tasked to represent, yes, your Districts, but what's good for the city. And no nobody with a straight face can tell me that we have a bird in the hand beats one in the bush. The great Ben Franklin said that. We got $1.55 billion. Are we going to throw that away for if come -that hole has been an 8th and Market for the last 30 years, and a lot of people had a lot of ideas but they didn't have money that they wanted to put there. Now, we have capital. Let's rally together, find a way to preserve the cultural heritage of Chinatown, put some of the protections that -- this is the most progressive City Council with homeownership preservation, period, the LOOP, the OOPA. All these things that you've done we could do that again, but let's not think small. Let's think about the eyes of America is looking on us. In 2026, we're going to be a star in the show called America 250. It would be great to say to those companies and those corporations that's coming in, please relocate here because Philadelphia is open for business as long as you do the business right and correct and we'll fix any problems that are real. SEPTA, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. There's been no greater ally to SEPTA and funding than the Philadelphia Building Trades. When we go to get our highway funding from the state, we always put funding in there for mass transit, and we're going to do that again. Those are the conversations that we should be having, but we should be having them while we're building the stadium. And we should put that out so we can have a commercial so that the City representative can go out and say, you bring your money here, it's a great place to be, we're having an exciting new thing going on. This is the reality. The Councilman said keep it a hundred, let's keep it a hundred. There will be no new office buildings built. We may have some eds and meds spaces. If we build this and we attract income, we're going to attract apartments. More supply means downward pressure on pricing to help alleviate the affordable housing crisis. But doing nothing, you'll have people leaving and your affordability crisis goes up. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you all very much for your testimony. We're going to open it up for comments from members of the Committee. I just had a couple questions. One, I want to start with SEIU. And, Daisy, I know we've done a lot of work together. I introduced a bill just last week supporting UNITE HERE. We know that the stadium is coming, but we want to make sure we support good-paying jobs, not only with 76 Place but all of the stadiums, right, and making sure that the concession stand workers get a prevailing wage as well as health care. Because to provide good jobs -- to provide jobs is good, but we want good-paying jobs, right, not just poverty jobs. And so, I just want on the record your position, SEIU's position in supporting our ally UNITE HERE as part of this process?
SEIU is always in support of anybody raising wages and making sure, you know. I haven't personally had a conversation with Rosslyn, but definitely SEIU will be definitely behind them to help them pass a prevailing wage.
Thank you very much. Ben Connors, I just had a follow-up question regarding we know that this is going to be a massive project, right, and it's compared to the great work that took place along the Convention Center. What is your organization doing to make sure that diverse companies, particularly African American companies, have the opportunity, women-owned companies have the opportunity, Latino-owned companies have the opportunity to not only be subs but be primes participating on this particular project to make sure that it's equity across the board for everybody? It's been my experience in doing this work, my small time, the who's who and the usual suspects usually get a chance to participate, right, rather it's the Turners of the world, the Gilbanes of the world, those are usual suspects and they have a right, but it's always been my passion and there's no 3 secret in this room that I'm always making sure that diverse and inclusive conversations take place where everybody can participate so we can erase the tale of two cities, because some parts are doing great, and I see cranes going all throughout the 2nd Councilmanic District and all across the city in Philadelphia. But if we're going to erase poverty, right, everybody has to have a chance to have a seat at the table. So just give me the Building and Contract Association's perspective on it and actually what are you actually doing on this particular project to make sure everybody has a seat at the table?
So it's an excellent question. And, look, the bottom line is if you want to have different results, you have to do things differently. One of the things that it represents a departure from past efforts is that with organized labor in the Building Trades, the Contractors Association, owners and developers not only in this project but other projects came together to create an entity called Everybody Builds. And GBCA is a membership organization. We focus on contractor needs and our member needs. Everybody Builds is focused on the industry and how do you diversify the industry, both from a support on the labor side but also on the contractor basis. Build the capacity so that you can take on bigger projects. It takes a long time to have the capacity, the bonding capacity and the assets to take on a big project, particularly one of this size. What Everybody Builds is doing is in conversation with 76ers as well as minority contractors that are already in the space but frankly need to grow. And so, it's taken time but the time is now being spent and the money is being spent to try to provide wraparound services that will help contractors grow so they'll be available to take on more of a project like this. Now, between now and the end of this construction project I think you're going to see some of the same names, in part because you want to see people that have done this type of project before, but what I would expect you to see is the partnerships are different and that the partnerships are more meaningful, that the actual responsibility liabilities that are being taken on by minority contractors are going to be more, and that's what's going to grow. I mean, some of the successes of the past have been through projects like the Convention Center. Some of the successful minority contractors around today are because the efforts tied to that project. So a project of this scale is the best effort to give the runway a contractor needs to survive and even thrive. And I will say this is in the context of a down market when it comes to construction. So if you want companies to survive, you need to provide opportunities for them to build. That means a multi-year billion dollar-plus project gives you the runway to build the capacity to grow construction companies. So the combination of meaningful work, big projects. With entities like Everybody Builds focused on this means that we keep our eye on the ball and you see contractors grow through it. So we're optimistic, but you got to judge on the results. It's not done yet. This is what's being done now.
Okay. Thank you very much, Ben. Ms. Bibi and also the young lady from IBEW, I'm sorry, say your name again, that passionate speech you gave.
Elaine. My Labor leader could you let Elaine sit at the table please, sir.
I just want to get an idea, and then I'll turn it over to -- before I turn over to my members, then I'll listen to the leader of the Building Trades Ryan Boyer. But give us an idea of the work that IBEW is doing, the Carpenters are doing when it comes to providing pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship opportunities, not only just for our young people. A lot of times we talk about our young people but also those who may be returning citizens, right, that want to have an opportunity to participate in the workforce that we believe that can be life-changing, right. We don't support A, B, C, so we support, right, the Building Trades. But I'm a strong advocate of making sure that that process is diverse and inclusive obviously represented by the you two. What are you going to be doing in terms of this project, right, to make sure that we're lowering barriers and obstacles for young people and just people in general have an opportunity to participate? Give me an example. And I've working on this with my team, sometimes young people don't have a license. I told them that's a barrier, right. Passing the test is always a barrier, right. And so, give me an idea on what are we doing in this particular case or what you may already be doing just in general to make it easier for our young people and people in general to participate and be a part of the trades?
Thank you, President Johnson. I just want to start off by saying we have a pre-apprentice program, and our pre-apprentice program is not just geared towards any specific group. So it's not for high schoolers, it's not for youth. It's for anyone who is looking to take advantage of an opportunity that's going to better their life. As far as services, we talked about Everybody Builds. Everybody Builds has partnered with our pre-apprentice program and they support us in a way where if we're not able to provide someone with a driver's license or driver's education, driving lessons, we're not able to do that, we have the ability to be able to train someone to prepare them to tutor them to be able to pass our exams to get them physically ready to be capable to be able to perform the work. But there are certain services that we're just not able to provide. Everybody Builds has stepped in and started to already support the people that are coming into our program to provide those services, to prepare them. We actually have the perfect combination of everything that we need to help someone, a Philadelphia resident. Someone like myself who years ago had no idea 5 what a union job -- not a union job, 6 but a union trade job was and how to 7 get in it. And even when I figured 8 out what it was, I still didn't know 9 how to get in it. And even when I 10 figured out how to get in it, it 11 still took two years before I was 12 able to. But fast-forward 20 years, 13 that's not the case now. 14 We have the perfect 15 combination of how to find them, 16 because again I lived my whole life 17 in Philadelphia. You tell me what 18 you need and what you're looking for 19 and I'm going to go out and find it 20 for you, and anyone in this room or outside that I've had a conversation with, they know that that's always going to be my speech. I will find whatever it is that we're looking for and I will bring them to the table. What we're lacking is the opportunity. This project in particular has potential to have someone who comes from wherever they come from, whether it's a re-entry service, high school or just someone who has had a bad route, to come in and not only start their apprenticeship -- because again the big deal is opportunity -- start the apprenticeship a four-year, five- year program, whatever it is, start their apprenticeship and actually get to the point of becoming a journeyperson, union trade person by the end of this project, so we don't have the issue where someone comes in and we have a nice job that's going to go on for a year and they get to work and then they get that first layoff check and they don't know what to do because this is not where they come from or they can't afford to wait it out until the next job comes up, so they go work somewhere for less money, and there's less future opportunity, no 6 opportunity for retirement, no 7 opportunity for pension and annuity. All of these things are not provided. We have the opportunity. We're staring at the opportunity for someone to come in fresh and green starting over and be able to complete an entire apprenticeship on this particular project, which will then not only better the person and their life for them and their family, but it also gives them the opportunity to become a homeowner. It gives them a wage to be able to become a homeowner to stay within their city, to not rent or not have to live and commute back and forth or just go relocate somewhere else because a better job opportunity was there. It gives the opportunity for people who are already residents of this city to have a better career and to stay residents of this city and to make it better.
And also, I just want to also be on the record and thanking you and Business Manager Mungu Sanchez for the work that y'all have done. I know y'all came out the Myers Recreation Center at different times working with our young people introducing them to the trades. We've been out in the Northeast to y'all location. I think we all came together during last year some time. I remember a couple members went out a couple times, but I'm just putting it on the record, right, at least what my expectations are, but we also know the work that y'all have been doing inside the community and want to acknowledge that. MS. McGUIRE: Okay. So IBEW we have something called --
Located in the 2nd Councilmanic District, that is. But go ahead. MS. McGUIRE: IBEW has Rosie's Girls which is our pre-apprenticeship program --
Tell us more about Rosie's Girls. That's girls in the trades? MS. McGUIRE: So Rosie's Girls is a pre-apprenticeship program for girls in the 11th and 12th grades. We do take 10th graders as well. We get them from different schools all over the city, and they come into our training facility one day out the week for nine weeks. When they graduate from our program, they have their OSHA 6 certification, first aid and CPR 7 certification, basic knowledge of 8 basic wiring and they also leave 9 with a set of tools. DeWalt is 10 actually a partner with that so they supply all of the tools that the young ladies need. And then if they're interested in coming into the trade, we go with them step-by-step on what they have to do in order to come into the trades and they automatically get an interview. And so, Rosie's Girls, this is our second year. We have two young ladies that came out of the program that's now first-year apprentices. We have three more that's in the class right now of 20 that's going to be taking their test come next year to come into the program as well. And then when we speak about barriers, the different barriers, like sometimes it's hard when people don't have their driver's license. So when these young ladies come in, we talk to them about getting their permits and then going on to get their driver's license. And also, IBEW has -- we have a caucus called the EWMC, which is Electrical Workers Minority Caucus, which I'm the President of. With that caucus as well when we speak about barriers, our members, we have Latino members which when someone may come in that want to take the test, want to apply for a union, we'll get one of our EWMC members out to go translate or go talk to that person if there's a language barrier. We have Asians as well. And if there's someone that's coming and want to apply to the Local that may have that language barrier, one of our members of the EWMC will go and help them with that. And also, EWMC we do, do -- we go out to outreach. So we do a re-entry with those that are re-entering into society and we go to different homes and we'll talk to them because there's some that's in halfway houses, and we have members that were on that same road, and we have some of our EWMC members that that were incarcerated at one time or another. And so, they go out and they're the ones that -- because I can't speak for someone that I don't have an experience with. And so, we have people in our EWMC Caucus that can go out and touch lives of different ones that's interested in not only to be an electrician but to come into any trade. We'll go with them step- by-step or what trade is having their application, what do you have to do. We have the electrical prep, which is teaching those -- it's like a tutoring session where it helps you to get yourself prepared and ready to pass the electrical exam because we don't want to see anyone get discouraged. We have people that -- our application time is about 1100 people apply to a slot of 60. And so --
You said 1100 people apply for a slot of 60? MS. McGUIRE: A slot of 60.
In the event let's say this project moves forward, I would assume that that slot of 60 will increase exponentially, right? MS. McGUIRE: Yes. So for instance, as the jobs go. So when we're working and right now everything is moving, 76 Place will open that slot up widely. We can get apprentices. We can take on extra classes with apprentices. We can have apprentices come into 76 Place and finish out, like Layla was saying, do their whole apprenticeship in one facility. They can complete their whole apprenticeship in one facility. That's what 76 Place offers for anybody that's in a trade. Whether they're carpenters or electricians or plumbers, whatever the trade, they can actually complete their full apprenticeship right there at 76 Place. And that's why it's so important for us. It's not just the construction workers want to work. It's our future. We're recruiting these young people, these young boys and girls. They're our future. I'm not going to have the opportunity to work at 76 Place, but I'm sure our future will. My son is a fourth-year apprentice as an electrician and he just purchased his first house. I want him to be able to keep on going, to build things in the city of Philadelphia that he can point at and say, I had my hands in that. So it's just 76 Place. I just ask you please just vote yes on 76 Place. (Applause.)
Point of information. I have to go to a prior meeting, but I have one request. Can the staff photographer take a picture of this because I don't think I've ever saw this combination of folk ever agree on one thing, ever. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Member Jones. Strange bed, fellas. I looked at Ben Connors and the head of the Building Trades on the same panel. But, yeah, I peeped that. Mr. Boyer, as the leader of the Building Trades -- and obviously, these are two trades separate from the service unit that are here, but there's a variety of different other trades that you also are the leader of that will be participating in this project. So just give us your perspective on how you're going to ensure from a diversity, equity and inclusion standpoint that young people, people just in general, have an opportunity to participate in such a transformative project moving forward? And also, from your perspective what are the best practices? You've been a student of doing this work for a while and what you saw on the Convention Center project, which was very transformative, that we would not do moving forward with this particular project but also look at the best practices that will make this successful so everybody can also participate in the wealth that will take place as a result of 76 Place moving forward?
Could you just come a little closer to the microphone?
Yeah. I think we have two of the premier programs here. You heard about the Carpenters' program CARP and Rosie's Girls. In addition to that, we have WINC, Women in Nontraditional Careers. They recruit women of all trades. And Erin Hoffman was honored by this Council here. We have the Sam Staten Sr. Pre-apprenticeship Program as well. We have a full court blitz on making the trades more diversified. But someone said something to me earlier like we always get the bad -- but we've been here. The trades, while not as diversified as we could be, were more diverse than a whole lot of industries. We were in the high 20s, right. We need to go further, but we will continue to recruit from the School District of Philadelphia. We will continue our work with people coming out of incarceration, with NOMO and other community organizations that we have partnerships with. We get you wherever we find you. If you want to work hard -- and I'm glad you said not young people because not every young person want to work in 100 degree weather and 10 degree weather, right. Sometimes they have to live a little life to do that, but that's the reality of construction work. So we take them wherever we can get them. The best practices I think if we look at the Convention Center expansion and Live Casino it is happening here. Before we bifurcated the contractors from the unions. Everyone has to be at the table to understand what the goal and the mission is, and you have to have someone like BUILT-RITE, Tony Wigglesworth program to put it all together, to say, okay, we made this commitment, this is a commitment that we made together and together we must do, not the contractor pointing to the unions the unions pointing to the contractor. We all are in this together. It's an industry as Ben said. Everyone Builds was to be that glue to put the industry with the workers. All of those programs on North Broad Street on every Thursday night we have a Licensed Preparation program for the Sam Staten Sr. Pre-apprentice Program. We do that. We partner with Temple University so they can understand complex math equations that are necessary for some of the mechanical trades testing. We prepare them. The only thing that's missing is the opportunity, and we will push and we help. And the laborers put out something. Ben talked about the opportunity. We have a program called Lift where we use our relationship with Ullico to make sure that new contractors that are assigned with us have bonding and insurance that is commensurate, the pricing is commensurate, with the average in the community and not high prices because you're new. And what's revolutionary about that is if they get a contract with an institutional anchor, and for this we would consider the Sixers that, we consider University of Penn that, obviously any government, that the laborers will guarantee the loans that they get through Fulton Bank so they get their money and their capital at a much lower rate for emerging contractors. This is already thought out. This is not haphazard. This group up here is in constant conversation about how do we move the needle so that we only have one Philadelphia, a united city because there is a tale of two Philadelphians and we don't want that. But the only way we get that is if we create opportunity. We can't be NIMBYs, Not In My Backyard people. You don't get growth that way. You get growth by being bold, and the future always benefits those that are bold. (Applause.)
Just before I turn it over to my members, one, I want to thank you for particularly touching on the bonding and insurance. Always been an impediment for businesses to have an opportunity to participate on such jobs, even serving as subs but even going from subs to primes. So thank you first and foremost for addressing that. And, yes, as well around the pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. Just can you make sure your team just get me and my team a list of all of them, right, because we want to also make sure in the event that this does move forward, there's conversations around that we've had with the Administration as well as the Sixers to be supportive of pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs that's totally separate from Everybody Builds. And last but not least, I would just be remiss if I didn't just say publicly to Ryan Boyer who's the leader of the Building Trades movement separate from this project just in general, we just applaud you just for your efforts in terms of making sure we're addressing equity and inclusion here in the city of Philadelphia and also using job development as a way to address poverty in the city of Philadelphia. So we talk on a regular basis. This is not like for show, right, because we're out here in this in this arena and in his hearing. But based upon the work that we do day-in and day-out to transform -- you're from Richard Allen, right, a couple blocks away from Chinatown and you've seen the shadow of that area as a young man growing up and to be able to be in a position that you're in right now and able to address the issue and speak on purpose to pain when it comes to addressing the issue of poverty and folks that live in similar situations throughout the city of Philadelphia. I just want to acknowledge that from a public standpoint. At this time, I want to acknowledge my Majority Leader who's been working day-in and day-out around all things labor. I think you probably know most of these folks because I think you got a labor guide or something and you're having these hearings, town halls every other week to try to get young people involved and people in general. So to my Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore, the floor is yours.
Thank you. Thank you so much, Council President. And thank each of you for being here today, not just for today but for your overall commitment to this work. You know that four years ago we all worked together to pull together the City's first Apprenticeship Guidebook. And I just want to uplift that work and appreciate what you all do each and every day, when we go out to visit middle schools and high schools and try to recruit as many young people as possible, getting on Facebook and on Instagram and just every single thing that's been done. I think it is just so apropos that it's also National Apprenticeship Week this week, so Happy National Apprenticeship Week. We will be commemorating that week at our Council session on Thursday where we did work with Everybody Builds and WINC and some of our other partners at AFL-CIO to further uplift that work. I wanted to also just mention that we've worked with you all to support CARP, a program that we love with the Carpenters. And thank you, Layla and Mungu and also the Samuel Staten Sr. Pre-apprenticeship Program as well as Rosie's Girls. I've been there a few times to visit with them, and also for YOACAP. I wanted to go back to the 9,000 construction jobs. So those jobs will be I guess pre and during construction, pre to get prepared and then during construction. Could you all just give us a breakdown for each one of your trades if you have it of the jobs for each one?
We don't have the scope of work. It's just anticipated by the amount of square footage versus, you know, what normally happens. But we wouldn't be able to give you that until we get the scope and then we could be pretty accurate as to the amount of hours because the bids will come in and we could be laser-accurate on the amount of people that we need from each trade. But right now that's probably a little premature.
Okay. And I only ask just to ensure that we were thinking about as we always support other programs how we think about preparing young people to get into the mechanical trades. And you had mentioned that earlier from a testing perspective. And that was one thing that we found over time that we've really had to provide extra and additional support for young people to make sure that they're prepared and ready for that. So that was the impetus for the question. And in addition to that, Layla talked about and Elaine expounded on the fact that some apprentices will would be able to study their whole journey on one project, which is rare. I mean, you all know that's very, very rare. And so, I don't know how far out you're planning. But if you could speak to if this project is approved how many additional classes for each one of the unions that you represent would this mean? As an example, let's just say you have two classes planned for 2027, one in the fall, one in the spring. If this project is approved, how many additional classes on top of what you already have planned?
Well, a project of this size we don't plan apprenticeship classes for one project. It's the overall industry. So a project of this size I would say will probably double the amount of apprentices because there's also a statutory limit of the amount of apprentices we could use. So you have to have four journeypersons for every one apprentice, right. So I don't want to be here to mislead anyone that the apprentice is going to lead this because no one wants that, right, because an apprentice means that you're actually training. You're not the journeyperson. But a project of this size will usually double everyone's encatchment. But if we get more -- but we're not just looking at this project. I want to be very, very clear. We're looking at the ancillary development around it that we think we could probably 2x, 3x the amount of apprentices that's coming in because also we lose some through attrition. We're an older workforce so we need more. You got the infrastructure bill with the Stitch and all those things coming, so we look at that in a more global holistic way industry-wide, but this project is a significant project and to be a linchpin to other projects. We look at this as a gateway project to open up that whole corridor on East Market Street. There's some investment on the other side of the street that's probably north of $2 billion, you know, looking at a tower, so those things may move what we're doing. And automation, we don't know the automation advances that they will make in the next four years. But we look to get more people because of retirements. The average age of the Philadelphia Building Trades is over 40, which we don't like that. We like it to be late 30s, early 40s, a little higher than that so you'll see some retirements come. You'll see spots naturally occur because of that, so we look at the uptick of apprentices anyway. But that project will probably 2x it or 3x it if we're good.
Okay. Thank you. And then for GBCA, I was going to ask if GBCA could chime in there, like how you all are working with Everybody Builds in the unions to ensure that your contractors as we say understand the assignment?
Yeah, absolutely. I would say there's been a shift in the industry, and what we intend is that through investment like this you're going to see it. There's been a shift in industry. This is the first time where you have owners and developers, the heads of the Building Trades and Contractors all coming together saying the exact same thing which is that the next 4 year needs to look different than 5 the last 10 years. 6 I mean, we went 7 through -- the last 10 years for 8 construction has been a good 10 9 years of growth and what we didn't 10 see is a real change in the industry. And we believe part of that is because there hasn't been that I think the word was glue kind of connecting these dots, and we believe Everybody Builds can serve that pretty crucial role. And the other thing that I wanted to just piggyback off of what Ryan was saying is the demographic shift is happening in the industry. You're going to see retirements push forward. And if there are -- and this is important. If there are opportunities to enter into the trades which requires investments, requires projects of this scale of magnitude, you'll see a what will be slow then fast change in what the trades look like from an inclusion standpoint. And don't hold me to this number, but kind of a rule for apprenticeship is about percent 10 of the workforce could be. So if 11 you want to start doing math based 12 on a projecting number, it could be 13 1,800 apprentices. So again, those 14 type of things you can see. So if 15 you have a billion dollar project 16 here, example of 9,000 jobs, what 17 Ryan was talking about, $2 billion 18 happening across the street, then 19 you can start to see an industry 20 that changes very quickly. And in addition to the support, the programs like Everybody Builds can provide for contractors looking to scale their businesses. The other story that's very common in our industry is starting with the tools. So if you want to see more contractors from diverse backgrounds, then you need to see more people in the industry of diverse backgrounds. And over time you see the contractor base change as well. So it can be both ends. So both can be an intentional wraparound of support, bonding, insurance, trying to act at scale before you're at scale but do it safely and by bringing people in as the demographics change for the industry, people that work with the tools eventually start their own business. That's always been the story of the industry. We think that will continue to be an important part of it. And this need for work though, you can't do any of it without the work which states the obvious. But we often expect results without having the raw material to get them. Raw material is having a project.
Thank you. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you. Chairman of Labor, Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Thank you, Council President, colleagues. Thank you everybody for testifying. Ryan, thank you for testifying. Today I myself am a proud member of Laborers Local 57, as most of you know. I say it every chance I get. Very proud of that. Also proud of the fact that my son just graduated from the apprentice program from Local 98. He actually just got an award the other night. (Applause.)
I got in trouble for missing it because I was out doing the people's work and couldn't make it. But can you tell me how the pre-apprentice program and apprentice programs will help with things like job training and skill development in ways like economic opportunity, workforce diversity, long-term career paths and reduction in unemployment?
We at the Philadelphia Building Trades, and this is without our cousins the Carpenters who need to come back home, we spend $48 million a year on training, $48 million a year. We take it very seriously. And when you learn a craft in the trade, Jimmy, you know this because the Councilman said I can keep it 100. Economic development don't only happen on the job. It happens like me. A guy by the name of Joe Genovese told me, I'm going to teach you how to feed your family for life. He told me how to frame a step and do concrete on the step at $100 a step. I bought my first house doing that, period. Yeah, I worked in the trades but I also knew how to do that, so when they learned that the economic opportunity is endless. Ben talked about people starting businesses starting with the trades. Outside of tech, the quickest growing group of millionaires in this country are tradesmen and women, blue collar millionaires. Look it up. It was the story in Politico about it because we need plumbers, we need sheet metal workers, we need electricians, we need carpenters, we definitely need laborers. (Applause.)
So, Jimmy, the economic benefit is endless. We do that 80 percent on our own. We have very little government grants. So it's training people to be the citizens that Ben Franklin intended when he started the public library system, a trained citizen. That's what we provide.
That's great and that's good stuff. And I'll tell you when I was in there I took full advantage of some of that 48 million to get trade while I was up there. My wife used to laugh. I would go up for a week at a time at our training facility and I would look up what took a week to get the certification for and that's where I would go. I'd be up there all week. She would laugh. She's like you're taking a vacation after a vacation, you know. So this is just something good to hear about and just wanted to make sure you got a chance to tell everyone about all the economic growth that's going to happen with this. Not like as we said just with jobs but with people starting businesses. You know, we're one of the only industries where, as you know, you can be an owner-operator which saves you money (inaudible) -- (Time's up.)
Time's up, yeah. Lost my train of thought there. That was pretty good. But the thing is that you can being a member of the union and these apprentice jobs that are going to start aren't just to make them -- they're not just going to be able to have a job where they could support their family, and they will, they will have a job that they can support their family with, medical benefits, pension, annuity. It's a very good deal. But some of these apprentices that are working on these jobs will eventually become those contractors and the contractors group because of the way we do it, you know what I mean. A lot of other people would not allow you to be an owner-operator, which you know and I know means that you're a member of our union, you worked on a job, you were trained, now you want to become a contractor. So because you're trained and you're trained through us, we give you a little break on that. And we're going to have some of these people making businesses and there's going to be some businesses that will take flight on this job, minority businesses where people are going to be able to not only raise their family but help other people raise their families. So I thank you for this work. And I know it's going to take a lot and there's a lot of questions, but I believe we can get it done.
Thank you, Councilmember Harrity. And I echo my good friend from the IBEW, please vote yes. And you'll show the economic impact of City wage taxes. There's just a myriad of great things to be had if we approve this project.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from the Northwest, Councilmember Phillips. Welcome back, sir.
You know, I had to handle some work for some school kids in the area, but it's good to be back. I just want to tell you that I really admire the passion that was spilled out from IBEW. And, Ryan Boyer, you hit a lot of great points today that really, really inspired me in more ways than one. But I just want to just ask a question for anyone on the panel to answer. Can you talk about -- I don't think a lot of Philadelphians understand that there's a very serious issue here whereas there's a history of sports arena owners moving from out of the city to another place. Can you talk about how consequential and adverse the Sixers leaving Philadelphia and moving to potentially New Jersey would be for your industry?
I think it's not only our industry. It's a black eye for the city. You know, Detroit Pistons used to play in Auburn, Michigan. The New England Patriots don't play in Boston. They play an hour away. Just think about the national story. They tried to invest over a billion dollars. We allowed them to leave. We collectively allow them to leave, allowed that economic boom to leave from our city to go to another city, a peer city across the river, Camden. They stole the practice facility already, so they proved that they will leave because capital goes where it is invited. If you don't invite capital, it will leave. See Detroit, people thought that Detroit was all of that. What brought it back when Dan Gilbert put the arena back in center city and that revitalized Detroit, Michigan. (Applause.)
We have to be students of history, not of the moment. Because when you make passionate decisions in the moment, they don't age well. But if you make good sober-minded decisions, they age very well. Remember, we have a solemn obligation here. Whether people clap, they yell or they scream, we have to look inside of ourselves and say, is the city going to look better before I had it or am I facing a television commercial with dilapidated buildings and a dilapidated Gallery in an unopened mall on Market Street saying you could have did something about it, but they didn't, let's change them. Do we want to face that? Those are the decisions that you make when you say you want to represent this great city. It's not a game. This is serious stuff. Business can come in and they could leave and we want to attract the business so we can grow. Do we want to make sure that they're good corporate citizens? Absolutely, I do it every day. Make sure that they pay a fair wage. And in this case, we at the Philadelphia Building Trades will support the complete prevailing wage for our brothers and sisters at UNITE HERE as well. (Applause.)
We believe that. So hold them accountable, but you will have no Community Benefits Agreement if we don't build it. And we are talking about fairy tale dust and we're like, well, we could do this with that place. They own it. They have the rights to it. You can't just take it from them. So it's either going to be nothing or something. It is a binary choice, nothing or something. Let's have a serious conversation with the residents of Chinatown, the businesses of Chinatown, the businesses and the residents of Chinatown that are really affected, not some of the astro turf but the grassroots, and let's see that we can come to an agreement. And the best agreement is when everyone feels like they didn't get everything that they came to get.
Finally, I just had a quick follow- up question. For those Philadelphians who really may not be aware about how our tax bracket works or just people are outside of Philadelphia, let's say that. In your experience with development over the years, can you talk about how your work in development has spurred not only economic growth for the city of Philadelphia but also community growth to address some of the issues that people have been talking about, whether or not that be issues around schools, homelessness as well as housing and so forth? How has development has spurred on growth in our city?
Let me go with -- I guess I can go with Everybody Builds. Let's do that. I'm sorry.
So on behalf of the General Building Contractors Association, we're proud to be a partner of Everybody Builds. The construction industry in and of itself is an important economic driver for our region. So development is a necessary step to keep people working in this industry. So if you want to talk about the tens of thousands of people employed in the trades, the hundreds of businesses that pay taxes for the city of Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the necessary element of all of that is, to borrow what Ryan said, it's willing capital. So we're saying what's the downstream impact, is that if you want to generate tax dollars, it's estimated $1.5 billion in tax revenue off of this, you want to generate that. And then the multiplier effect off of that, every job created has a multiplier effect and it was like $2.4 billion in economic impact, you know. It takes investment, somebody willing to deploy capital like is present here. Over time it's going to employ people in the trades. It's going to employ businesses that pay taxes, and then it provides the resources that this body and the City of Philadelphia then deploys to see how to best serve citizenship. So I mean, that's just how it works systematically. In addition to that, and I won't speak for the trades, but the trades do a lot of work in the community to directly impact and help people as well.
I would say that development, you don't have Northern Liberties if you didn't have a developer willing to do the Piazza. I mean, look at Baker Square. Let's take a community, Baker Square. Tasty Cake was going to mothball that. That became a development that the Kroc Center and now the Sixth Man Center. Now, you have a whole ecosystem around there where people can get fresh fruits and vegetables from a grocery store that wasn't there and they can have recreation and salvation all in the same thing because of development. There were some naysayers. Oh, you build Baker Square, you're going to price us out. It happens.
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. First, thanks to all of you for being here and thank you for everything that you do for workers and for our city in general. And I was inspired as well by your testimony. I know that one of the attractive things about the arena proposal that we spent quite a lot of time talking about is a prospect of new jobs for Black and Brown people in our city, and it's especially attractive with us being the largest poor city. And as you probably know, I represent a District that sees a lot of major development projects. I often have projects in the hundreds of millions of dollars, projects that hit the billion dollar mark. But I have to be frank that while that should result in many lucrative job and contracting opportunities for Black and Brown people in my District, like the Council President mentioned earlier, I often observe the same old people doing the same old things on the construction sites. And we have situations where the owner demonstrates that they've made a "best faith effort," and says that they couldn't find anybody Black or Brown to fulfill the job responsibilities. But I know with this proposal we are all aligned on the point of wanting good jobs and good contracts for Black and Brown Philadelphians and we want to see those actual opportunities and not just a good faith effort. So I wanted to ask some questions about the job and training pipeline. If the arena moves forward, when will recruitment start? And considering the attrition that you talked about earlier and that naturally happens in training programs, how many people do you think that you will have to recruit and train to meet the EOP goals on the work site?
We are recruiting every day. Their jobs is to recruit every day. Recruitment never stops, because we're agnostic to any project. Any project that we build we want to build with diversity and inclusion in mind. And I don't want to say that it happens if you don't work at it. It doesn't happen by osmosis. You have to be intentional to make it happen. Because as the Councilman said and Ben admitted, we have legacy contractors here who are comfortable with the status quo.
We have to push them. It's okay. They're going to get pushed. Ben has been a great pusher at the GBCA that it can't look like the -- you heard that? You never heard that from a GBCA person before, the next 10 years can't look like the last 10 years. That is true. But it doesn't happen by happenstance. You have to make it happen. And the beginning is being here understanding that we're deadly serious that diversity and inclusion will be counted. You know how you do it? When they don't reach those numbers and they say had the best effort, you have clauses in your contract that you can move on to the next bidder. That's how the hell you do it. You say you're kicked off the job, you didn't find them. You heard Layla testify that whatever they need, we've been in this city, we can find that. That's not going to be an excuse under my watch anymore, that we couldn't find them. Where did you look?
Okay. Can I have one more question for the record?
Okay. The EOP has goals for skilled workers, laborers and apprentices/pre-apprentices. Can any of you talk about strategies for recruiting and training individuals for the different types of jobs that will be required to complete this project? MS. McGUIRE: Well, our pre-apprenticeship program Rosie's Girls, we go to the different schools. Myself, Layla we're always at schools. Actually I have a lot to do for Apprentice Week as well. But we go to the different schools and we talk to everybody, anybody and we let them know. Just recently yesterday we were talking to parents as well and we introduced them to the different trades. If they come to me and they're looking for something different, I point them somewhere else. I point them to the insulators, I point them to the carpenters. So we work together so that we can fill all of those positions, all of those slots that need to be filled as far as this new arena goes. Even when Councilman Harrity was asking about furthering your career, not just being a worker. At IBEW we have career opportunities, so IBEW right now once you complete your apprenticeship program, we have a partnership with Rowan University. So anyone that completes their apprenticeship program, Rowan University gives them 72 credits towards a college degree so that they can go into project management or construction management and things like that, but we're doing what we have to do so that we can, you know. We don't want anyone to just feel like, okay, once I become a carpenter, electrician or a plumber, that's it. That's not it. There's always more. We break ceilings. We're known to be breaking some ceilings, and that's what we do here in the city of Philadelphia. So we have the pre-apprenticeship programs that's in play so that we can get those that want to go to different avenues. Even Rosie's Girls, Rosie's Girls isn't just for electricians. We introduced them to all of the trades. That's our pre-apprenticeship. Sam Staten has an awesome pre-apprenticeship program, and we have I think three of their graduates that's with IBEW and one of their females that's with IBEW too that I'm actually taking under my wing, so we're doing what we have to do. We're mentors, you know, not only once they come into our program. We're going to mentor them so that they can stay in our program. That's one of the things, retention. You know, and that's an issue with women in the trades is their retention. Once they get in a program, we got to figure out what do we have to do to keep them in a program and that's our biggest goal. And I've known Layla for, oh, gosh, years or so. We're still 19 though. 20
Thank you very much. 22 The Chair recognizes 23 Councilman Nicolas O'Rourke. 24
Thank you, Mr. President. And good afternoon to all the panelists here. As many of you know --
Member, can you speak into the microphone please?
And good afternoon to all the panelists that are here. As many of you know on this panel, the promise of jobs is not the same as what happens once the deal is done. The devil's in the details as our senior member mentioned a few weeks back and I'm concerned about the lack of credible details from the owners and developers for a number of reasons. First one, there's a vast difference between the estimated number of jobs by the developers and the newest estimates in the economic impact study. In fact, the 76ers' projections are times larger than 5 that of the economic impact study. 6 Two, the owners have promised 7 living-wage jobs and programs that 8 would diversify the Building Trades. 9 Yet the proposed economic impact 10 plan only commits them to best in 11 good faith efforts. 12 The concern for us is that the Sixers' actual track record of working with diverse businesses, Sixers, including having minority vendors and suppliers receiving only 6 percent of their total spending over the last year suggests that this project will only be a continuation of the long history of projects that gain the vital support of working people through promises that don't actually materialize in the end. Promises that only end up -- (Applause.)
Promises that only end up lining the pockets of billionaires and then we all end up paying the price, a little bait and switch. First question I wanted to ask for the trades or the contractors, what is the actual percentage -- really the Building Trades. What is the actual percentage of Building Trades members that are Afro-American?
Thank you, sir. Have you had any conversations with the 76ers owners about why they projected 12 times the number of jobs as the economic impact study and have they shared their original study with you and how they arrived at that 12,200?
I have not because I don't go with jobs off of impact studies. I go off the actual specs because we will know. That's what I told Katherine Gilmore Richardson. You know, men lie, women lie, numbers don't. And once the estimators come and the costs come in, that's when you will know. There won't be any ambiguity in those numbers because those numbers will be fixed and permanent.
Thank you. The other question I had was what would you add to the EOP to ensure that it cannot be violated?
What will I add to the EOP? I would add me. I was the head of Diversity at the Pennsylvania Convention Center for that project and look at the numbers. Ameenah Young was the President, but I as the board member was tasked with making sure that the EOP was followed, and that was that. Live Casino I was intimately involved with my Councilman right there. It happened. Listen, I am not here -- as anyone should -- I'm a 53-year- old man that don't have to be here. I'm here because I believe in this and I stake my reputation that if the 76ers don't do what they say they're going to do, then my reputation is ruined, and I'm not going to let nobody ruin the reputation of me or the Philadelphia Building Trades for anything. (Applause.)
Thank you, Council President. And thank you, Mr. Boyer, for that. I actually have some other questions but I don't want to belabor the time. If this project were to happen in the existing South Philadelphia Stadium complex with a number of jobs created remaining the same, would the change in location change your support for the project? We've heard a lot about protecting Chinatown and a recognition that Chinatown has not been dealt with rightly. So it's a hypothetical, but I am curious. Would that change in location actually change your support for the project?
I think this project isn't about an arena. It's about a resurrection of a neighborhood that needs the resurrecting. We need that corridor to work. You heard testimony of people losing their jobs in the Fashion District. People that make $17, $18 an hour getting laid off because it doesn't work. Those people will be put back to work. The Stadium District works because the Eagles work, we still have the Flyers. We can have everything, we can have both. And I'm not going to get in the middle between millionaires and decamillionaires fighting over a landlord-tenant dispute. I'm not doing that.
This has kind of already been touched on and then I'll wrap up with this. The sister said you lived here, you can get folk no 17 matter what. What commitments have you gained that these construction jobs actually will go to Philadelphia residents? Are you saying that it's good work that you'll do to make sure that they ensure that or is there anything on paper? Like what hard commitments are there for that?
So when I gave my testimony and my comment I spoke from two places. The first place I spoke from was a Philadelphia resident and a construction worker because I worked in the trades for years. I'm now speaking -- I 9 also spoke as a business 10 representative for my organization. 11 So what's different 12 now -- and we're talking a lot about 13 what happened 10 years ago or what 14 may happen on another project. 15 What's different now is the people that you're having the conversations with, the people that are in position to make sure that when we do send out members to go to work we have a say in what those members look like, where those members come from. And if we're talking about the difference of if we're supporting in a different place, I know the difference between if it's in Center City or if it's in New Jersey, it's not going to have much impact on our organizations because I'm sure with the electricians and everyone else in the Building Trades as well as the Carpenters, majority of our members can get in a car and drive to New Jersey and go to work. They can get in a car and drive to Delaware and work on a construction site. What is going to change is the opportunity for the Philadelphia residents, for the Philadelphia businesses and for the economy of the city of Philadelphia. It won't really affect us if it goes somewhere else. (Applause.)
Thank you. Before I call on Councilmember Nina Ahmad, just for the record I do want to do a follow- up with our tech team regarding the projection of construction jobs from the Sixers compared to the economic impact study. Just for the record, just compare apples and oranges in terms of how we move forward as a body and just making sure that when we do the final vote that we're all on the same page.
What I think is the study took full-time jobs. All construction jobs aren't full- time jobs. Some people may go in for a week, two, three weeks to do a pour and then they're gone. That I believe the Sixers study counted every job, be that full, part or partial.
Mr. Boyer, that's cool. We just want to just get for the record clarity from the owners and --
It's all right. We just want to get clarity from the Administration --
I agree, because Councilman O'Rourke wanted to know about the wild swing which can be wild, but my notes were that they counted every job, including sometimes you come in and specialty contractors are not there that long.
Just have them break it down just for the record. That's all. The Chair recognizes Dr. Nina Ahmad.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you all on this panel for testifying very powerful testimony. I'll just take the idea that Ryan Boyer put out of dreaming big, right. We are the sixth largest city in the country and that status can be slipping, is slipping because our population is going down. We are still considered the poorest big city in the top 10. So this is being agnostic to whether there's a project here or a project there, but the role of Building Trades specifically in addressing that poverty rate. That's what I'm really interested in. So I heard a lot about all the ways you're reaching out, all the different programs, Everybody Builds and the pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship jobs and then the actual jobs. I just wondered if you look at a historical perspective let's take the last five years or even seven years, how long have all these efforts been under way and what have we seen as an impact of all of this excellent programming that has been happening to reach people? And I see people right on this panel talking about that. So that will give us a sense of going forward regardless of what projects we're talking about, because that's what Mr. Boyer said. How have we done and what are we looking to do and how real is that? That's one of the questions I have.
Well, we have to look at 2020 and 2021 as outliers because of COVID. 2023 -- we started most of these programs in 2023, end of 2022. I think that we've had numbers that I'm not prepared to talk to you about, but I will give you numbers. But I will say parenthetically that we've gone from about percent to about 28.5 24 percent in that amount of time. So we want to be in the 40s. We think that's a great place for us to land. That's our goal, but they've had impact. I mean, the CARP program, which was not said, is the CARP program only take first- generation carpenters, so your grandfather, your uncle, no one your family could have been a carpenter before. So it's creating new opportunities. Rosie's Girls and WINC, we're the best in the country at recruiting women construction workers. There is no one better than Philadelphia in doing that. There's no one focused like we are. And we believe that we can get you those numbers, but we believe they pay dividends. You don't get to 50 percent at Live Casino on the workforce if the workforce wasn't there. And those aren't a phony percent where we just put people on the job. They were people that actually worked, actually moved to another job --
I ain't want to say that. I wanted you to say it. 63 percent workforce, workforce. That's what we do. When we make our commitments, we keep them. And guess what, Live Casino they didn't leave. Labor Local 332 represent the maintenance workers there who get a living wage with pension and benefits. (Applause.)
These places -- we don't intend on leaving once we build that. We have UNITE HERE, we have SEIU and we have the trades that's going to maintain those buildings on an everyday basis. That's just what's going to happen. So it's not only those construction jobs, but it's also the permanent jobs to keep the facility running.
Second part to my question is the cultural competency in how we reach our communities in recruiting. And so, things like language access, things like understanding different communities have different ways of approaching jobs and training. Do you have that built into your outreach to recruit and what do those numbers look like outside of our Black and White communities? And the other communities I'd like to know what sort of efforts additional because of the cultural competency bit that is built into your outreach?
I will say that our outreach is tailored to African American and Latinos. We've not done as well in the Asian community as we probably should. That's a growing community. We also recruit from Eastern European people that's coming here from the war, so we have done a great job with those communities. Some of the smaller ethnic communities not so much. I'm not going to lie, but we have bilingual throughout Everyone Builds. Andrina is a Latino running that. We have Latino instructors in each of our training schools that are bilingual, so the workforce in Philadelphia is mainly made up of -- the construction workforce, Latino, African American and White so we focus on that. But if we get some subcultures and you have some ideas, we're willing to work. We've in the past with the Convention Center specifically tried to work with the Asian community and it just did not work. But I also have a meeting planned with John Chin to try to get around that issue and try to address that issue, but it is a blind spot that we have and I can admit that.
I would be more than happy to connect with you in communities. There's a lot of poverty in many of the Asian subcommunities and we need to address that, and jobs are the best way to address that. So whatever it takes. I think making sure this pie is big enough, we're not cutting the pie into smaller pieces, but we're enlarging the pie is something I look for, whatever the efforts result in, wherever they result in. So I appreciate that you're willing to make that commitment. And as the only Asian American Native Pacific Islander person on this Council, it is my duty to make sure that I put that front and center. We're 8 percent of the population. It's not insignificant, and I think making sure that piece of the pie reaches everyone is a serious concern.
So thank you for your advocacy and you're willingness to help. There is a need. We don't have the relationships that's strong enough, but I will definitely have my team follow up with you.
Thank you very much. I want to thank all of you for taking time out of your schedule and being here today. And again, Leader Boyer of the Building Trades, as always continue to keep on doing a good work and advocating on behalf of the people here in the city of Philadelphia most in need and building this great city of Philadelphia. Thank you very much. (Applause.) The Chair recognizes Councilmember Nina -- I'm sorry, Councilmember Rue Landau.
Sorry. I thought my -- I thought the button was pushed the whole time.
I promise to be quick. One, I want to thank all of you for your hard work in diversifying the Building Trades. It's a long time coming. It's a lot of hard work and I appreciate the work you're doing. Could you take one second to just break down the 9,000 jobs of which unions you believe or who's getting the most amount of work or where it's coming from? Thank you. Is it in there?
I can't break it down. But historically carpenters is usually -- the carpenters are the biggest part of the job, followed by laborers and electricians depending upon the scope of work that we flip one and two, and then plumbers and it goes down to the specialties, but those are the top ones.
Yeah, the carpenters are usually because they're in on the framing and things, so the carpenters are always going to be the most populous and it's either the laborers or the electricians depending on the size of the electrical packages and then it goes to the mechanicals from there. Thank you.
Okay. So, Layla, we will be calling Mungu tomorrow and having a conversation with TJ and folks about this project. Thank you. Thank you very much, y'all. Appreciate it. Next, we have up SEPTA. Come on up SEPTA, looking like the Feds. They came deep. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
So we're going to jump right into this. Hello. How are you doing today? Hey, Wendy. How are you?
Interim Director Scott, I'm going to start off this way. Before we get started though, we want to thank publicly Wendy Harvey- Green for our representation of SEPTA, all things SEPTA. We know there's a new regime, Scott, and we get it. We know you're an interim in terms of the changing of leadership, right. We just want to be clear that Wendy's our person over there doing a good job representing SEPTA. We pick up the phone when she calls at all times of the night making sure that we're advocating on behalf of SEPTA, so I just want to acknowledge and give her flowers publicly. All right, Wendy?
And I'm sure you'll hear that from other members when they get a chance to take the floor, but I like to start off and kind of set the tone. We appreciate you. But I would like to turn the microphone over to you. Introduce yourself and begin your testimony.
So good afternoon, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. I'm Wendy Green-Harvey, Manager of Local and Community Affairs for SEPTA. I'm joined today by Scott Sauer, the Interim General Manager for SEPTA; Liz Smith, SEPTA's Chief of Staff and Gretchen Wisehart, our Deputy general counsel. We're here in response to the Council's invitation to give testimony about the package of ordinances and resolutions for the proposed development of 76 Place as the new arena for the Philadelphia 76ers. Now, before I begin I want to express SEPTA's sincere appreciation for the relationship we have developed over the years with Mayor Parker and her Administration and with many members of this Council. The City of Philadelphia has many champions for public transit. In the weeks and months leading up to these hearings, SEPTA was privileged to meet multiple times with the Administration and with many individual Councilmembers about this project. SEPTA has been treated with great respect. And again, we are grateful. We appreciate the opportunity to testify today because we are keenly aware of the Council's commitment to a full and fair public discussion about this important project, which has the potential to be transformative for Philadelphia. We will offer no opinion about whether the project should or should not be approved. That's a policy decision best left to the Mayor and this Council. Our job is merely to provide you with facts about how the project would impact public transit in the city and region. At the conclusion of our testimony, we are happy to respond to your questions. With that, I'll pass it over to Scott Sauer.
Thank you, Wendy. Good afternoon, Council President, members of the Committee of Whole. My name is Scott Sauer and I'm the Interim General Manager of SEPTA. I've served SEPTA for 34 years, most recently as its Chief Operating Officer since 2022. Joining me this morning are Liz Smith, SEPTA's Chief of Staff and Gretchen Wisehart, SEPTA's Deputy general counsel. We're here to testify in connection with the package of ordinances for the redevelopment to create a new arena known as 76 Place. I want to thank you for the chance to testify. We at SEPTA are excited for the opportunity that this project represents for our city and region as well as its potential to revitalize public transit as a preferred way to travel into Philadelphia. We've been asked to consider how 76 Place would impact public transit and specifically what it would take to meet the project's stated goal of achieving a 40 percent transit split. In other words, 40 percent of the patrons to this arena would travel by public transit. At the outset, I want to echo what Wendy just said, SEPTA takes no position on whether the project should move forward. Our job is to consider its impact on transit during construction and thereafter on the daily transit operations for SEPTA. There's no question that 76 Place presents transformational opportunities for East Market Street, but it also presents challenges for public transit both during the construction of the arena and in providing the additional service that will be needed to handle the influx of inbound and outbound passengers that a new arena will bring to Center City. These impacts carry a significant cost to SEPTA, only a fraction of which, less than 20 percent would be covered by the expected increase in fare revenue. The reality is that SEPTA simply cannot assume these new costs within the framework of its operating budget. As you know, SEPTA's already confronting the reality of $153 million operating budget deficit in the current fiscal year. This deficit broadens to $240 million every year thereafter. This alone will have a devastating impact on the future of transit throughout the region unless we are successful in securing additional dedicated public transit funding. I want to pause here and offer thanks to Mayor Parker, her Administration and this Council for your tireless support in the fight for additional transit funding. You've been true champions for transit and we're very appreciative for your leadership in securing an increase in City funding for SEPTA operations. In this year's budget at the same time SEPTA has also proposed a package of fare hikes and potential service cuts, and we're also currently negotiating with two unions, including the Transport Workers Union Local 234, for new contracts. Unfortunately, these challenges make it clear that SEPTA cannot shoulder the burden of expanded transit costs at 76 Place, which would be an addition to the existing fiscal challenges I just described. That said, we remain willing to work with the City and the team to identify new ways to reduce these impacts wherever we can. I'm going to turn it over to Liz Smith to walk through some more of our analysis and conclusions, including a brief summary of the key points of the 76 Place impact assessment conducted for SEPTA by Econsult Solutions.
Thank you, Scott. Good afternoon, President Johnson, Vice-Chair Richardson and members of the Council. My name is Liz Smith and I am the Chief of Staff of SEPTA. I'm going to pick up on Scott's comments and provide additional facts and context for your consideration. As Scott said, SEPTA is excited for the opportunity that 76 Place could bring to the region and specifically to Center City. It has the potential to be a transformative development for both the City as well as for SEPTA. But 76 place also poses challenges. As set forth in the impact assessment conducted for SEPTA by Econsult Solutions, which we have released publicly in conjunction with our testimony today. These challenges fall into three categories: First, construction of 76 Place could cause significant disruption for SEPTA's Jefferson Station and will impose costs on SEPTA that are not accounted for in the current plans. This is a large scale six-year construction project that would be built directly on top of Jefferson Station, which as you know is one of the busiest transit stations in Philadelphia and the eastern end of the Center City Commuter Connection Tunnel. During construction, SEPTA anticipates the potential for delays in service and disruptions on the system, including the possibility of a partial or complete closure of Jefferson Station at times. As previously stated, construction of the arena means removing the current roof over half of Jefferson Station and replacing it with a portion of the arena structure. In addition, construction-related congestion could slow several high frequency bus routes in Center City. These delays could result in increased cost to SEPTA as well as drops and ridership that will decrease our revenue. SEPTA will also incur increased personnel cost during construction related to handling these disruptions. Econsult Solutions ran the numbers and found that SEPTA's construction-related costs could total $20 million to $50 million over the six years of the construction process. SEPTA is committed to working with the Sixers on strategies to keep those impacts towards the low end of that range, if at all possible. I would like to take a minute to respond to suggestions that the report relies on outdated facts and assumptions. We certainly acknowledge that the findings are based on the best information available and that things will change as we all learn more going forward and plans progress. But to be clear, the report relies on the proposed impacts to Jefferson Station that the 76ers have presented to Philadelphia's Civic Design Review Committee. In fairness, the 76ers recently informed us that they may be able to make changes to the arena design plans that would reduce the impacts on Jefferson Station during demolition and construction. SEPTA's preliminary review of this new information indicates that it would not change the impacts in a meaningful way. That said, SEPTA remains willing to work with the Sixers to revise the estimated impacts as more information about the design changes becomes available. Reduced construction impacts mean reduced disruptions for our passengers, which is a win for everyone. Second, everyone agrees that the success of the arena depends on achieving a 40 percent transit mode split among arena patrons. As a result, SEPTA must increase service to handle the influx of riders as they come through our station. We estimate that we will need 20 additional trains every day on Regional Rail in the evening hours to handle the approximately 150 events that are anticipated every year at 76 Place, plus five additional buses on existing bus routes together with additional manpower within the station itself. The Econsult Solutions report estimates that the impact on daily operations will cost between $20 and $25 million annually. To be clear, this figure includes the impact of additional fare box revenue, which covers approximately percent of the cost of additional 13 service.
14 While SEPTA has provided 15 service to the venues in South 16 Philadelphia for the past several 17 decades, this proposed location is 18 unique as compared to the other 19 arenas in Philadelphia. The Sixers 20 estimate of a 40 percent transit split far exceeds the transit split for any other pro team in Philadelphia. The project envisions building an arena directly atop an active rail hub which has never been attempted before in Philadelphia's history. The arena would be cited directly above that hub of Rail 6 lines as opposed to the sports 7 complex, which is located at the end 8 of a single subway line. This is a 9 big difference because SEPTA cannot 10 stage trains in the middle of our 11 Regional Rail network, in other 12 words, at Jefferson Station as we 13 can at NRG Station and the Sports Complex. Third and finally, there is the question of the impact of the look and feel of Jefferson Station. Again, we acknowledge that the developer recently informed us that it intends to reduce the design impact as originally proposed, but no one disputes that building the arena could change the look and feel of the station. Design matters, particularly for a facility that seeks a designation as world class. Philadelphia is not the first city to confront these issues. Here are some examples where a collaboration between the City, team and transit agency resulted in a comprehensive transportation solution for an arena placed in a busy City Center. In Seattle, the NHL's Kraken paid for the renovation of what is now Climate Pledge Arena, which was completed in 2021. There the developer agreed to pay approximately 40 million dollar in direct payments to the city over the life of the project, creating a city transportation fund that supports transportation improvements in neighborhoods surrounding the arena. They also paid about $7 million to upgrade a monorail station near the arena. Closer to home, in 2021 UBS Arena at Belmont Park opened as the new home of the New York Islanders, and the team agreed to pay about $97 million towards the cost of $105 million light rail station next to the arena. In San Francisco, Chase Center included an extensive package of transportation improvements and mitigation measures such as a new light rail platform, an increased bus and light rail service on event days funded by a combination of sources, including local taxes projected to be generated directly by the new arena as well as developer contributions. And at Barclay Center in Brooklyn, which was built atop the Atlantic Avenue Subway Station, the developer is party to a transit improvement agreement with the MTA in New York that calls for the developer to build a new subway station entrance, a new fare control area, access stairs and other improvements. In each of these cities, transit was an integral consideration in the development of an arena and a vital element to the success of these projects. We can do the same thing in Philadelphia as well. SEPTA is committed to collaborating with the team and the City to make that happen here and we have already made progress in working together. I want to be clear however that we are not here with an ask for City or Council. We are not requesting funding for the specific dollar amounts we have provided on construction and operational impacts. Our purpose today has been to provide the facts and the numbers as we see them based on the best information available and to make it clear that the cost of these impacts cannot be borne by SEPTA. We think there is much to recommend 76 Place and what it potentially could mean for our city, our region and the revitalization of public transit as an essential element of Philadelphia's future. And with your help, SEPTA stands ready to work with all partners to make the project a success for the riding public. I thank you for giving me the opportunity to testify and I will now turn it over to Gretchen Wisehart to discuss the FTA approval process.
Thank you, Liz. Good afternoon, President Johnson, Majority Leader Gilmore Richardson and Committee of the Whole. My name is Gretchen Wisehart and I am Deputy general counsel at SEPTA. Each recipient of federal funding grants from the Federal Transit Administration is required to obtain FTA approval before any of the real property involved is modified by any arrangement that might adversely affect the federal interest. Jefferson Station was originally constructed --
Excuse me, Gretchen. I'm sorry. Could you speak more into the microphone so the recorder can hear you.
Oh, now I have to figure out where I was. Here we go. Jefferson Station was originally constructed and later improved with federal funds provided to the City and SEPTA which creates the federal interest that necessitates FTA review and approval. Seeking FTA approval occurs in a series of steps. SEPTA has already initiated the process of seeking approval by engaging the FTA in preliminary discussions regarding the applicable federal laws, regulations and directives, planning a course of action and considering potential impediment to completing the project review. Next, SEPTA must submit the terms and conditions to be agreed upon by all parties participating to ensure that the recipients and the developer do not commit themselves to propose terms that might be unacceptable to the FTA. And finally, FTA will formally review the proposal to ensure that all FTA requirements terms and conditions are met in that formal review. FTA must determine that all eligibility criteria are satisfied, including economic benefits and transit benefits, including SEPTA's continuing control over the transit property to ensure that it continues to serve its originally authorized purpose. The Econsult Solution studies performed on SEPTA's behalf are a necessary component in the application for FTA approval and it is also clear that SEPTA and the City must ensure that no harm will be done to the federal interest. In other words, that the everyday transit user's experience has not been degraded and that ridership is not detrimentally impacted. Late last month SEPTA learned that the developer now believes it may be able to build the arena without having to install any support beams or columns within Jefferson Station as was originally proposed. Assuming that the developer's new design proposal for Jefferson Station is feasible, it will still require FTA approval of the design changes. This concludes SEPTA's testimony. As both Scott and Liz said earlier, we're happy to answer your questions.
Thank you very much. Just a couple questions before I turn it over to my members. So the Econsult -- let's just go over the numbers real quick. The Econsult numbers that I have in front of me, the packet that was sent out, says there's $32 million construction costs between 2026 and 2031. I know you said between 20 million and 50 million in construction cost. So just give me an idea about the wide range between to 50? Is that demolition as a part of the numbers or where did the 20 to 50 million come from separate from what Econsult has given all of us?
Sure. So the 8 $32 million that you have in the 9 packet is an estimate of what the 10 potential impacts could be. We're 11 very early in the process. The 12 design plans are still at a 13 conceptual level so we had to make a 14 variety of assumptions to come up 15 with that $32 million estimate. We 16 looked at those assumptions that we 17 made -- 18
We don't have a plan that shows exactly how the arena will be constructed at this time, but we have started meeting with the Sixers already. In fact, we met yesterday afternoon. They walked us through an initial concept of how they may be able to construct the arena around our station and our live tracks. And so, the range really shows that it could be slightly cheaper than that 32 million. It could be more than that 32 million.
As this progresses and the design plans and construction plans get more and more detailed and closer to complete, we're committed to updating dating that impact number each time they present us with new plans.
Thank you very much. And also, for operational impact I think you said another number that's not the same as here which is $21 million operational impact. Would that be annually I would think to take care of the additional cost for additional ridership, correct?
Correct, that's an annual number. That's the cost of running service and staffing the station every year.
This is based upon the current frequency of trains that we have on Regional Rail around the time that the games or events at the arena would be ending. It's later in the evening, so between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. We generally have trains every one to two hours at that time of night. That is not a frequency of service that will get people out of their cars and onto transit. We believe we need to provide service at least every 30 minutes, so that number is the addition of 5 additional trains to our schedule in 6 the later evening hours that gets us 7 to 30 minutes or better on our seven 8 most heavily-traveled lines as well 9 as the lines we feel will be most 10 heavily-traveled by Sixers 11 attendees. 12
Okay. And then next, I 14 know we talked about the 20 15 additional trains, five buses. I'm 16 a lifelong South Philadelphian so I 17 grew up on SEPTA. I know some 18 people say can Councilmembers take a 19 ride on SEPTA, but I grew up on 20 SEPTA. Never had a car until later years in my life so it's nothing new to me, I think, like most of us who in here. But nevertheless, I'm a big frequent fan of the Broad Street Line because I'm from South Philadelphia. So will you be adding additional rail cars along the Broad Street Line, which wasn't mentioned, as well as I'm assuming -- because you said additional Regional Rail 8 lines. So what comes in my mind -- 9 because Regional Rail, that's like 10 the suburbs, folks coming in. I'm 11 thinking more about Broad Street 12 Line and Market-Frankford Line. Can 13 we talk about if there would be 14 additional cost from ridership and 15 more rail cars along Market- 16 Frankford Line and Broad Street as a 17 part of your estimates as well 18 because that wasn't mentioned. 19 That's all. 20
Right. So luckily we have pretty good frequency still at that time of night on both Broad Street Line and Market-Frankford Line, trains every minutes. And so, when we looked at the number of folks that would be using the Market-Frankford line and the Broad Street Line, we feel at this point in time based on the information that we have that we have enough service and we have enough cars to be able to accommodate those patrons.
Okay. Glad you said that. And then give me an idea when you have the Broad Street Run, right, I know that's on Sundays, not a whole lot going on. But I know you run trains more frequently during the Broad Street Run to accommodate the massive amount of individuals participating in the race. Who pays for that?
So today SEPTA covers the cost of any additional service that we put out for Broad Street Run and for other events down at the South Philadelphia Stadium Complex. Now, we have in recent years struck sponsorship deals to cover fares for people riding, runners specifically, speaking to the Broad Street Run, for runners to use the system free of charge. But that's something relatively new just within the last say 5 to 10 years.
And as I'll just go through this process just doing the analysis, why wouldn't Blue Cross be responsible for paying for the ridership since they are the sponsor of the actual Broad Street Run as a private entity?
So as I said, the sponsorship typically comes from Independence Blue Cross. They sponsor the rides for their customers --
Okay. I just want to have that clear on the record in terms of comparing the two. And then also, Liz, you mentioned, which is interesting information, that in other cities there's already a partnership between the sports team and the transportation agency/entity. Give an example of those particular partnerships again just for the record.
Sure. So in all of the examples that I had mentioned, which were Seattle, New York, San Francisco and in Brooklyn, what we really saw in talking to them was a true partnership from the very outset of the idea of the arena, was very critical to coming up with a successful transportation plan. It really took everyone being at the table and the cities in those areas were also a crucial part of getting that transportation plan right.
Okay. Awesome. In San Francisco, there's a partnership with the Chase Center that includes public transit event tickets to anyone who buys a ticket to a game can automatically use that ticket for public transportation. Have any conversation like that happened with the Sixers?
Not as of yet. We would love to see something like that here in Philadelphia where your Sixers ticket just becomes your SEPTA transit ticket. We actually have the technology to do so today so it's not a far-fetched idea for us.
Okay. And I think that would alleviate some of the pressure of cars coming into the city. And I know earlier it was mentioned by the community from Chinatown in particular that traffic congestion and parking are key impediments to having a significant impact on that particular community. There's a variety of different other things I thought would be said, but what said more than anything was the traffic and the actual parking. They didn't say really small business impact. They didn't really say -- I mean they talked about gentrification and housing, but what I do know what was reiterated by John Chin at least two times or maybe three times was traffic impact as well as parking. And so, anything alleviating that goes a long way in terms of this project moving forward. And then the last part was, I know y'all are open to dialogue and kind having conversations right now. And I know the Sixers, I think they were asked and I asked them to continue talking to you. And if we have to do a callback and ask additional questions as opposed to having them here today and then we're doing rebuttals and going back and forth which I don't think would actually be productive, but we do know y'all are having conversations regarding this particular proposal. The only other thing that I have is just that I know y'all are in dire straits in terms of we want to make sure that TWU get a fair contract to be quite frank, right, because if there are no supported workers that's getting good wages and good health care, then SEPTA can't move forward, right. So that's one thing. But then also, we recognize that the state has a role to play as well, right, to step up and make sure they're supporting, which I believe is one of the best transportation agencies in the country. And then top it with all of that with making sure that this process is done in a fair way in terms of a burden and having an impact on SEPTA. But I also recognize that you want to be fair in the process and what's required of one should be required of all. So I'm just paying attention. And I do understand that -- Liz, you mentioned that, well, down in South Philadelphia we can make these decisions because it's not the same as operating in Center City, and I think that was mentioned by my colleague a few days ago to kind of show me the difference in the two. But I want to make sure at least if you're requiring one private entity to chip in and participate because there's increased ridership, it should be fair across the board. But this additional information just plays a role to kind of put things in focus. So thank you, Liz. With that being said, I am going to call on Councilmember Jamie Gauthier.
Thank you, Council President. Thank you so much to your whole team for being here today and thank you for everything that you do for the city and the region even in really tough times. I wanted to ask about the changes that you discussed making at having to make at Jefferson Station. Were you planning on making any of these changes to service at the station before the arena was proposed?
We don't have any formal plans to increase service on Regional Rail. What we do have is a very future-looking document that's called Reimagining Regional Rail that looks at how we could increase service over the next 30 years on Regional Rail. However, that is currently unfunded in our budget because we do not have additional operating dollars for it.
When were you planning to go ahead with those changes?
Okay. Got you. So it's correct to say that at this moment the only reason that SEPTA would be incurring the extra cost that we talked about is to accommodate the arena and it's accompanying traffic plan?
Okay. Great. Can you talk about adding extra trains and buses or is that just on game days or would that be daily?
So the plan is to do it daily, and the challenge is our inability to be able to stage extra equipment when on an as-needed basis being in the center of the line. There's just no place to store extra equipment, so we put them out there on a regular basis, daily basis.
Okay. Thank you. Considering SEPTA is projecting cuts to the overall system, how will the financial or operational focus on Jefferson Station and the arena or how could the potential financial and operational focus on Jefferson Station in the arena divert resources from other underserved neighborhoods and how does that fit with SEPTA's model for delivering equitable connectivity and accessibility throughout Philadelphia?
So if we find ourselves in a situation in 2031 with the arena opening and no other method to fund this service and basically being forced to fund it to support the 40 percent, our operating budget has to be balanced. So we would need to cut service elsewhere on the system to be able to provide this service.
Thanks. And lastly, do you have an opinion on who should cover these extra costs?
For the record, not us. In all seriousness, obviously you're still having this conversation with the Sixers. And I would think that also because of the current financial conditions that SEPTA is in, there's conversations with the folks in Harrisburg I would think, right. It has a $15 billion budget. And it's my thought hopefully to my friends in Harrisburg that we do work with, right, that there's a level of leadership that will address the deficit that particularly has an impact on Black and Brown families with the same level of energy that we fixed I-95 for the record. (Applause.)
The Chair recognizes Councilmember Jim Harrity.
Council President, thank you. Hello, everybody. Good afternoon. I have three questions. I'm just going to ask them all three at one time and then you can answer whatever you can get to. All right. So how is the loss of ridership during construction estimated, especially how it is possible to estimate things such as closure of tracks and platforms when construction details haven't actually been finalized yet? Two is given the City has publicly stated that long-term street closures will not be allowed, why does SEPTA expect bus routes to be detoured? And regarding expected costs, since the Econsult study indicates in a footnote that changes in the reconfiguration could reduce expected costs, what changes in SEPTA's assumptions would have the greatest impact in reducing the assumed cost? Did you get all that?
I think so. I'll answer the middle one first on the long-term street closures. That was something that again without an actual construction and construct ability plan, we did not have access to that information until recently. We were told by the Sixers last night or yesterday afternoon that they would be able to keep two lanes open on 10th and 11th Streets, which was music to our ears. So as long as that can be maintained, we'll certainly see less disruption on our bus lines during construction. I think for the other two questions it would be prudent for us to bring Econsult up since they did a lot of the detailed analysis for us. And they are here with us today. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Could you let Steve Mullin know that his former student said it's unfair that he doesn't come himself and present to members of Council, sir.
To answer the questions, the first was the loss of ridership during construction how did we estimate that. And that's based on assumptions about how much delay would be caused so the trains would run slower. They would take longer to get from one place to another and there are it's called well- established methods in the literature about how increasing travel time, slowing things down, affects ridership. And so, we just took those estimates of how much the delay would be caused, how much delay there was and applied that to ridership and that's the loss of ridership.
So these are all assumptions. So we all know the adage about assumptions, right? When you assume, you make an ass out of me and you, right?
I would say they're estimates based on the best available information using the best methods available to anybody.
The ridership information comes from SEPTA and the estimates of how things are impacted comes from the literature.
Beautiful. And regarding the expected costs since the Econsult study indicates in a footnote the changes in the reconfiguration could reduce expected costs. What changes in SEPTA's assumptions would have the greatest impact in reducing the assumed costs?
So the largest impact, construction impact, is the delay in service disruption. And if the trains aren't delayed and they're not disrupted and the station and platforms don't have to close in the way that we expect, that would significantly reduce the impact.
Okay. And then just one final question: So you said that they're going to be taking the top off, correct, and they are going to put the top back on with the new stadium above it, correct? And they are paying for that cost, right?
Thank you very much, Member Harrity. The Chair recognizes Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Council President. And thank you to SEPTA not just for today, but for the work we've been able to do together regarding the Bus Revolution. I must give kudos to Leslie Richards for her work and her leadership and how we've been able to work together on that plan. So I'll start there and then go back to my other questions. If this process moves forward, how would the Bus Revolution be impacted with the new schedule you must keep? I think you mentioned five additional buses.
Yeah. So they would be in addition to our schedule. One of the things that we've spent a lot of time working with the Sixers on is what happens on 10th and 11th Streets, not just during construction but during operation, during an actual event what stays open. We do have frequent bus routes in Bus Revolution on those streets. What we have worked with them so far on, and again it's very early in the process, but they do believe there will be an ability to keep one lane of traffic open on each street during events and that would allow -- that would be open only to SEPTA vehicles as well as emergency vehicles.
Pardon me. You're referring to 10th and 11th Streets?
Okay. So you're saying one lane of traffic would be open?
Right, only -- during events. So this is just generally in the 30 minutes to an hour before an event and in that hour after an event gets let out where you get a crush of pedestrians coming out of the arena onto the surrounding streets. One of their original proposals was that 10th and 11th Streets would be temporarily shut down.
Oh, okay. So I see what you're saying. I'm thinking that they're one direction streets. So you're only going to get down there one way, you know, one lane?
So the original proposal was full closure. They've been able to change their proposal to one lane.
I see. Okay. And then very quickly for my second question, the 40 percent ridership number that we've been discussing at length, does that number include the stadium workers?
That only includes arena patrons. We don't have any data on the arena workers. We have data from the Sixers on where their ticketholders live. What we would love to see happen for arena workers, both those that are employed directly by the arena or by any of their vendors, is for them to be included in our current Key Advantage Program where an employer will give all of their employees an All Access Pass. We found that when they have that pass in their hands they use SEPTA instead of getting in their car to travel to and from work, so that would be something we would like to see from the Sixers for the arena employees.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Council President.
Thank you, Madam Leader. The Chair recognizes Councilmember Rue Landau.
Thank you, Council President. Another huge fan of SEPTA here. We appreciate you so much and we want you to continue growing and thriving in our city. I don't think I missed this, but I want to ask this particular question. All assumptions are that we would need 40 percent of the people to take SEPTA in order to not have mass congestion on our streets. What if you don't get any additional funding and we have an increase of people taking SEPTA but likely not the 40 percent? What does that look like for you guys? Can you handle what will be thousands more people coming to SEPTA without additional funding?
Again, are you talking about additional funding from the state for our current budget issues or additional funding for the service for the arena?
Well, we're getting that current budget. We'll figure that out.
Right, so if we don't get additional funds to provide that additional service for the arena, there's two options. I think the first option is we don't provide any additional service. We leave our Regional Rail frequency at trains every one to two hours. We don't believe that we will get that 40 percent transit split without better frequency on those trains. So we believe that it would be likely that we would not hit the 40 percent number. And according to the City's own traffic impact study, that would cause gridlock in the areas around the arena. As I mentioned earlier, the other option for that is if we don't get funding for that service but feel that we have to fund it because of that potential gridlock, then we're balancing that by pulling service out of somewhere else.
Okay. And then can you describe what you were just saying again about the 10th and 11th Street, what the newest expectation would be? I think I missed that.
Sure. So we've been meeting with the Sixers and the Administration for probably about the last year on this project. So one of the original points of discussion that we had with them was they had a proposal that primarily post-game, so what they've told us is that after a game ends or an event ends about 75 percent of all of the folks in the stadium leave within minutes. So it's a crush 7 of people kind of coming out onto 8 street level and they're concerned 9 about safety of pedestrians, making 10 sure we have enough sidewalk width 11 to accommodate them. 12 So they had originally 13 proposed closing 10th and 11th 14 Streets between Market I believe and 15 potentially all the way up to Arch in order to make it a pedestrian- only area to get people away from the arena. Like I said, we alongside with the City have been able to work with them on walking that back a little bit and getting one lane for emergency vehicles and SEPTA vehicles on both streets.
And emergency and SEPTA only, no other cars on 10th and 11th?
And that is accommodated within the traffic impact study that they've completed.
Thank you, Council Lady. Chair recognizes Councilmember Ahmad.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you all for being here. A few questions: I heard what it'll cost you, but is there a positive revenue impact if everything were to go where you had everything paid for? On the rosiest of scenarios what is the positive revenue impact for you?
Yes. So that $20 million to $25 million that it would cost us to provide the additional service, that is net of additional revenue. So that includes a positive number in it of about $2.3 million annually in fare revenue.
It's always beneficial for SEPTA to have higher ridership numbers and more people on our system, but we are heavily subsidized and that model for transportation and transit is not going to change. So in order to be able to provide that service, we do need that subsidy from somewhere.
And what are your thoughts on that 40 percent split that we talked about? You've done this. This is your bread and butter. Is that a reasonable target, you know, to convert people to using transit? What are your thoughts on that?
We think it is. We did a detailed analysis of the zip codes that ticketholders live in and used our own internal model to see how likely would they be to take transit, how close is a station to them, what type of frequency on rail can we provide to them. And I think the gamechanger with this arena compared to the arenas in South Philly, there's a lot of folks that are ticketholders in the suburbs for sure. Right now they are driving to the arena in South Philadelphia because it's what we call a two-seat ride. Meaning, they have to take Regional Rail into Center City. They have to get up and they have to transfer to the Broad Street Line. A lot of folks, except for maybe the four transit geeks here at this table, would prefer not to do that. And so, they drive instead. The potential that this arena location provides is all of those folks from the suburbs now have a one-seat ride. They are getting on at their local Regional Rail Station taking that train into Jefferson and they do not even have to go outside to get to the arena. They'll have a direct connection, so that's a big shift. And then you still have all of our friends in the city that will be traveling to the arena that have a one-seat ride via Broad Street Line, Market-Frankford Line. So it's a lot more people with one- seat rides which tends to show a bigger ridership number.
Thank you. What is the -- you mentioned the FTA and their role in actually giving a green light for this to happen at all. Can you explain what that looks like and if we don't get it, that means what?
So the FTA has to approve the plans, right. Any changes that are made to that federal investment we have to show that it's a net benefit for transit, right, that we have satisfied our revenue criteria, especially if it's being used for private development. And we have to show that we are preserving the property that was originally improved for transit use preserved for the same use, right. So we need to preserve it for that transit use. So they would review it, they would review all of the plans, and it's everything. It's not just the station, the box itself, it's the easement that goes through the Fashion District that gets to the station, right. That was originally funded by an UMTA grant back in the '80s, right, to preserve transit access to the station. They have to review and approve plans to remove our new HVAC systems that we just replaced in 2000 or 2020 which were very expensive. So they have to approve any of those plans. If they don't approve it, then we would have to go back and talk to the developer and the City and try to figure out how we could make it feasible.
Because their centerpiece is using you as the mode to get there. So without that -- so how do we know or how will a lease be signed without the FTA approval? Where is the sequence of things?
I know. But the lease is pretty much incumbent on that FTA approval. So I'm just trying to understand the timing of things of how your FTA approval will feed into -- I mean, the City should not go into a transaction without that because 40 percent ridership is what is the linchpin in this not creating traffic and all these other things we're talking about. So do you have a sense of how the timing would work? And we have a new Administration coming in, so these are all things that we have to take into account in terms of timing, because timing is money. Time is money here. So I just wanted to know what that flow of things in any kind of construction project becomes critical.
So we've had a long-term communication with the City and PIDC about how we incorporate getting that approval and SEPTA's approval before any demolition could be made, any demolition permits could be issued. We've talked about them including it in their documents. We have not seen that.
I'll also add that the work with FTA has already begun. So we have already had an initial meeting with them. We feel that that's a critical path for the project and so does the Administration and the developer in our discussions with them, so that's certainly going to be prioritized upfront.
Thank you, Councilmember. Chair recognizes Councilman O'Rourke.
Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to join the warm regards already lifted towards you all at SEPTA, but also for being here and taking the time to meet with myself and my team last week. Based on our conversations in last week's hearings with the Administration and the Sixers, it's clear that there's a concerning lack of clarity. Things that we don't have, Councilwoman Ahmad, surrounding SEPTA's vital role in 76 Place living up to its lofty promises. So I want to actually start my questions there. Could you -- and some of this was already touched on, but for my line of questioning could you confirm for Council today has SEPTA received a full engineering plan for the arena yet?
Thank you. And what does that mean for your ability to plan for construction and disruptions to service?
It is still -- we don't have all the information that we need. But as of yesterday afternoon, we have begun those constructibility discussions with the developer and they have provided us more detail with a plan coming shortly.
Shortly, again. Okay. Thank you. The few facts that are already established, however, illustrate the flaws with this proposal. I just want to run through a few quick questions with you. Currently only to percent of fans utilize SEPTA when visiting the stadium complex; is that correct?
As 7 it stands, the Sixers have committed 8 only to providing a SEPTA fare for 9 season ticketholders for the first 10 year that the arena is open. 11 However, the feasibility study 12 stressed the importance of attaching 13 a SEPTA fare to every ticket to meet 14 the critical 40 percent ridership 15 goal, which I think Council 16 President also alluded to. What are 17 some of the steps the Sixers would 18 need to take to get ridership up to 19 that level? 20
We think there's really three components that will get us to that 40 percent. Foundationally it's the service. We have to have that 30-minute service. People aren't going to choose to get out of their cars and take transit if they have to wait over an hour for a train. The second piece of it is very much they have to feel safe and secure in the station so we need a good station environment. We need a lot of staff down there. We would love to see amenities down there. The amenities that exist there today are actually not SEPTA's, so the Dunkin' Donuts, the old Philly Pretzel Factory, they are the Fashion District. So when that side of the mall is gone, all of our station amenities are gone as well. And then the last piece is we have to have one heck of a marketing plan. And so, that includes lots of public information campaigns, where can we include tickets as part of a package or to a season ticketholder how do we get Key Advantage for all of the employees. You need all three of those things to hit that 40 percent.
Okay. And I'm done. And to your knowledge, has the Sixers made any commitments to taking any of those steps?
Thank you, Councilmember. And I just want to piggyback following up on Councilman O'Rourke's comments that, you know, as we stated last week it's incredibly disappointing and disturbing I think that we don't have the level of detail that I think that we should have at this point. And to know that SEPTA doesn't have what it needs is quite troubling. With that being said, Chair recognizes Councilman Phillips.
Thank you, Councilwoman Bass. The question that I have is just around SEPTA and its future with the arena. And the arena is going to be constructed about over the next six years. Right now SEPTA is in a bad and type position. Do you foresee as SEPTA continues to grow and get out of this circumstance does that make this a more positive thing for you all and to work on for the future, considering the fact that you did say that this could be a revenue boost for you all? Do you foresee this being something that you just can't afford forever or just right now?
I can take that. So all of the funding solutions that we're working with this group, with the City, with the state on right now, that does not get us to a budget number that would be able to include this $20 million to $25 million in additional service. So even if we get the full ask from the state, that does not give us extra budget for any of these additional service numbers.
Right. And so, the question that I have is if this is a certain revenue boost for SEPTA as a business model, wouldn't you try to work really earnestly to figure out how to make this work as opposed to coming in with a deficit model?
So in order to get that revenue boost, that $2.3 million in additional revenue, we have to spend million. So this 23 will never be a money-making 24 endeavor for SEPTA. We unfortunately don't have lots of avenues to boost revenue. This is not one of them. There's lots of other opportunities for us with this project, and obviously we are very invested in the future of Market East. Our offices are right at 12th and Market so we see what's going on every day. But this will not be a project that produces more revenue than what the necessary service cost us.
But if I heard correctly earlier, you said that if this was built if you were able to get the subsidy of the $20 million or so, it would bring in $2.5 million annually. So that is a revenue boost in the event that you're able to get that particular subsidy.
Absolutely. We will take that subsidy from wherever we can find it, and we are committed to working alongside the City and the team to seek out those funding solutions. We just want to be clear today that it can't be funded out of our own budget.
That's what I'm saying. So right now it's not operationally sound to do that. But I'm asking that five years from now if SEPTA is able to work with the state, this may be possible now beyond that. Have you foreseen what things look like five years from now?
Correct, if we have an overall budget solution and a subsidy for this additional service, that will put us in good shape to be able to provide it.
Thank you. I just want us to think about how SEPTA should think about being on the cusp of figuring out how do we get out of this situation now but also have the vision to think about how do we make future revenue work for the City and be in a positive light like, okay, we need to figure out how to do this, in this all at the same time. All right. Thank you, Chairwoman.
Thank you, Councilman Phillips. And that being said, there are -- if there are no other questions from -- Chair recognizes Councilman Driscoll.
Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you leadership of SEPTA. I know it's a stressful time for the leadership and your members and TWU. And I think if we all work together we can get through this. It's that three-legged stool that we talk about, SEPTA, the state, the City all working together. I mean, I spent many years in the General Assembly as did Council President and Mayor Parker advocating for the advantages of fully funding the Southeast region. It's not only an economic engine for the Southeast, but truly the revenues that are generated from the hardworking men and women that take SEPTA, that those tax dollars then go to the Commonwealth that sometimes our friends across the Commonwealth don't quite get. My hope, as Council President stated, is that the new General Assembly when they get sworn in the first Tuesday in January, they get to work, they roll up their sleeves. Governor Shapiro gets creative with the funding surpluses that we have up there to make sure not only -- outside of what we're talking about today, that you get what you need to do the right thing for the city of Philadelphia and the Southeast region. So having said all that, I just want to get a couple questions on the record because it's important. As you see, most of the members here we all come from a different perspective. We all have a constituency here. We all want to get it right. And before we take this big vote, we want to make sure that every question that we can think of is on the record. So real briefly, how does the expected passenger volume at Jefferson Station post-event compare to the current evening rush hour? And then related, has SEPTA estimated how many passengers would use the BSL or MFL if less service or no additional Regional Rail service was provided at Jefferson?
All right. So our current model shows that for the arena we would have about 3200 additional passengers per event.
3200 per event on Regional Rail. And, Scott, maybe you can give some more context on how that might compare to a traditional evening peak.
Sure. So today keep in mind, however, this is 3200 passengers within a span of about 15 to 20 minutes. So our typical passenger levels are not coming in in that number. They're trickling in, so they're typically arriving anywhere say 5 to 15 minutes prior to their train's arrival. So on a typical evening rush in any given 15-minute period, you might see anywhere from say several hundred to at the most maybe 1,000 people in the station, and then they're going to vacate within minutes and they'll be replaced 5 by say another several hundred to 6 1,000 and that just cycles through 7 over the course of about two to 8 three hours. 9 You take that same 1,000 10 people and now in a span of 15 11 minutes we introduce another 3,200. 12 This causes us to have to manage 13 that crowd differently where we are 14 going to meter the number of people 15 who can enter the station, enter the platform, manage it in such a way that we can create a safe environment where people are able to get down the steps onto a train a little at a time, so we make sure we manage that properly.
Okay. Well, the way the Sixers are playing now they'll be leaving early, leaving the game early, but that's for another day. And what would be involved in ordering the schedule of the existing Regional Rail train serving Jefferson Station after 9:00 p.m. to arrive to 30 7 minutes later to serve the post- 8 event travel. 9
That's those 10 additional 20 trains that we would 11 need to add to the schedule. I 12 think we touched on it a little bit 13 earlier. The challenge we have at 14 providing this type of service at 15 this station is that the events 16 don't end at a consistent end time. 17 So we don't know that the Sixers 18 game is always going to be over at 19 9:45. So as we're trying to set up 20 our Regional Rail schedules, they have to be a timed schedule. So we just need to provide that consistent service every 30 minutes to cover a game that maybe a lot of people do leave early compared to a game that has overtime periods. The way we do this now at NRG is we're able to store all of those extra trains and we just wait to release them until the game is over. We can't do that at Jefferson because of the way that it's set up.
All right. And just lastly for the record, what's the capacity for additional passengers if it was just existing trains after 9:30?
If no additional service was provided, what are we talking about there?
We can get that answer to you to make sure that we would have capacity on existing trains for passengers. We didn't look at it that way because if we don't have those extra trains, we do feel very strongly that people aren't going to take Regional Rail.
And I don't disagree. I think people want to get where they're going immediately. I get that.
I would also say that at that time of the evening between 9:00 and 11:00 p.m. we're running smaller trains, two cars generally, so we wouldn't have capacity to introduce on a line say an additional 400, 500 people per train without pre-planning and having the additional cars and crew and the folks to manage it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman on Transportation. I just want to go back as we just wrap up. Earlier you mentioned that regarding the Broad Street Run, you talked about how Blue Cross sponsors SEPTA fares to kind of mitigate the impact of the increase in operational ridership, right. And you also mentioned that those fares cover about percent 7 of operational costs, correct? 8
So if Blue Cross, which 12 pretty much is a private company, 13 hosts an event, they want subsidized 14 20 percent of the fares. Where does 15 the 80 percent of the operational 16 cost come from? Does that come from 17 SEPTA's budget or how do you come up 18 with the other cost to pay for the 19 increase in ridership and operation? 20
So that comes from the SEPTA's operating budget?
Yes, it does. So it would be fair to say in the event that this does move forward and let's say the Sixers decide to engage in something similar where they're providing a ticket/ and I still call them transpasses, I don't know what they're called today, right, to kind of help mitigate the cost and impact on SEPTA's operational cost, would that be something that would be I would think helpful in terms of your overall operational cost?
I mean, certainly any subsidy that we receive is helpful. However, there's several very fundamental differences in the way we run subway service as opposed to Regional Rail service. We have about 1,000 staff that are dedicated full-time every single day to running subway service. Those are train operators, cashiers, custodians, managers. And on a big event, whether it's Broad Street Run or South Philadelphia Stadium event, we draw from those thousand people and we can redeploy them as-needed. A Regional Rail operation does not function like that because we don't see those kinds of events happen with the regularity that we see on the Broad Street Line or the Market-Frankford Line where we can draw from existing staff. We would be creating a whole new staff of people to work events that involve large scale changes to our Regional Rail operation.
And I would think -- and just as I wrap up before we go to our next panel, in terms of the Regional Rail, just give us an idea what counties are they drawing from? Who rides the Regional Rail and where are they coming from?
So certainly our Regional Rail expands the entire region so it's certainly not just Philadelphia, but all five counties. We extend service into New Jersey and Delaware. I don't have the demographic breakdown of where customers come from --
Just want to get an idea. Obviously, if a game takes place, then you're going to have people coming from Bucks, people coming using the PATCO line coming from Jersey, people coming from Chester, people coming from Montgomery County. I just want to get an idea from that aspect. That's all.
Yeah. Based upon the ticket data that we have they are coming from the entire region. I do want to be clear there are a lot of folks coming from Philadelphia as well. We just have existing service that is in place in the later evenings today that can accommodate them. So we're looking at about 3,200 on Regional Rail from all five counties; 1,000 on PATCO, 100 on New Jersey Transit buses and then the bulk of the rest coming from Philadelphia on the Market-Frankford Line, Broad Street Line buses.
Can you just say those numbers again for me please?
Sure. 3200 on Regional Rail; 1,000 on PATCO; about 100 on New Jersey Transit buses and then the rest of the patrons would be coming on subway, trolleys, buses. And there's a table in the economic impact study that we released today that breaks that all down as well.
Okay. Did you send it to members of Council because all I had is what I received --
-- regarding construction and operational costs. Yeah, please send that over.
I don't have any other questions or comments. Do members of the Committee have any other questions and comments? (No response.)
Listen, we thank all of you for taking time out of your schedule being here. Scott, good luck as Interim Director. Wendy?
Yes, Council President. I just wanted to acknowledge, you know, we've talked about a number of things here today, especially our funding. And we want to again express appreciation for the press conference you had with our Board Chair, Councilman Driscoll, Councilman Young, Councilman Squilla very recently about supporting SEPTA and mass transit funding and a long-term solution that is much sorely needed. So thank you again for that.
Well, thank you. And I'm never shy to say when I served as Chairman of Transportation, SEPTA received the award so many years ago to be the number one transportation agency in the country. And so, we do know what SEPTA represents to our region. And the issue that we're dealing with around the funding is not a Philadelphia issue. It's a five-county surrounding region issue and everybody needs to be at the table trying to make sure that we really don't go off a fiscal cliff. And for me it's critically important because people who use SEPTA are primarily -- and this is for everybody but, you know, a lot of poor Black and Brown people, children using it for school day-in and day-out, seniors going to and from the doctor's on a day-to- day basis. So even separate from the arena, we just thank all of you for being on the front line and making sure we're moving our region forward. With that being said, will Mr. John Christmas please call up the next esteemed panel.
Reverend Felton, Lonnie Herndon, Jonathan Mason, Pastor Carl Day, please come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
So it is truly an honor to have this opportunity to hear from this particular panel. I've had the opportunity to know all of you and I know the work that you have done. And so, with that being said just state your name for the record and please begin your testimony.
Good evening. First and foremost, thank y'all for having us. I want to shout out my young men that's still here. They stuck this thing through today. So I'm Pastor Carl Day, culture changer, Christians advocate, activist here in the violence prevention space. I advocate on behalf of young Black brothers. One of the things that Councilwoman Quetcy Lozada said that really stuck with me last week was how she was a proud Latina and she really advocates for her community to definitely not be left out of conversations. She spoke about, you know, what about Latinos, and I respect her for that. Also, I want to state that I respect every last Asian person from Chinatown that wanted to advocate for their people from their community, but I also want to say I stand here as a Black man in Philadelphia here to speak on behalf of Black men in Philadelphia. And one of the common things that I've happened to see today and throughout the entirety of these past few weeks and past few months was the very same problem that plagued us while somebody brought up earlier this election, is the fact that young Black men in Philadelphia and cities widespread throughout America come last. I sit here. I've heard about various demographics of other people, LGBT, I heard about this, I heard about that, and I hear about a lot of the whataboutisms and the what-if games and nobody's talking about the severity. We hear one d-word keep being thrown around, displacement. Nobody's talking about the real d-word that I deal with daily and these young brothers deal with and that's death. We can talk about what could potentially happen years from now. We can play the what-if game. We're not talking about decline which is the African American population. We're not talking about the Black men who find themselves in jails. We're not talking about the young Black brothers who literally are seeking those opportunities. So here today I'm not only here pro-arena, I'm pro-opportunity. These young Black brothers that I take care of, that I feed, who I get employed who I employ myself, who we create programming for citywide, these young Black brothers that people who profess and pretend to literally care when they mask it and guise it in terms of public safety code it aka Black men, I'm hearing a lack of imagination, the lack of vision. When we talk about what this public safety look like in 2030. Adding more police. Yeah, that's the same lack of innovation. That's the same -- I'm watching my tongue, sir. That is the same level of lack of ingenuity that is crippled this city. This entire Democratic party. Plus, when I'm hearing people fearmonger folks into what happens when potential displacement happens when the vast majority of African Americans in this city who is still the majority have already been displaced. There is no other place to build this thing. And when people sit here and try to use their imaginations and we've heard people mention things today about what would you do with another $1 billion of what can happen in a place, these are Penn scholars, by the way. They suggest build luxury apartments and spend $1 billion dollars on real estate. Those things don't benefit Black men. Those things don't help feed Black families. I'm hearing questions. I'm hearing questions about the potential protections of community members because an arena comes down into town by people who haven't lived in this city. I'm hearing people talk about how lively Center City is and they have haven't lived in a city enough to remember when you can go downtown to a club and after you leave a club, you will go in Chinatown and go eat because you're half drunk. When you could actually shop in this city, but those things are boarded up now, when people could actually have a good time. These are the people now who are trying to speak and represent what's supposed to be the best for Philadelphia.
So again, while we sit here and pontificate and talk about what does the future hold, we must ask ourselves when we play the what- if game but we're using our imaginations, what if the 38 percent of Blacks turn into 20 percent in 2031. We talk about affordable housing. What if or what happens when Black folks can't already afford to live in majority of the parts of this city anyway. )
We talk about how one small pocket of the city helps drive the economy of a city and how they have 150 years of building such an economy for themselves. Well, let's talk about off the backs of whom that helped build that economy for those people. In my community, no, it was -- listen, it was a fairy tale to say a Black man could own a business. Why? Because everybody who owned the business did not look like him. Yes, our hair stores, our laundromats, our corner stores, the delis that liquor stores are being sold in and out of right now, none of those stores and that were all cash businesses. So while we talk about tax revenue. We talk about what the schools look like, we talk about opportunity, we talk about breaks, we talk about fairness. Man, that chicken wing platter was $6. You better not bring $5.85. So again, when we speak on these things I haven't heard -- in fact, I'm sorry, Council Prez. I heard one. I haven't heard young Black brothers come up in the conversations of fairness. And these brothers are tired of being last. These brothers are tired of only time we speak about them is when it comes in the form of criminology and it talks about people being safe. (Applause.)
Every young Black man that's here, right, and there's 45 of them, there's more, and it's 135 in the last 18 months, I've turned into entrepreneurs. They're small business owners. They're all employed. These brothers went back and got GEDs. I done paid for CDL classes. These are things I did with no City money by the way which is why I talk the way I talk. So when we talk about the what-ifs, I built entrepreneurial incubators that people talk about and they would suggest that should happen off the forms of somebody's private money that nobody ever put in our communities. So when we start talking about this stuff y'all, it is very, very draining and it's a damn shame. Because much like we saw throughout the presidential campaign at some point, what the 25th hour young Black men are going to be considered. We gentrified the barbershop, had a bunch of conversations and many people ain't gone touch that barbershop again in another four years. These young Black men are tired of being ignored and I'm tired of them being ignored. I lay my life down for them and they know that. I lay it all down on the line for them and they know that. So again, I'm pro-opportunity. This is beyond an arena. Again, if people sit here and suggest that, hey, we turn around a $1.5 billion opportunity, guess what, exclusivity gets to continue to exist between 8th and 12th or 13th Street and guess what, the young Black men are just going to have to figure it out. Build jails, build more police and do what y'all need to do figure it out, because that's what this sounds like right now. I'm not hearing a lot of innovation about what people plan to do or how they're going to get other billionaires to bring in $1.5 billion project, but we're just playing a bunch of what-ifs. And guess what, how many Black men are we going to lose to death in the next damn five years if we play that game? In the next six months, in the next year how many? But I get it. We going to stand at the candlelight vigil, cameras going to come out. People going to pretend to care. I'll deal with the families. I'mma help squash the beefs. But guess what, we going to move on and we going to do victory laps because we only had 250 young Black lives lost by the end of this year. So, yo, we got to stop playing these games. I'm not hearing nobody talk about what's next. I done met folks in Chinatown. I done spoke with Debbie Ye. I done sat and had breakfast with Kenny Chu. And I sat there and I'll say it and I'll say it on record because my name and my reputation on this, I told them if them people don't carry out what they supposed to, referencing the Sixers, guess what, I'll stand on the other side. I'll raise hell with y'all outside all day long. We can go ahead and protest the construction workers all day if they're not carrying it. But my question was and my question still remains to anybody in here that's super anti-arena if this thing don't go through, who else is offering my people jobs? Who else is offer my people union positions? Who else is offering my people everything else that got to come with this? We go back to being poor. I'm done, sir. (Applause.)
Thank you, Pastor Carl Day. Reverend Felton, Leader of the Black Clergy, the floor is yours, sir. Thank you always for your leadership as well.
Thank you so much, our honorable and esteemed President of Philadelphia City Council Kenyatta Johnson and to all the members of the council, I'm Bishop J. Louis Felton, President of Black Clergy of Philadelphia & Vicinity, which is headquartered at Mt. Airy Church of God in Christ, 6401 Ogontz Avenue, Philadelphia, 19126. I certainly want to commend our brother. Thank you for your remarks. Black Clergy was one of the first organizations to stand with the 76ers in support of 76ers Place, the building of this new arena. My predecessor who was President of Black Clergy for the previous four years signed a memorandum of agreement with the 76ers in support of the building of this arena, Pastor Collier, and I am President of Black Clergy now and I'm going to continue our support for you. We made a commitment in good faith. We would not dare snatch the rug out from under you after having made that solemn commitment. I do want to echo the sentiments that were expressed previously that there may be some passion, even anger, in opposition to this project. Anger is very high octane fuel, but it gets very low mileage. If you do not support the project, what is your alternative for keeping our downtown vibrant and attractive? Today when my wife and I came downtown to support this project, we parked at 13th Street parking garage across from the Marriott. We had to park on the 7th floor and we were expecting to ride the elevator down to the ground floor, but the elevator out of service. So we had to walk seven flights of stairs to the ground floor. Our downtown is already seriously threatened and challenged. It's time for us to take critical measures to rejuvenate our downtown and I wish it could happen immediately. But at least we can come together and plan ahead for the future of our city. Yesterday I hosted the Religious Leaders Council, which is an interfaith body of leaders, in the city of Philadelphia in Mt. Airy. I sat right next to a pastor whose name is Charles Chin, leader of the Gospel Church in Chinatown. So I asked him, in as much as we were sitting next to each other, how does this affect your congregation in Chinatown? And he said, well, I can't say anything negative about it. He's a young pastor with four children. He commutes to his congregation, as do many of his people. And so, anything that can benefit the downtown or bring revenue, jobs, opportunities to this community benefits Chinatown. Let's understand that Chinatown is not an island. It's interconnected with the rest of the citizens of Philadelphia. No one is an island. We are all interwoven in this fabric of unity and what helps us will help each other. And so, we as the Black Clergy stand firm in our support of a city that has a vision for the future. This is not just for seven or eight years from now. We're looking at 50 years, 75 years, our grandchildren, great- grandchildren. They will want to know what did we do to invest in the future for our city. You know, as I drive around North Philadelphia and other communities in the city I see numbers of abandoned buildings, factories just standing there, been standing there for years. I wish I could break off a piece of this investment and tear down every abandoned factory and building in North Philadelphia that our children have to walk past on their way to school every day. I believe that if we can invest in downtown eventually we're going to invest in the beautiful possibilities of North Philadelphia, revitalize one of the strongest areas of this city as we move forward together. Thank you, President Johnson. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Council President. Thank you for this opportunity and members of Council, my own Councilperson Jamie Gauthier. Thank you so much for this privilege. My name is Pastor Lonnie Herndon. I'm here to express my support for the 76ers Place arena, the legislation that is being put forth by City Council and our colleagues who have spoke today. I wholeheartedly support the development of the new Sixers arena and the economic opportunities and the initiatives that it's going to bring to our city. I believe that it will help to reshape the economic landscape of our city as well as provide tangible benefits to communities that have long been underserved and overlooked. I listened at the meeting a couple of weeks ago and I've been attending the meetings. I listened at the meeting over at the Convention Center and the meetings that have been taking place over the last couple of weeks and I really believe that the economic opportunity plan and most of all the Community Benefit Agreement. As I heard about it and what it would provide for our city, I was convinced that this development is not just about building an arena or building a building, but it's about building a lasting economic empowerment for minority communities and for the great city of Philadelphia. I'm excited about the arena when I hear about the fact that 40 percent of the construction jobs and business opportunities will be set aside for minority workers. This level of commitment to minority participation is unprecedented in large scale projects and it starts as a powerful start of inclusivity. I believe the economic impact of this arena will be far-reaching when I hear about a program and initiatives like the City College for Municipal Employment or the opportunity it will provide for students at HBCUs like Cheyney and Lincoln University. In conclusion, as a die-hard Sixers, fan even with a record right now of 2-11, I am all in on the 76ers arena. I want to go on the record saying I support the building of this arena and I'm here representing -- (Applause.)
Besides the great Enon Church, probably the largest African American congregation in the city of Philadelphia other than Enon, and I know our members and our congregation is behind this project. I really do believe that it provides the economic opportunity that our city needs to transform what Pastor Carl talked about, that Center City District, which is a ghost town, which is a desert. By embracing this project, we're embracing a more inclusive and equitable future, one where people regardless of background have a chance to succeed and thrive. This is a project worthy of our support. I encourage all elected officials, each and every community member and faith leader to unite behind it as it represents a positive change that will benefit generations to come. Thank you again for having us. (Applause.)
My name is Pastor Jonathan Mason. And, Council President Johnson, I want to thank you for giving us this opportunity. I don't know about the placement of four Pastors at the end of the day, but we are here nonetheless. I've come to offer my support for the building of this 76ers Place. I've had a unique opportunity to talk to most of the members of this Council. I serve as the owner of the last-surviving Black gospel radio station in Philadelphia. And I've had the opportunity to talk to Councilwoman Landau, Councilwoman Gauthier, and my sister Councilwoman Gilmore Richardson, this past weekend Councilmember O'Rourke. And I want everybody in here to know this is a historic Council. This Council has approved legislation like the ban on rental price fixing. This Council has established, Councilwoman Gauthier, a Task Force on Reparations. This Council has made permanent the Eviction Diversion program. This Council has made history, and you now stand on the precipice of making more history with the 76ers Place. (Applause.)
Let me tell you why. Let me tell you why. Because when I think about a project like this, the question I ask is what's in it for the young people. I'm like Pastor Day over here. I never met you before but we gone get real close. I'm about what's in it for the young people. I'm not about basketball because I outgrew basketball a long time ago. But I'm about Beyond Basketball. And when I look at this, I serve with the concerned faith leaders in the 15th District. And every month we march. We march at the location determined by Captain Newsome based on where the last shooting took place. And we march to pray that violence will leave our community and we do it with 30 to 40 pastors and congregation members every month. I'm in Frankford. I'm sick of little caskets. I'm sick of hearing police sirens as the norm and gun shooting that doesn't scare anybody anymore because they hear it so often. So when I look at this project, Council President, I look at what's in it for the young people. And what I see are internships. What I see is support for rec centers. What I see is extended day and year programs. What I see is youth basketball. What I see is a $4.5 million investment in the Community College for Municipal Employees. I serve as a Board trustee for the CCP. You gave them a historic $5 million this year that was sorely needed. This is a historic Council. But now, what we got to do is we got to wrap our arms around Chinatown. They're hurting right now and we can't ignore that. And we've got to understand their concerns, but we also have to help them understand that no project is not the answer. And we have to move forward as a unified body to address the concerns and make sure that this project becomes a reality for Philadelphia. Council, make history again. God bless you. (Applause.)
That's why we save the best for last, Pastor Mason. Go ahead, sir.
Good morning or rather good evening, President Johnson and members of the City Council. My name is Pastor William James Scott III and I am the Senior Pastor of the House of Faith Baptist Church located in the Logan area. I also serve as the Vice Moderator at Large for the Pennsylvania Eastern Keystone Baptist Association representing over 100 Baptist Churches across Philadelphia. Today I am here to express my support for the 76 Place and the legislation before you. Our congregation at House of Faith, formerly Harold O. Davis Memorial Baptist Church, has been rooted in the Logan community for over 50 years. Our church sits on the edge of the Logan Triangle at 10th and Roosevelt Boulevard. What was once 40 acres of land filled with houses and families is now empty with no development, a problem that has persisted for decades. I've witnessed firsthand the devastation of homes sinking into the ground to poor infrastructure, including my grandmother's home. People often wonder why the church didn't sink along with other houses. When they tested our site, they found out that our building was built on a firm foundation. And I'm reminded of the old Christian hymn that declares On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Our church stood firm because it was built on a strong foundation. And today I believe we are called to rebuild and restore to create opportunities for economic growth and to provide homes for communities like Logan. I urge this Council to take bold action to support this project and others like it. I support 76 Place because it keeps the Sixers in Philadelphia, fostering city Pride and avoiding economic losses to neighboring states. It will create jobs providing opportunities for our young people, to work, learn discipline and still have time to focus on school. It will uplift small businesses allowing them to grow, apply for vendor programs and thrive in a more vibrant economy. It will unite us promoting a vision of One Philly, a city that prioritizes inclusivity and shared progress. This project is not just about basketball or entertainment. It's about building a foundation for a stronger and more united city. By saying yes to this legislation, you are sending a clear message that Philadelphia is committed to growth, opportunity and innovation. I stand in faith hoping that one day similar development will come to my neighborhood in Logan. But today I ask you to take this step for our city, for our youth and for our future. As our mayor says One Philly, a United City. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good afternoon, Council President Johnson and members of City Council. My name is Reverend Eric Jadolyne Goode and I am the Senior Pastor of the People's Baptist Church in Southwest Philadelphia where I have served faithfully for the past 10 years. Our church, which just celebrated 107 years, has a proud history of investing in our community through initiatives such as our feeding program and afterschool program, which serves local youth in partnership with Ava Farms. Additionally, I have the privilege of serving as the Moderator of the Pennsylvania Eastern Keystone Baptist Association, where we work to support Baptist churches across the city of Philadelphia through collaboration and resource-sharing. I am here today to express my full support for 76 Place and the accompanying legislation before City Council. Not only do I believe this plan represents an important step towards economic growth, but I am also convinced that it will reinvest in our communities by providing much-needed employment opportunities. Furthermore, I am encouraged by the potential for this project to bring us together as a city as our Mayor Cherelle Parker desires, by fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose. Truly we are better together. Let's build for a brighter and better Philadelphia. I leave you with the powerful words of the presiding Bishop Emeritus of the Church of God in Christ Bishop Charles E. Blake, I see you in the future and you look much better than you do right now. Thank you for the opportunity to speak and I urge you to support this important initiative. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Chair recognizes Councilmember Phillips.
Well, listen, I grew up in the Baptist tradition so it's always good to hear from our Pastors. I just want to hear real quickly there's this conversation that 80 percent of folks oppose and I don't know where this is coming from at the time, but the reality is that what are you hearing among your congregations about the arena, predominantly African American congregations about the arena? And thank you all for your riveting messages. Thank you.
Well, thank you for asking that. I do believe that at times it's necessary for you to hear directly from the people in the community. You know, some years ago in 1995 I attended the Million Man March in Washington, D.C. I was living in Michigan at the time. And the reason why I wanted to attend that march in person is because I didn't want the so-called mainline media to tell me what we as Black men were doing. And there are times when you need to allow our churches, people that actually serve congregations, people who have boots on the ground, we are the ones who are the voice of the community and our people want progress. They want our downtown to live. I heard someone speaking earlier about Detroit coming back. I moved here from Michigan, been passing Mount Airy for years. 14 Downtown Detroit literally died but 15 had to be resurrected. And when that happened, it was blamed upon a lack of vision reinvestment consensus building between the city and suburbs for the future of that city. That same scenario happened in Gary, Indiana, East Chicago, East St. Louis, Missouri. There are a number of cities across this country where downtown has died because of a lack of vision, of leadership. And so, I want to commend our Council President and our Mayor for saying that Philadelphia is a world-class city and deserves a world-class downtown and this is a world-class effort at reviving our great city, the birthplace of America, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thank you for asking. (Applause.)
I just want to thank all of you for your testimony and thank you for representing your congregations that you represent and being here today. Thank you very much. Mr. Christmas, will you please call the last panel.
Leana Cabral, Reverend Holston, Eugenia Ulanova and Vivian Chang, please come forward. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
My name is Eugenia Ulanova. I am a legal writer in immigration law and I'm a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and I live in Chinatown. I've been studying the traffic impact analysis provided by JMT since it first came out. The JMT independent analysis is neither independent nor serious and can't tell us what to expect. It replicates bad data from the Sixers-funded Langan study with minor revisions and perpetuates misleading assumptions from that first study such as the idea that NYC arenas are in any way comparable to Philadelphia, and then uses three sites from New York where only 45 percent of people own cars to lower the car use averages artificially. Their final average is based on arbitrarily constrained data that excludes all football, baseball and soccer events whereas the average across all comparison sites was actually 60 percent car use, not 37. JMT admits that anything above 40 percent will cause gridlock. And even though the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, JMT and Langan both deliberately avoided averaging in current Wells Fargo driving habits which are currently at 85 percent. It was only by cherry-picking data points that JMT and Langan arrived at their wildly optimistic projections. They used taxi data from before ride share was invented in 2013. JMT postpones analysis of I-676 and its intersections with I-95 and I-76 which is shocking for a traffic study. And it doesn't study commuter hours. It only looked at post-events late Friday night is the only time they studied. They don't have any data for us on commuter impacts at all and they didn't study what would happen if we had the Convention Center events going on at the same time. These are really crucial answers you would want from traffic research. Moreover as we heard today, the whole plan depends on SEPTA which is a severely struggling public transit system intended to serve the needs of City residents who have to get to work, school, et cetera, and we already heard that they would have to eradicate service elsewhere to promote this project. Who would pay for the additional train service for suburbanite fans. 76 DevCo won't even commit to bundling SEPTA passes with their tickets. Other teams do this. They're not committing to that. There is no reason given all this to believe that car use among fans will drop by what they're expecting 40 to 50 percent and bus and train ridership will skyrocket by 150 to 300 percent. And because there's no 16 guarantee that car users will switch to SEPTA or that SEPTA will be able to accommodate them, the current parking and traffic estimates are completely unreliable. There is no 21 plan. Even if average car use did drop to the Langan projections, the fine print of the JMT study says gridlock will still be a frequent occurrence. No resident or business in Center City will avoid the impact of this plan. When this concept of a plan fails, the result will be severe gridlock with impact on everyone, including emergency services. It is hard to imagine that people would want to come to Center City for any other activity on nights with 76 Place events if this is what's happening. The likelihood of reduced economic vitality as a result and quality of life in all of Center City is far greater than 76 Place admits. 76 Place is a potential catastrophe with negative impacts that would reverberate throughout all of Philadelphia and be felt largely by the vulnerable populations least equipped to absorb them. And traffic impact is small business impact. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Pastor Holston, good to see you again twice in one week hanging out this weekend.
Yes, glad to see you as well. My name is Reverend Gregory Holston and I have been involved in a lot of organizations, Black Clergy of Philadelphia, the NAACP which both support the stadium. Former Executive Director of POWER and part of Black Philly for Chinatown which are against this stadium. And so, I'm here today really speaking for myself and my opposition for this stadium. So much of it is about the fact that the Chinatown itself has said very clearly, very distinctly they do not want this project. Why does that mean so much to me, a Black person in Philadelphia. Too many emotions almost to speak. I was a child when my father took me around the Black Bottom and the rich culture that was of that community, the gospel singers that was there that my father knew and how that community did not have the opportunity to have a voice in its own future when eminent domain was done by the City in taking that Black Bottom, at least parts of it away, that now has become University City. Fast-forward to 2000 in the Avenue of the Arts and the Martin Luther King Towers which were destroyed, but people don't remember about 100 homes were also destroyed during that time period. Black homeowners had their properties taken from them against their will. If they had an opportunity to say no, they said no and nobody cared. Nobody gave it a damn. I was a young clergy person at Tindley Temple at that time just moving into United Methodist Church and I cried with those people as they saw the small amount of money that was given to them to be forgotten and pushed aside. And every time I go past Tindley now I look across the seat and I see those million-dollar condos I think about those Black people. Because when Black leadership, when Black political leadership was fought for in this city, it was fought for with the mindset that Black leaders would do something different when it came to the needs of the community. When the community spoke and said they didn't want something, somebody would have been here to listen to them. That's what all of this organizing has been about, making sure the voice of the voiceless are heard, and in my case the least of these. When I stood with Temple and the folk here in North Philadelphia who fought against that stadium, because they really wanted to put a stadium 50 feet from their homes, and nobody cared. And then some -- so let's be clear about it. A multi-racial group of folk called the Stadium Stompers combined with those Black local leaders in that area tried to give voice to how dare you put a stadium in my area when I'm saying I don't want it. And we fought and they told us then you're not going to win. Don't worry and don't even ask the Black clergy to come along -- I'm not saying Black Clergy of Philadelphia, but Black clergy in the area did come and stand with them. And we fought that off because the community did not want it. The community said no. 5 So I'm fast-forward almost 40 years of this fight, whether it's the refinery in South Philly wanted to expand and continue to dump poisons onto my people in South Philadelphia and we stood together and said no. People like Philly Thrive and other groups stood with the community and said, no, you cannot expand, in fact you got to close. And they told us about the economic opportunities, they told us about the $100,000 jobs, they told us about all these things that were going to give, but we said it doesn't matter if we can't live. We found out -- South Philly, my home, your home, Council President. We found out through the White folk who came to organize how many cancer deaths happened because that plant was there. We wouldn't have known that unless they came and organized and we had -- they helped give us voice to stop that expansion and to close that refinery. So I'm here today not because I love Chinatown so much. I don't go to Chinatown that often. I'm not here because something was given to me because I haven't been given anything.
I'm only here because they're crying the same cry that I've been crying for 40 years in this city about the need to listen to those who are impacted. You cannot have a Community Benefit Agreement without the impacted people agreeing to it. )
That does not work. And we're crying out why, why we didn't get more Philly voters out. I'm telling you why, because they don't believe in democracy, because they don't believe that they're listened to, because when they reach out and speak up and asked to be listened to, they are ignored or the billionaire class seems to have more power than the people really do. (Applause.)
So I'm feeling everything my Black pastor friends were just saying. I know what they're feeling, but they're looking to the billionaires to solve this problem. The billionaires will never solve the economic problems of the least of these in this city. They will never do it. Only when the people rise up together, only when the people decide to make change, only when the people say we're going to use the resources that we have to build our communities. Don't ever look for building downtown to be able to change around the neighborhoods. That didn't happen in the '90s. That didn't happen with the Avenue of the Arts. That didn't happen with the Gallery. That didn't happen with any development downtown. Always the promises made over and over, if we build downtown will come up to the neighborhood sooner or later. It has never happened. It only happened when the people start to make it happen. (Applause.)
I still see them faces. I still see the deacons in the Church of Redeemer Baptist who died of cancers that we didn't know what they were dying of. I still see a good friend of the wife of one of those deacons that lived right down the street from me and her incredible gray hair and I watched her deteriorate from those cancers in that neighborhood because we didn't listen to the cry of the people. And as long as I keep seeing these faces and I now see the faces of those in Chinatown who have their properties, who have their restaurants, who have their businesses, who've lived there for 150 years generation after generation and has suffered so much, we've already taken Chinatown. We already took Vine Street. We already put the Vine Street Expressway in. We put the Convention Center in. We put the federal prison in. We've already surrounded them. Now, we want to finish the job by closing them down completely. It is unfair. It is unjust. 50 percent of the businesses are going to suffer negatively. It is unfair. It is unjust and we must not do it and we must come together to find another way to revive that area that can make sure that Chinatown lives, make sure the Black folk that Pastor Carl Day was talking about get the jobs that they need and make sure that we have the opportunities for everyone to grow. This is not somebody has to suffer so somebody else has to live. (Applause.)
We have the resources in this town for everybody to have enough. We all have enough. And all of you have to make that choice to say, no, we're not going to hurt somebody else so somebody else can prosper. Thank you so much. (Applause.)
Okay. Yeah. I was like wow, I'm overcome too. I appreciate the love. I think the solidarity, the love, I feel it. Yeah, my name is Vivian Chang with the No arena in the Heart of Our City Coalition. I want to close us out by just summing up what you've heard today, right. This is the heart of it and also the facts of it. This arena is a bad deal for the city, period. No bones about it, right. It's $400 million in property taxes, $560 million lost in use and occupancy taxes. Those are huge ass numbers. We're talking about piddling amounts for our kids, right. In this CBA they're offering, what, 7 million for kids over 30 years. That's basically $150 per student, so thanks for the pack of gum, Dave Adelman, Josh Harris. What we've been calling it behind closed doors instead of CBA is BBA, billionaires benefit agreement, okay. These benefits only go to them because they've cut out the money for rec centers, they cut out the money for small business. Councilman Squilla said he built in an Arena District. Well, that money came out of the same 50 million that was offered two years ago. Okay. There's not a single dollar more that has been offered, that has been parlayed for this city. So what does negotiation really look like, right. What is the city actually doing to get more or anything out of these corporate developers? I think the answer is nothing, right. We can't afford this. Our city can't afford this. Our schools -- like the District is about to close schools again. We all went through the trauma years ago, right, when the District closed schools, and now we're going to do it again. 14,000 municipal workers are ready to strike and again, we want to take tax revenue out of the city instead of putting it in. We've heard all day that SEPTA is in a crisis, a death spiral as the headlines say, and workers are ready to strike because they're fed up. They've been stepped on, and we're going to let these billionaires who've already stepped on them do it again, right. None of this makes sense and none of this is what Philly's really about. I think there was discussion around, oh, like the Sixers are offering this stuff. Well, like I said this is what they offered two years ago, right. They had their shot. They've been supposedly talking to folks, but it was too little too late. In 2022 they ran out of a meeting in Chinatown, like they were so -- they treated our people so disgustingly they couldn't even face them, right. We had a meeting in Chinatown with folks. We invited the Sixers and they left out the back door. How is that respect. That was it, right. That's the last this community seen of supposedly this good neighbor, right. So it's just it's too little too late, right. They offered the same amount and not a single dollar more has ever moved out of this, right. You all heard last week too, you all heard straight from their mouths. They're like we're not going to give you more money. The Mayor's Administration they don't want to negotiate for more money either. So what are we doing, right. David Adelman, David Blitzer, Josh Harris, they have us all begging for crumbs, like literally crumbs. I'm like, oh, okay, cool, yeah, $150 per student, that's cool. What are they going to do with that when their roof is flooding, when there's no AC, when they have asbestos in the walls. These schools are 75 years old, and we want to give them a shiny new arena, take that tax money out of our schools, out of SEPTA into their pockets. So I mean, I think just to sum up, I see Council President, you're like it's a long day, we've all been here, I appreciate it. But it's shameful what we're considering here, right. What the city and country have done to minority communities, to people of color in so many different places. Yeah, that's right. I mean, Chinatowns across the country, that's one. But cities, Miami cut, destroyed Black and Brown communities destroyed by a highway, so many cities across the country.
Pittsburgh, right, there's like you could name -- I was like for every one city we can name there are 10 more where their governments decided to destroy communities of color for some kind of profit, for something that was a big promise that was never ever going to materialize. So now, we're 2024. Are we going to do the same thing again? I hope not. Our liberation is tied together, right. Union world, we talked about this. Injury to one is injury to all, right. You all heard I come from a union family. My mom's a state worker, right. I'm like this municipal worker strike is very close to my heart. And these are the people who literally are holding our city together and this real solidarity looks like not destroying community, not stealing money out of the workers' pockets and not giving up rolling over for billionaires who don't even live here, who don't even root for our teams because they can't make them win. They don't care about the city. So please don't give up our city for these people who don't care about us. )
I want to thank all of you for your testimony. Any questions and comments from members of the Committee? (No response.)
Not hearing none, well, thank you for your very informative and most importantly passionate testimony. At this -- we're working today. So we have members of the public who would like to give testimony through public comment. Okay. So what we will do is we will allow members to give public comment. I would like to say if it's repetitive, right, could you summarize and work together and give your public comment, but I know that you stayed here all day so we want to give you an opportunity to say how you feel on this very, very passionate issue. So we would like to call up Gordon Whitman, Queen Judith Robinson, Constance Bille and Rebecca Harris. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
My name is Gordon Whitman. I live in the Bella Vista in the 2nd Ward. And like everyone I know and everyone I've talked to who doesn't have a direct stake, I oppose this strongly. This is the most important vote you will take as a Councilperson. Your constituents oppose it for all the reasons you've heard. Today watching was brutal. Everything the Sixers want is nailed down in writing. Everything the community needs and not just Chinatown and Wash West, but every Philadelphian who rides SEPTA is still up in the air. You cannot vote for this until you answer the basic questions what happens to SEPTA. We have hunger games between gridlock and people who ride SEPTA to get to work you cannot vote until you know where that money is and we have a system that is already in what's called the death spiral. Two, the gridlock question is real. Three, there's no analysis of what happens to Philadelphia during the six years, six years it takes to build this thing. And four, we do not have an independent analysis. We have the Sixers and Comcast with competing views on the economics of this thing. You have to do your own analysis. It's your responsibility. And fundamentally, as Reverend Holston said, you do not have an answer to the City Planning Commission's analysis that this will destroy Chinatown. And you can go to Washington, D.C. and you can see Chinatown having been destroyed. This will be on you when you run for re-election. And just want to highlight that we are headed into four years of hell where we need to be united as a city. The controversy over this will not go away. You need to put aside this need that the Sixers have and focus on the real problems we have as a city and preparing for Trump. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. Constance Bille, Rebecca Harris, Rhonda Peskin. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
All right. I'm way back on the list but a lot of people left because it's a long day.
All right. Thank you. My name is Deb Gausmann. I'm a retired registered nurse. I went to nursing school at Albert Einstein that doesn't exist anymore, our nursing school there up at Broad and Olney. All I live in Mount Airy. Cindy Bass is my City Councilperson. When friends in Pittsburgh asked me five years ago where I was living at the time why we were moving back to Philly, I told them that it's a Democratic community-driven neighborhood-based wonderful multi-cultural city and we missed it for the 30 years we were away. And then I came back and I was surprised to find what was going on in Germantown and Mount Airy just as an example. A place that had been a thriving multicultural neighborhood was beginning to be more and more developed. Big buildings taking over what had been neighborhood streets. High-priced condos replacing high schools. I don't see how development in this part of the city is going to do anything other than do what it's doing to all the other neighborhoods where people are being displaced by gentrification. I see that race is being used as a way to divide up how this is playing itself out. These jobs are not sustainable. We can get into that. What's going on with SEPTA, we can get into that. What's going on with medical care, we can get into that if the roads are screwed up. But basically I'm really concerned about what's happening with the soul of this city, a city that was a really thriving place where everybody wanted to come and try to figure each other out. And now, what we're doing is letting billionaires decide how to divide us further and not house more of us. (Applause.)
Hi. My name is Constance Bille. I'm a co-founder of Philadelphia Neighborhood Networks and I'm speaking for them today. We've already gone through lots of testimony about people who are pro and people who are con and all of the problems that this is going to cause. I wanted to -- I have experience having worked on Market East. I saw the decline over many years of that whole area, but all that time Chinatown survived and it thrived and it adapted. The rest of those things did not. All those big institutions, tear them down, let Chinatown expand. We have already built an infrastructure in South Philadelphia. Why aren't we using it? Why are we imposing extra costs that we're being told that SEPTA is not being funded. We're not hearing that there's a real plan. The Community Benefits Agreement didn't involve the community. We've heard all of that today. What I want to actually mention is the process in which this is being rammed through. It is a well-known process that's documented in a book by a Temple professor called Public Dollars Private Stadiums. And every single stadium in a center city followed the same thing. A little group of team owners, of business leaders and a few politicians pushed things through. And in every case, they did it quickly and they won. If this is a take-it-or-leave-it deal, leave it. Don't take it. You're being pressured. And City Council prerogative, you know, Councilmanic prerogative is only tradition. It's not a law. So vote no. 10 (Applause.)
Next up is Rebecca Harris, Rhonda Peskin, Jude Peskin, Diane Payne, Kaia Chou, Martin Beirne, Donna Greenberg, Stan Horwitz, Cassie He, Barbara McDowell. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Just say your name for the record, ma'am, and begin your testimony.
My name is Diane Payne. I am a lifelong Democratic voter, resident of Northeast Philadelphia, a member of 215 People's Alliance and I stand against all resolutions that pave the way for a Center City arena. Philadelphia is fortunate to have a vibrant Chinatown who has fought hard to exist and will suffer the consequences of this mega invader. What does the trouncing of Democrats in this past election and City Council's arena agenda have in common? In my opinion what they have in common is, one, the glaring failure of the Democratic party to meet the needs and concerns of its constituents. This arena project is Exhibit 1. You are pushing through an arena with little or no public, as in the people support. But our Democratic leaders are in rooms negotiating and deal-making with business and corporate suits, folks who don't even live in Philadelphia. Then you come here and pretend to ask tough questions about taxpayer support and community benefits. We all know once the deal is brokered, the promises can be broken. Not to mention that relying on the wealthy to provide community benefits is more of failed democratic neoliberal policies. Philadelphia's problems are many, addiction, poverty, housing, trash, schools, gun violence. But what are we debating? An arena which will fix or impact none of those problems. Our Democratic party is broken and what is happening in this room is broken. Dumping an arena in the middle of our city has echoes of a crumbling Roman Empire. Democrats crumbled in this election because they are more concerned with courting big donors, catering to the rich and powerful, guarding their legacy power structures and buying into failed neoliberal policies. Look in the mirror. (Applause.)
Good evening, everyone. I'm Cassie He. I'm here with the Save Chinatown Solidarity Network. C. C. Chinatown. C. 's Chinatown? I'm getting some nods. 's Chinatown is the development of Capital One Arena. What was once a community of thousands is now 300 people and only 15 Asian-owned small businesses. Think about that. C. Chinatown. For the city the area is not a driver of businesses or jobs. Rather it's an economic dead zone with a lot of vacant units, very little foot traffic and chain restaurants that don't drive any business. C. Chinatown knows from experience that all the promises that were being made today about economic opportunity are empty. C. is dying because we let them develop and that businesses are closing because the rent is too high. C. Chinatown, the loss of retail due to the development is hurting Chinatown's economy. An authentic local economy must be rooted in a strong local community and promote culture and identity. How can Chinatown remain a cultural icon if we don't work to retain Chinese American businesses and residents. C. S. and that's because the development of the Capital One arena. C. Chinatown be a warning to everybody in this room 20 today, a warning about what happens to a neighborhood when you let developers build and displace families, a warning to what happens to businesses when they get pushed out and entire blocks lose their characters. And most importantly, a warning about how communities will continue to fight. And I guarantee you if you build this arena, every single one of us here will become only a bigger pain in your side. So when communities are under attack, we're going to keep fighting. ) MS. McDOWELL DOWDALL: Good afternoon. My name is Barbara McDowell Dowdall. I'm a retired Philly public school teacher who treasures the time I have now to enjoy the restaurants, gift shops and varieties of other businesses and intergenerational family life in Chinatown by simply walking around the unique community. As a union member, I understand the concerns of the building trade unions. As a POWER Interfaith Education Justice team member, I appreciate the advocacy of clergy. As a grand and godparent of four Philadelphia public school students, one of whom is rarely seen without a 76ers hat or hoodie, I yearn to witness the state and city commitment to replacing school buildings as old as 126 years, that's Fitler in Germantown, and restoring librarians to the 110 schools where they do not exist. And as a resident of Southwest Germantown, where just a few years ago we joined with Nicetown and East Falls to fend off the threat to our community life from another billionaire, now President-elect, who sought to build a casino slots parlor right where our neighborhoods converged. The Gambling Commission blessedly sided with the communities and we were delighted to have Baker Square built. I use the shop right there regularly. I have not seen any consideration as yet for the additional destructive ripples from an out-of-place humongous sports arena, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell Pavilion and President's House honoring those whom George Washington enslaved, Christ Church the Art and Theater and all the other potential tourist draws for our nation's 250th Declaration of Independence celebration and the Soccer World Cup in 2026. I grew up in Southwest Germantown and saw my childhood park cut in half by Route 1, the Roosevelt Expressway, destroyed the ambience of our neighborhood. And just by mention, Randolph's Career Tech High School, that building was originally an asbestos factory. )
Thank you, Ms. McDowell. Anthony Bright, George Newman, Deborah Gosman, Sophie White, Hakim McCain, Shirley Zundy -- no, Shirley Lundy, Mike Morak, Sam Staten, Jr., Wick Savage, Linda Thomas, Keisha Hayes, Robert Brand, Mijuel Johnson, come on up, Migel, and Rose Dillon. (Witnesses approached Witness table.)
Good afternoon, Council President and Councilmembers. There was so much said here today I don't know where to start. But I'm first going to start from my heart. This is the most important decision that I think I'm going to see in my lifetime. I happen to be 71 years old. I have a number amount of great-grandkids that live within walking distance. Some of them live in the great Councilman's District Michael Driscoll. They can catch the train and come see a game. Some of them live in my dear friend Cindy Bass's District, and those that live in your District, Council President, probably can walk to the game. There are many communities in the city of Philadelphia that would love to benefit from what the sports district has benefited in the last years. I don't think anyone will 14 question the economic impact that 15 the sports arenas have had on this 16 city of Philadelphia. 17 This is an opportunity 18 for young men, as I was a long time 19 ago, to get involved in the Building 20 Trades. I am a product of the Building Trades. I am 100 percent in support of the 76 Place as an advocate. Thank you. (Applause.)
Okay. Hello. My name is Mijuel (inaudible) Johnson and I'm opposed to the 76ers arena in Chinatown. I'm opposed because I feel that it is not worth the destruction of another historic community in Philadelphia for the creation of what essentially will be just a giant bowl in the middle of the city. We have a sports complex, which by no means is full, if you can take into consideration all the parking lots. We can easily build another arena there. I don't think anyone really is opposed to the idea of the Sixers having an arena. We're opposed to where they want to put it. We don't want an arena in Chinatown. We don't want an arena in Center City, especially when there's plenty of space in the sports complex which is already allocated for that purpose. Some of the arguments that they've just made, like for example the Wells Fargo Center being too old. The Wells Fargo Center is five years younger than I am and I'm 33. You have people in Pula, Croatia playing people in Croatia playing World Cup level soccer matches in 2000-year old Roman amphitheaters there, but we can't make a 28-year-old arena work, especially one that's already been given, what, $400 million in renovations. That doesn't make any sense. We want our -- as a tour guide, I see people come to the city and they are fascinated. Philadelphians love the history of this city. We're proud to be a world heritage city. But just remember that the status of a world heritage city can be taken away if you overdevelop, and we saw it happen in Liverpool and we don't want to make that mistake here. I think we should focus development in areas that can actually sustain it in places that we haven't developed already, places like the Riverfront, places like the -- okay, places like the sports complex and just thank you. And I hope that we can actually build this arena elsewhere if we need to build it at all. Thank you. (Applause.)
Good evening, Council President Johnson, Councilmembers. My name is John Donohoe. I'm a member of IBEW Local 98. I'm also the Ward Chairman for the honorable Michael Driscoll here, 65th Ward. I just want to ask everyone in Council to please approve the 76ers bill. It's jobs for everyone. It's going to bring Chinatown back. It's going to make it even better than it is right now. I'm probably the last speaker for this evening. Walk down 8th and Market, 9th and Market, 10th and Market right now. There's nothing there. We're going to light it up like a Christmas tree and create more jobs for the entire city of Philadelphia, for everyone. So please approve the 76ers arena. As I say every time I'm here, build it, build it, build it. Thank you. (Applause.)
Is anyone else here for public comment? Come on, ma'am.
Hello. My name is Sophie White. I am a Democratic committee person for the 1st Division of the 18th Ward. I am also a member of the Philadelphia Tenants Union. I'm a trade worker, I'm an artist and I'm also a patient at Jefferson Hospital. Thank you everyone for giving me the time to be here. I'm just going to speak really quickly. There's so many things I have to say so it's difficult to keep it into two minutes. But Chinatown is not and nowhere -- Chinatown is a vital and important part of the city. I was essentially gentrified out of New York when I moved here in the year 2008 during the recession and Chinatown was a crucial part of my ability to navigate Philadelphia. It's very friendly and urban. Many, many local businesses are interconnected and it has a very safe and welcoming vibe for any kind of people who come here, whether it's my weird relatives from Ohio or everybody who lives in Philadelphia, whether you live in South Philly or West Philly --
Weird. Okay, Republicans I guess, full disclosure. They felt comfortable there. I feel comfortable there and anybody can feel comfortable there. It's a place for anyone. It's a place where you can afford any kind of delicious food that you want to eat, you can get your friends back home. If you're a tourist, you can get gifts there that you can afford. If you are a Philadelphian, you can get gifts there or things that you might need that you can afford. The hardware store on 10th Street is one of the most essential stores that I visit most regularly in the entire city and I don't live in Chinatown. I live in Fishtown. Fishtown has seen a whole lot of development, and it has come at the expense of local residents, be it renters or even property owners whose taxes have gone up while developers have not had to pay taxes. Many adjacent properties have been knocked down by developers. As an artist I make paintings of these types of situations taking place where neighborhoods are changing into something that you cannot recognize anymore, something familiar that goes away. As I've stood in Chinatown painting recently, I have seen and heard so many different languages, people of every age, people of every background coming together just the way Philadelphia wants to be. (Applause.)
Good evening to City Council. My name is Shirley Zenobia Lundy. I'm a lifelong Philadelphian. I've been a captain forever. I'm a product of the Philadelphia High School for Girls. And it's not really necessary for me to tell you who I am. I'm a Philadelphian. I am Philadelphia. And I'm here to support Chinatown, because believe it, if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere. And I beg you City Council vote against this. You've driven downtown. You see how the traffic is. I'll tell you this, I did not drive. I have a car. I came on public transportation. I am fearful to go home. Let's invest some money in making our streets safer, not an arena. The trash, 3,200 people are going to come into Philly, all the trash that that's going to generate. Is Philly going to clean that up? I still see Harris signs in West Philadelphia. I live in West Philadelphia. My heart is in Philly, and this reminds me of the Broad Street Run. You saw me holding that sign. I ran the first Broad Street Run, and I will hold that sign up for a week for the residents of Chinatown if I have to. And if you can sleep at night after voting yes on this, no, it's not right. I'm going to give a quick analogy I told my neighbor I was sitting next to. This would be like if you had a 10-year-old kid and they came to you and said, hey, mom, I think I'm going to go to New York City for the weekend, what do you think? And you say, oh, let me think about it. We shouldn't even be thinking about this. The union workers, they will always work. There will always be something for them to do in Philadelphia, so think about all of this. And this is my first time at City Council and I learned a lot about how it works. My Councilperson didn't even stay. Thank you. (Applause.)
Thank you. This concludes the business for the Committee of the Whole for today. I want to recognize Councilmember Mark Squilla for a motion to recess the public hearing to Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.
It has been moved and properly seconded that the Committee of the Whole will be recessed to Wednesday, November 20, 2024, 10:00 a.m. All in favor will signify by saying aye. (Aye.)
The ayes have it. The motion carries. The Committee of the Whole stands in recess until Wednesday, November 20, 2024 at 10:00 a.m. Thank you all very much. (Committee of the Whole concluded at 6:30 p.m.) C E R T I F I C A T I O N I, hereby certify that the proceedings and evidence noted are contained fully and accurately in the stenographic notes taken by me in the foregoing matter, and that this is a correct transcript of the same. __________________________________ TANEHA CARROLL