November 20, 2024
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Hearings on the 76ers arena continued with Philadelphia City Council members on Wednesday as Center City business leaders praised the project but would not commit to funding SEPTA.
As leaders in the hotel, real estate and parking industries expressed support for the proposed 76ers arena at Wednesday's hearing, one member of Philadelphia City Council asked them to quantify their allegiance.
Councilmember Nina Ahmad pressed the men speaking before council about whether their businesses, which stand to profit from the arena at 10th and Market streets, would be willing to invest in a key piece of the plan. If the project needs SEPTA to work, she wondered, would its beneficiaries help rescue the region's cash-strapped public transportation system?
"If everybody's going to make so much on the plus side, where's their skin in the game?" Ahmad asked.
Daniel Killinger, an executive with National Real Estate Advisers, would not commit to a SEPTA fund, but the line of questioning reveals the hearings' outsized focus on how people would get to and from events at the arena. The team has assumed 40% of fans would travel to games using public transit. But SEPTA currently faces a $240 million deficit and has proposed steep fare hikes and route cuts in response, putting its ability to handle more crowds in serious doubt.
The 76ers have insisted they will only cover the costs of infrastructure upgrades at Jefferson Station, which the arena would sit atop. The developers will not pay for SEPTA operations, team leadership affirmed in testimony last week.
Public hearings continued Wednesday with a number of panels featuring small groups of speakers. Before Killinger and his colleagues took the floor, four health care workers expressed concerns about the arena's impact on emergency vehicles traveling to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Traffic would delay life-saving treatments, they said, and negatively affect other aspects of care. Ellie Yu, a registrar at the Mazzoni Center, said patients would struggle to arrive for appointments at the HIV and STI testing center at 12th and Locust streets, located six blocks from the proposed site.
Walter Tsou, the former city health commissioner, also testified against the plans. Tsou had previously released a critical video of the arena proposal on behalf of Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, he compared the 76ers owners to ungrateful children who refuse to live in a lavish home provided by their parents – that home being the recently renovated Wells Fargo Center.
"Give these billionaires a spanking," he urged council members.
Tsou later riled Councilmember Jim Harrity, who queried about potentially designating a traffic lane for emergency vehicles. Tsou asked if this would be an "honors system" or a police-enforced measure.
"I'm not trying to jerk you off, so please don't jerk me off," Harrity replied in a huff.
Killinger and others presented a more positive view of the arena, arguing it would revitalize the Market East commercial corridor where past projects had failed. Parkway Corp. president Robert Zuritsky, who insisted parking by the arena "will not be a concern," said the plan "will get this town cooking."
Paul Levy, a member of the Center City District board of directors, added that a new arena and a robust Chinatown were possible with the right precautions. Activists have long argued that the project would decimate small businesses and displace residents in the neighborhood, a perspective that was reflected Tuesday in testimony from advocates. Levy, however, believes the right zoning stipulations could save it, citing measures San Francisco undertook to preserve its own Chinatown.
"We need to get out of this either/or thinking," Levy said.
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