A developer said Chinatown is ‘positive-to-neutral’ on the Sixers arena. Not so, say community members.
“It’s not theoretical what happens to these precious neighborhoods when large-scale developments come,” said Ellen Somekawa, executive director of the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School in Chinatown.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect that Kaia Chau is the daughter of Asian Americans United co-founder Debbie Wei.
Ellen Somekawa walked around Chinatown in Washington, D.C., and saw a shadow of what once was.
Ornate gates marked the beginning and end of the few-block radius of Chinatown. Inside, Starbucks, Walgreens, Chipotle, Capital One stood tall, all with their names written in Mandarin next to the English signage. Somekawa looked around and could barely find any Chinese residents, or businesses that cater to their needs or cultural institutions that preserve their heritage across generations.
What Somekawa and other Philadelphians who visited D.C. in September saw was a shell of what the thriving, cultural neighborhood once was, before an NBA and NHL arena was built in the neighborhood in 1997. And she saw what the future could hold for Philadelphia’s Chinatown.
In July, the managing partners of the 76ers announced alongside apartment developer David Adelman that they plan to build an NBA arena at 10th and Market Streets — right on the southern border of Chinatown — touting investment and employment opportunities with the announcement. In the months since, many Chinatown community members have voiced their opposition to the project, citing concerns about parking and traffic, gentrification and displacement, and, ultimately, turning into the D.C. Chinatown: a neighborhood with Chinese storefronts, but devoid of authentic Chinese culture.
“I want the community to be here when [my kids] get older.”
“It’s not theoretical what happens to these precious neighborhoods when large-scale developments come,” said Somekawa, executive director of the Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School in Chinatown, pointing to the D.C. Chinatown. “All the talk about how they’re going to help Center City Philadelphia seems very deceptive or misleading — or patently untrue.”
Adelman and others have held information sessions for certain community members, with one open meeting organized by Philadelphia Chinese Community Organizations United most widely attended two weeks ago.
» READ MORE: Chinatown groups unite to protect the neighborhood as Sixers plan a new arena
“Our outreach primarily has really been focused on relationship-building and opening up lines of communication with stakeholders, community organizations, business owners, etc.,” said David Gould, the Sixers’ chief diversity and impact officer. “It’s really been around building those relationships and gradually sharing information about the project in smaller, more intimate setting so that we can have a dialogue.”
But community members have walked away from the attempted outreach efforts feeling frustrated and patronized.
“Listening to the Sixers, it just feels like they have zero willingness to fix the issue,” said Xu Lin, owner of Bubblefish Restaurant, who is concerned the arena will destroy his and many other small businesses in the community. “They kept saying they will not build more parking space, but direct people to other parking spots. When people raise safety concerns, they said something like, ‘It’s not our job to ensure safety, it’s the government’s job.’”
Other community members felt gaslit and misunderstood by the way the 76 Devcorp addressed concerns — or failed to acknowledge there would be any potential negative impact on the community at all.
Visiting the D.C. Chinatown, Somekawa and others heard stories from former residents that were priced out of homes they had held for generations, ultimately watching their childhood home turned into a parking lot or hotel to serve the sports arena or convention center there. And on days where there were no basketball or hockey games, the neighborhood was a ghost town.
“This whole talk about enlivening the streets is not true,” Somekawa said. “The arena wants to make profits by having people go inside and frequent the concessions they’re going to build inside the arena.”
Kaia Chau, cofounder of Students for the Preservation of Chinatown (SPOC) and daughter of Asian Americans United co-founder Debbie Wei, said the Sixers are “pushing out buzz words but don’t have any genuinely good reasons as to why they’re building the arena — because there is none.”
“It’s very clear that they have no understanding of the history of resistance in Chinatown,” she said.
According to community members, however, what is most frustrating are the misrepresentation and lack of cultural sensitivity they have seen from the Sixers.
In one story, Adelman told The Inquirer that the “vast majority” of groups from Chinatown he has spoken to “are neutral-to-positive,” with one vocal detractor. Community members are angry with that assertion, pointing to numerous Chinatown groups, residents, and business owners who have voiced their opposition to the arena, and not their support. Just two weeks ago, SPOC held a protest against the arena that generated a turnout of an estimated 200 people.
Debbie Wei, cofounder of Asian Americans United, said Adelman’s statement stems from a lack of cultural understanding.
“Claiming that people are neutral is a total cultural misread,” Wei said. “If people aren’t telling you they want it, they’re basically saying we don’t want it, because that’s Asian culture — we’re not going to tell you to your face. If we aren’t saying yes, that means no.”
Wei estimated that from her conversations with community members, fewer than 10 percent are supportive of the arena, roughly two-thirds are opposed and about 20 percent are undecided.
District 1 Councilmember Mark Squilla said there’s still a lengthy process the Sixers have to go through before being considered for zoning approval, including completion of a traffic and parking study. Squilla, who visited D.C. with community members in September, added that he believes the team has learned to be more “in tune with what the community wants” after losing its request for a proposal to build the arena on the waterfront.
“Very seldom are you gonna get everybody on the same page,” he said. “By having this dialogue, either the project doesn’t move forward at all because it can’t work, or the project moves forward in its best possible light, taking in all the input from the surrounding community.”
Gould and Adelman stressed that their team has been intentional about thoughtfully building relationships with community members through dozens of small-scale meetings. They plan to commission studies to evaluate the community’s concerns, and have also asked the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC) to form a steering committee made up of community organizations and members to come up with solutions. Gould added that they have received positive feedback from community members they have been in touch with about their cultural sensitivity.
Michael Chow, owner of Sang Kee Noodle House and member of the steering committee, said the committee held its first meeting a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday. Made up of 13 Chinatown businesses, organizations and residents, Chow said everybody on the committee so far seems to be open to learn more about the arena — neither for nor against.
“(The arena) could be good if you do it right,” Chow said. “But people want to make sure they can find a solution to the concerns we’re having.”
But there have also been concerns in the community about the process and legitimacy of the steering committee.
When Harry Leong, center director of the Chinese Christian Church and Center and president of the Philadelphia Suns, was invited to join the steering committee by the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, he was hesitant.
“I told (Executive Director John Chin) that I didn’t want the committee to be used as a pawn by the 76ers to promote their cause,” said Leong, who is a lifelong resident of Chinatown.
As the only attendee vocally opposing the arena, Leong questioned whether the committee can serve its mission. “Most of the people talking were very much in favor of it,” said Leong. “The steering committee doesn’t represent the full Chinatown. I just don’t like the aspect of the disrespect to the community, like they are the only representatives of the community. There’s other voices, and you refuse to listen.”
Adelman stressed that this arena is about more than just Chinatown, listing numerous business groups outside of the neighborhood who are supportive of the project, such as vendors at the Reading Terminal Market and the Pennsylvania Restaurant and Lodging Association.
“No disrespect to Chinatown, but there’s multiple constituencies that benefit from this arena besides Chinatown,” he said. “I think it’s a good step of economic development and job creation.”
For now, though, one thing feels glaringly obvious to many community members.
“We’ve seen how Chinatowns disappear after big projects destroyed communities,” said Lin. “I want the community to be here when [my kids] get older.”
Correction: The number of businesses, organizations and residents who are part of the steering committee was incorrectly listed as six in an earlier version of this story; it has been corrected to 13.