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