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Cobey1 t1_jdf3958 wrote

Reply to comment by throws_rocks_at_cars in Black clergy and businesspeople support Sixers arena proposal by dc122186

Heard. Black leaders in this city held a press conference today talking about how this new arena will be revolutionary for Black business owners, why not really push a pro-Black agenda? It’s half assed. A 76ers arena in north Philly is better for the entire city and region. It’s centralized, public transit orientated, the project would probably cost A LOT less due to value of land, and it would prioritize investing into a Black neighborhood. I don’t understand why Black leaders in this city miss this clear opportunity to really bring a W to a community that hasn’t been vibrant since the 1960s.

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PurpleWhiteOut t1_jdf6j1b wrote

The sixers don't give a shit about revitalizing anything, they just want valuable real estate and sales. Im sure they suspect people won't want to go to a neighborhood that needs revitalization to go to other arena uses like concerts. Black leaders may have brought it up but there's no way they'd even consider it especially without subsidy

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Cobey1 t1_jdfa1wg wrote

The 76ers could/should pivot in this direction. They could be pioneers championing an unprecedented investment in a community that is STARVING for economic opportunities. It would be a ricochet effect improving North Philly commercial corridors, bring different and new people to the community, and neighborhoods could be built outward from the arena (east of the arena is fishtown/Kensington, West of arena is brewerytown/Fairmount, etc). I would be okay if city/state officials subsidized a revitalization project like an arena in North Philly, it’s a community that desperately needs investment, good paying and sustainable jobs. Imagine if the 76ers committed to this and in return, they provide youth sports & recreation facilitiesx academic centers, etc. for youth in that area or the entire city, and the city/state in return tax abate them or some other form of subsidy. This whole market East debacle is just a huge missed opportunity from Black leaders who pretend to “champion” pro-Black agendas like this press conference, but then say nothing about the disenfranchisement of the communities they pretend to advocate for.

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AbsentEmpire t1_jdfhvqv wrote

The second they do that all the same arguments about why Temple can't have a stadium will come right back for a 76ers North Philly location, but with even more claims of gentrification, colonizers, etc.

The center city location on top of a train station and fronting Market St is a logically good choice that will benefit East Market, a North Philly location is just not as good for a variety of reasons and is why they didn't propose it.

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UndercoverPhilly t1_jdhx6pb wrote

Except those that live surrounding it don't want it. I include myself in that and I live on the other side of Broad, about 10-15 minutes walk to where they propose to build this stadium. It would be much better in North Philadelphia (or keep in South Philly where it is). It would revitalize that area and bring more restaurants and businesses. It would actually be INVESTING in a part of Philadelphia that the city for the most part ignores.

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AbsentEmpire t1_jdjgiej wrote

It makes no sense in North Philly by any metric. There's no location there that's as accessible to the entire region as Market East, that has every rail line as a one seat ride, that has the highway access, the parking garages, or that has the existing entertainment service infrastructure to support it.

The only locations that make sense are Market East, the Stadium Complex, or Camden. The Sixers want a downtown transit oriented building, the bankrupt mall owners want to downsize the property, and the city wants Market East to develop more; which is why building on top of Market East Station makes perfect sense.

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Tall-Ad5755 t1_jdlfz9x wrote

Ok. And the people in packer park hate the sports comp. But it gotta go somewhere. Why not a place where density is expected.

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UndercoverPhilly t1_jdm3szt wrote

I don't think it will be built there. I can't know for sure how this will play out, but a stadium in Center City would just change the character of the downtown completely, and not in a positive way, IMO. I'm mostly familiar with MSG and that is an area I would avoid like the plague in NYC unless I had to ride transit. Lots of vagrants and cheap stores, fast food around it. (We already have that at Market East!!) But NYC is huge so go 8 blocks in each direction and the character completely changes. Philadelphia has a very small downtown from just river to river and put a behemoth like that in it and it won't be as easy to escape. But we'll see.

People complain about the area a lot but it's still better than it was in 2006/7 when I moved to Philly. I remember the first time coming out of Market East the year before moving to Philly with a friend who picked me up at the train station and being shocked at how rundown and creepy it was. (And I grew up in NYC so I know rundown and creepy). The area around the RTM and Convention Center was definitely NOT safe and I remember there being some publicized stabbings of tourists during some holiday event in the first few years that I was living in Philly. At first, I used to take the Chinatown bus (before the other buses) to commute a couple of nights between downtown Manhattan and Chinatown and I made it walking home each night around midnight but it was definitely sketchy. Sometimes the entire stretch under the Convention center street was filled with homeless sleeping on the sidewalk.

Crime, drug addicts and homelessness are the problems in the area, and until the CITY does something about that, you could put the Taj Majal there and it's still going to have repercussions.

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Tall-Ad5755 t1_je2otii wrote

There are just as many examples of it changing cities for the better.

I mean DC, has the Verizon center, the movie theater, the portrait gallery all right there which makes for a damn good setup; all on top of metro center where the two lines connect and right near Union.

Then you have LA which built a whole entertainment center at Staples.

Then you have places like Minneapolis and Denver and Detroit where all their stadiums are downtown even the large ones…and they’re the better for it.

Boston, which created an entertainment center at their arena on top of north station….for the better of that area.

Atlanta has their arenas and stadiums downtown and it would be dead if not for that. I just don’t see how Philly is some special case; I don’t see us screwing up what so many lesser places has gotten right. Only thing I would concede is yeah, our streets are pre-car tiny but the transit access is amazing and the direction we should be going. I mean from a consumer standpoint what’s better than parking at your local patco/subway/regional station and commuting in; you save a ton of money, a ton of headache, and no traffic. This will be popular if Septa gets the trains timed right. This area should be the absolute center of our entertainment district; the celebrations should be on Market not South Broad. Wit all the ads and screens and add this; and a few hotel towers ths will be a poppin area; jus gotta have the vision to do transformative things.

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PurpleWhiteOut t1_jdfco7q wrote

I agree. The only thing the sixers care about though is the value of owning an expensive piece of center city real estate

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FifteenKeys t1_jdfhh37 wrote

This is a tremendous idea. Reporters need to ask the 76ers if it’s been considered.

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owl523 t1_jdfcqsq wrote

An arena in north Philly might be great but that’s not on the table. An arena in CC is and it would be good for many people in the city.

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Cobey1 t1_jdfdofs wrote

The media markup is giving the appearance that a market east arena is on the table, but it’s really not lol Chinatown made sure a casino and a Phillies stadium was dropped years ago, they’re not going to let another dumb proposal set up shop on their door step. This was a lost cause from the very beginning and the only reason it remains a salient topic is because the 76er owners keep paying media to keep it relevant.

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DelcoBirds t1_jdf7el1 wrote

>It’s half assed.

It's realistic, unlike

>A 76ers arena in north Philly

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justanawkwardguy t1_jdiu9zd wrote

They view the needed investment in the surrounding area as too high of a cost. Yeah, they could get the land cheaper in North Philly than CC, but then they have higher rates of violent crime to worry about and try to fix.

There's also the fact that whatever neighborhood they put the arena in would be subject to radical changes and gentrification. So the communities that they'd claim to be helping, they'd actually be forcing out

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