Scratch Baking

While Mayor Cherelle Parker and company tried to explain why the Philadelphia 76ers decided to build their new stadium in partnership with the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stadium District, there’s still a lot of unanswered questions.

When the news hit on Sunday that the Philadelphia 76ers decided — with a little help from Comcast and the NBA — to become a part of Comcast’s partnership with the Philadelphia Eagles, Flyers and Phillies on a Wrigleyville-style project, reactions varied.

Residents of Chinatown, Washington Square West and the Gayborhood were praising the news, although they believed that the city never should have wasted the time considering the project.

People looking forward to coming downtown to catch a basketball game were a little confused.

And City officials? Their reactions ranged from Councilmember Jimmy Harrity, who was the first person to come out in support of the project and was angered by being used as “a pawn” to Councilmember Mark Squilla, who introduced the legislation creating 76 Place and didn’t seem to mind being called a pawn, saying the change was the “best-case scenario” to Mayor Cherelle Parker, who used a Monday morning news conference to try and put a positive face on what she called a “curve ball”. 

During the news conference, Parker and Council President Kenyatta Johnson joined David Adelson and Josh Harris, owners of the Sixers, Comcast president Brian Roberts, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and any other person that could be used to distract from the fact that in the end, the only thing that could stop a group of billionaires from doing something is a larger group of billionaires.

(Although Media-based comedian Wanda Sykes waxing eloquently about her love of the WNBA and why she’d like to see a franchise in Philadelphia did break up some of the tension.)

We at Hall Monitor have been following the 76 Place issue from months now. Co-hosts Larry McGlynn and Denise Clay-Murray were at Monday’s news conference. Consumer Reporter Lance Haver has been following how this would impact consumers. And Correspondent Vanessa Maria Graber has been focused on the community’s reaction to the news. 

Here is what Lance and Vanessa had to say.

The Power Of Money

The announcement that the owners of the 76ers would not build an arena adjacent to Center City’s Chinatown but instead build a shared arena with the owners of the Flyers in South Philadelphia was a “curve ball,” according to Mayor Parker.  But for almost everyone else, it was a bait and switch that created animosity between some minority groups, labor unions and their longtime supporters, those championing Center City and those hoping to save small independent businesses.

For over two years, David Adelman and Josh Harris, owners of the Sixers, and the Mayor have said the arena is needed to rebuild Market Street East and revitalize that part of the City. Without the new arena, the “Fashion District” would fail, and the City would suffer. Now, we are being told we don’t need an arena there; other types of development will do. 

Our elected officials and the heads of some of our unions are saying keeping the arena in South Philadelphia is a big win for the City. We now will have two developments. Of course, if this is true, it makes most wonder why those same people didn’t advocate for this big win first before giving the owners of the 76ers tax breaks and land gifts and limiting the City’s victories.

The answer is not very complicated.  The explanation comes from the movie “Wall Street.”  “The main thing about money, Bud, is that it makes you do things you don’t want to do.”  Because the billionaire team owners had money, the Mayor, City Council leaders, and some union leaders “did things they didn’t want to do” support a plan that now they are saying wasn’t as good as keeping the arena in South Philadelphia.

Sadly, little truth has been told. Neither the Mayor nor Council President Kenyatta Johnson have said they were misled into supporting the arena. Even Council Members and others who opposed it are prevaricating, saying it was the opposition that stopped it.

It wasn’t. It was just a fight between billionaires, which ended when they found a way to make even more by working together rather than fighting each other.

What will happen to Center City?  The Mayor has said the stadium will have to start from scratch and create a new community benefit and payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreements.

The Mayor has not said what happened to the lease agreement that was given to the team’s owners and can be assigned to other corporations.  Will the City and the unelected members of PAID, — the Pennsylvania Authority for Industrial Development —, be allowed to transfer the terms to the” new undisclosed project”?  Will the corporations get not one but two deals from the City that will enable them to escape tax liabilities?

Section 8.1 (b) of the lease agreement, which the Council passed and the Mayor signed into law, gives the team owners the right to transfer the lease agreement to another party.  “The City shall have the right to approve such Transfer, which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld. “

No one at the press conference disclosed what would happen to the lease agreement. Most of the time was spent on self-congratulations, covering up how badly our elected officials had been misled.

When will our elected officials decide that Philadelphians, not billionaires, have the legal right to chart our City’sfuture? When will they learn that no matter what business people say, the first rule is to make a profit, not to help the City? After all, if the goal of the 76ers’ owners were first and foremost to create jobs and help Philadelphia, they would move their headquarters here, buy locally, and donate the stock in the company to the people of Philadelphia, much like the Green Bay Packers have done with their football team.

–Lance Haver

Community Reaction to the New Arena Plan Ranges from Celebratory to Frustration

The community reaction to the announcement of a new arena plan ranged from a sense of relief to feelings of frustration about the time and energy the city wasted deliberating the plan. Opponents of the arena from the Save Chinatown Coalition spent countless hours organizing community meetings, rallies, protests, and public testimony at city council hearings which included the arrests of activists advocating against the legislation. Many were angered that the decision to move the location of the proposed arena from Chinatown to south Philadelphia was not made by elected officials empathetic to their cause, but instead by four billionaires from the Sixers, Comcast, the NBA, and the NFL looking to create a better financial deal for their respective organizations.

In a statement, the Save Chinatown Coalition said, “This sham of a process laid bare what Philadelphians have long known: Decisions about the future of neighborhoods are not being made by the people who live there or have their best interests in mind, but by a select few who care only about their bank accounts, and a City Hall that’s bought and paid for. The nightmare of a Center City Sixers arena will not haunt our city anymore. To every Philadelphian who called, marched, testified, and warned City Hall that this was a raw deal: This win belongs to you, and the lesson for politicians is to trust the people.”

Some activists were concerned about the process leading up to the legislation, wanting more transparency and accountability for the money and time that was expended to get approval for the proposed arena. “It is clear that today’s press conference by Mayor Parker, city officials, and the 76ers owners was a clumsy attempt to save face after such an embarrassing change,” said Asantewaa Nkrumah-Ture, a member of PTU. “We now hope Mayor Parker will respond honestly and eagerly to all previous Right To Know requests made since she became mayor, “ she continued.

Even though the new plan is to keep the arena in south Philly and out of Chinatown, opponents of the arena plan are still looking for answers to how the new plan, the lease agreement, and the proposed community benefits agreement is going to impact Philadelphia residents. Members of the Black Philly 4 Chinatown coalition said, “This news is glaring evidence of the obscene failure of leadership from Mayor Cherelle Parker and our City Council. The people of Philadelphia will never forget how their so-called leaders fell over themselves to bend to the will of billionaires who don’t care about our communities and ignored the will of the people who make these communities thrive. We are waiting for more details of how this new deal will impact our city; in the meantime, our hearts are breathing a sigh of relief, and we are still deeply committed to the work of making this city a place where people come before profits.”

Despite continued skepticism about the new plan, organizers are still finding reasons to celebrate. A Save Chinatown Coalition party will be held tonight in Chinatown for what they are calling a “victory” celebration.

-Vanessa Maria Graber

A Matter of Trust

Sitting in the Mayor’s reception room on Monday and watching Mayor Cherelle Parker preside over a news conference announcing the Sixers decision to stay in South Philadelphia reminded me of when I was covering the Mayoral primary that led to former City Councilman Michael Nutter becoming the city’s mayor.

I went to a pool party at Sid Booker’s house. Booker, for those of you who don’t know, is the owner of the Stinger LaPointe bar on North Broad Street. In addition to décor that would be more at home in a 70s Blacksploitation film, the bar, the take-out joint attached to it and the food trucks parked nearby are known for churning out mountains of fried shrimp.

One of the food trucks was parked in the driveway of Booker’s house as politicos including several of the people who lost to Nutter in the primary were there to celebrate his victory. I found myself sitting next to a political operative by the pool, watching as people who really didn’t want to be there paid homage.

The political operative told me to take a good look at the crowd and to tell him what I saw. I said, I saw a bunch of politicians.

He said, “I see a conquered army.”

If you looked really closely, you saw the same thing yesterday. I know that I did. 

From Josh Harris and David Adelman looking like they’d rather be just about anywhere else, to Councilmembers Quetcy Lozada and Isaiah Thomas who tried not to appear as angry as they probably were, a lot of people looked like the wind had been knocked out of their sails. 

Even Mayor Parker and Council President Johnson looked like they had been blindsided. They were, but that’s not here or there.

While there were a lot of questions asked, none of them seemed to focus on the most obvious thing: the betrayal. While a reporter from CBS-3 asked Parker if she could trust the men around her to not do what the Sixers did to her again, Council will be the ones asked to pass any plan that any of these people put forward.

Will Council trust them again? Has Johnson lost the trust of his members? Budget season is coming up and trust is a big part of that. Will the arena debacle have an impact on that?

I guess we’ll find out soon enough. 

Mayor Parker’s first year in office has been interesting. While it has had some definite ups, there have also been some prodigious drops.

If she wants a second term, she’s got three years to rebuild her political capital and, most importantly, to repair her relationships with Council and the public.

Good luck with that.