Legal fight against Sixers arena develops in Chinatown as steering committee holds first meeting

Over 40 Chinatown associations and organizations came together Monday morning to formally announce the Chinatown Coalition to Oppose the Arena — and joining the coalition is national civil rights organization Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

“It’s important for people to stand up and voice out,” said Steven Zhu, head of the Philadelphia Chinese Restaurant Association. “There are people understanding how the issue is so serious, that this is something that will destroy Chinatown.”

Harry Leong, director of the Chinese Christian Church and Center and president of Philadelphia Suns, said the coalition is about organizing and bringing together the community. Members of the coalition include the Greater Philadelphia Fujian Association, the Greater Philadelphia United Chinese American Chamber of Commerce, and the Pennsylvania Chinese Business Association, to name a few.

“We’re gathering businesses together and saying, ‘Hey, we’re together on this, let’s get your voice out,’ ” he said. “We’re more unified compared to separate.”

Nearly fifty community members, leaders, and activists gathered for the news conference inside Tom’s Dim Sum, a restaurant tucked under the 11th Street tunnel across from the Hilton Garden Inn. The conference was conducted in Mandarin and English, and at one point the interpreter began crying as she shared the pleas and demands of those who fear the destruction of their community.

“I want to say to the interpreter and those in the room who are crying,” the Rev. Mark Kelly Tyler, pastor of Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, said as he came to the microphone, “that we feel your pain, because home should be sacred. … Our message for Chinatown is to fight back against the gentrification of your community.”

Monday’s news conference came on the heels of claims from Sixers developers that there are Chinatown organizations, business owners, and residents who are open to or supportive of the proposed arena. Many in the neighborhood, including members of the coalition, have since complained that the Sixers are trying to paint a false image of public sentiment in the neighborhood — and one Chinatown resident set out to find the facts himself.

“I want to say to the interpreter and those in the room who are crying, that we feel your pain, because home should be sacred.”

“[With] the news surrounding the Chinatown area and so many people talking about the arena right now, I think we need to have a number to show to arena developers,” said YingZhang Lin, a Chinatown business owner. “That’s fundamental information to this project, whoever makes the final decision.”

Walking around Chinatown today, “NO STADIUM” signs are plastered on many windows throughout the neighborhood, so Lin surveyed business owners in Chinatown about the arena plan leading up to Monday’s news conference, ranging from grocery stores to restaurants to travel agencies.

Of over 100 business owners Lin estimates there are in Chinatown, 87 have signed a petition formally opposing the arena — and Lin expects that more will sign in the coming weeks. No one he surveyed said they supported the arena, but three said they wanted more time to consider the proposal before signing the petition. Those who opposed the arena predominantly cited concerns about how their small businesses will survive with such a large arena just feet away, as well as concerns about safety and traffic.

“We don’t want to become the D.C. Chinatown,” Lin said business owners explained to him. “This is the center for the Chinese around the Greater Philadelphia Area. If this Chinatown disappears or gets destroyed, for minorities, traditional culture needs to have some place. And we want to see Chinese tradition not destroyed in this area.”

Those concerns about displacement and preserving cultural hubs are precisely why AALDEF said it decided to join the coalition opposing the arena Monday morning.

“What most people don’t know when they’re going for dim sum in Chinatown is that Chinatowns started as a direct result of the violence against the Asian American community. They were forced to create Chinatowns in order to survive,” said Bethany Li, legal director of AALDEF.

“They weren’t located in places that were considered desirable to live,” Li said. “That’s changed in recent decades, which is why we’re seeing this inundation of development without regard to not just the history, but really the necessity … especially in this current context of anti-Asian violence.”

Li said AALDEF would look into the possibilities of legal action, citing the organization’s history of fighting against gentrification and displacement, particularly of low-income residents.

The New York-based group has fought and won in Philadelphia once before.

In 2010, AALDEF helped achieve two major settlements that required the School District of Philadelphia to make broad changes in how it handled complaints of harassment and violence against students.

“What most people don’t know ... is that Chinatowns started as a direct result of the violence against the Asian American community.”

The legal group accused the district of “deliberate indifference” to the mistreatment of Asian immigrant students at South Philadelphia High School, culminating in an explosive day of violence on Dec. 3, 2009. About 30 Asian students were attacked by classmates in and around the school, sending 13 to the hospital with injuries.

The coalition was announced the morning of the first steering committee meeting, which was designated for business owners and made up of 13 Chinatown businesses, organizations, and residents. There have been concerns in the community about the process and legitimacy of the committee.

76DevCorp asked the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp. (PCDC) to form the steering committee in order to find solutions to concerns about the arena. While the steering committee operates independently, the fact that the developers prompted its creation has raised questions about the level of independence — especially as there have been allegations of the committee excluding community members opposed to the arena. Leong and Zhu, for example, were both invited to join the steering committee, and both said they were boxed out after sharing their opposition to the arena.

“I have no idea how they’re choosing their committee members,” Zhu said.

Monday’s steering committee meeting attracted about 25 people to the Friends Senior Care Center on Cherry Street. Adam Xu, who serves as co-president of the Philadelphia Chinatown Business Association with Dan Tsao, a steering committee member, said business owners grapple with the question “Who speaks for Chinatown?”

Xu said the business association wants to conduct a careful, door-to-door survey to judge desires and opinions, given the potential impact of an arena on residents, restaurants, and stores. Of course the results are yet to be determined, he said, “but we believe the outcome is a no.”

The leadership of the business association is almost unanimously opposed. Of the arena plan, he said, “It’s going nowhere.”