Philadelphia’s Chinatown rallies against development of new 76ers arena
The diaspora enclave was founded 1871, and has resisted and suffered gentrification and development before
Vivian Chang works on a narrow Philadelphia street that would have been consumed by a Phillies stadium had Chinatown activists not rallied to defeat the plan in the early 2000s. Instead of 40,000 cheering fans, the squeals of young children now fill the playground at Folk Arts-Cultural Treasures Charter School, which opened in 2007.
“We’re standing right where the baseball stadium would have been,” Chang said in late September. “And now it’s 480 students – a lot of immigrants, a lot of students of colour from across the city.”
Chang, 33, leads Asian-American United, which flexed its political muscle during the stadium fight and is now experiencing déjà vu as it tries to stop a planned US$1.3 billion basketball arena for the Philadelphia 76ers at the other edge of Chinatown.
Mayor Cherelle Parker hopes a glitzy, 18,500-seat arena can be the catalyst to revive a distressed retail corridor called Market East, which runs for eight blocks, from City Hall to the Liberty Bell. The plan now moves to city council for debate this fall. Team owners say they need the council’s approval for 76 Place by year’s end so they can move into their new home by 2031.
“I wholeheartedly believe this is the right deal for the people of Philadelphia,” Parker said in announcing her support in September, while pledging to protect what she called “the best Chinatown in the United States.”
Few would deny that Market East needs a saviour. But some are less sure it should be the Sixers. Critics fear gridlock on game days and a dark arena at other times, along with gentrification, homogenisation, and rising rents. Chinatown sits just above Market East and the LGBTQ friendly “Gayborhood” a few blocks below it.
