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We've got a Diversity Battle Royale on our hands here, folks!

Which marginalized group will emerge victorious?

Tune in to find out on next week's episode of Oppression Olympics.

Rich white guys throw a bone to the African American community. See? We care!

Awww shucky ducky now :). Black clergy taking a position on this before an election will force the mayoral candidates to support the new arena

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Look up who owns the Sixers

Nothing like pitting one minority group against another to get what you want.

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Well it's official, black clergy HATE natural light at Jefferson Station.

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Article mentions:

> Last year economists John Charles Bradbury, Dennis Coates, and Brad Humphreys reviewed more than 130 studies conducted over 30 years, finding “clear and unambiguous evidence” that sports stadiums and arenas do not generate strong economic benefits for host communities.

At the end of that paper's exec summary is this line:

> Economic activity in and around sports facilities on game day represents a transfer from other local commercial activity and comes at the expense of existing local businesses

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Jesus Christ I am thinking of the Chappelle show racial draft now…with tiger woods on the board

Judaism is an ethnic culture…not a skin color

the mayoral candidates should grow spines and support their communities first

White liberal Redditors: "Fight racism!"

Also White liberal Redditors: "You people were bought off!"

This comes off as the 76ers ownership group trying to pit one minority group against another.

I think most 76ers fans can agree that Josh Harris sucks. The man only views the 76ers as an asset, evident by him owning the NJ Devils and his attempts at buying both the Denver Broncos and now the Washington Commanders. I do not believe that he cares about anyone in the Philadelphia community and that the only thing that matters to him is how he can maximize his profits regardless of who it'll affect or how he gets there.

I went to the 76ers-Magic game where it was also Lunar New Year celebration night. They only put up a few decorations at the entrances and had digital signage. They claim that they care about the Chinatown community yet they did the absolute bare minimum to even acknowledge the biggest holiday in the Chinese community.

I do not trust a single thing that Josh Harris and his group are promising with the 76 Place proposal.

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For shizzle!

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Trying to flip something I have said into anti-semitic troupes is just absurd. Also, Jewish people come in all shapes and colors.

Also a large portion of Jewish people in America are ashkenazi for which they historically came from Northern Europe which was white centuries ago

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‘ this will help provide new opportunities.’…..as it will if it’s located anywhere else in the city. Trying to do something good?? More like trying to own one of the most expensive areas in center city.

You cherry picked one heck of a quote there... I can do that too

>First, and perhaps most important, nearly all empirical studies find little to no tangible impacts of sports teams and facilities on local economic activity, and the level of venue subsidies typically provided far exceeds any observed economic benefits

This study mainly looks at the question of "is it good for government to subsidize the stadium". That isn't the question here though. Hence why your quote is followed by: > Overall, consensus findings from economic research demonstrate that public subsidies to fund sports stadiums and arenas likely do not pass a cost-benefit test.

Another fun quote out of context: > economic research clearly identifies evidence of important intangible social benefits from hosting sports activities, which indicates that sports teams do produce positive spillovers through quality-of-life amenities, consumer surplus, and community pride benefits in some circumstances

Why do they support the arena? Is the work being done promised to majority of Black construction crews? This press conference doesn’t make sense if majority of Black workers aren’t going to be building the site? Also another big take: why not build the arena in a Black neighborhood if it’s that big of a deal? North Philly has a ton of vacant land near major public transit that would be amazing to fill the void of a disenfranchised community. All of these big power players seem to be focused on this dumbass market east arena when they could invest the billions into disenfranchised communities like North, west, or SW Philly.

Mos Def crushes it in that sketch.

Josh Harris is a fucking scumbag.

Uh all groups in Europe are genetically distinct. Also just gonna leave this here:

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2021/05/11/race-ethnicity-heritage-and-immigration-among-u-s-jews/

Literally the plot of the Jet Li movie Romeo Must Die

Black man here… this is stupid and definitely seems like a political ploy to pit black ppl against Asians , as usual in this country. No one I’ve spoken to thinks this is a good idea or worth it at all. We have all that space on the waterfront if building a new arena is that serious . Nonetheless the only problem I ever have with the sports complex is the traffic and parking situation. Otherwise leave this alone!

First time I ever saw Bill Burr....with hair

Do’h Jeee-juss.

Helen thinks it’s a stupid project. She might be the only candidate who has said she doesn’t intend to wait 10 years to finally see a viable market East. She wants it viable now. Waiting 10 years to host the first event or 76ers home game there is INSANE anyway you look at this project. What happens when 76ers get 4 years into construction and say F it to the whole idea? Allowing this stadium to happen would be dumber than the investment into the fashion district that exists now!

Such a shame. Center City is already congested and fucked up. Instead of trying to rebuild and help support businesses from every ethnicity, while preserving Chinatown...let's build a big arena that will not only cause congestion, but will cause problems with a already problematic city that's in dire need of hope.

Do they live in Chinatown?

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To be fair, if you're going to pull quotes, the "conclusion" section of a research paper is about the best place to do so.

And I'm very glad that, at present at least, it doesn't look like the stadium is looking for any public funding or subsidies. I have no doubt they'll make it an opportunity zone and give them a 10 year tax abatement though.

People are allowed to evaluate the potential impact of things without needing that impact vivisected through racialized bribe solicitation.

Black business owners in this group are just black business owners and they like the arena. What the hell are you even talking about with the black construction crews?

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.

because it’s very hard to build a downtown arena somewhere other than the downtown area

Build the fucking stadium

are you staying what Center City needs is less people there? That’s a bold take

The area is already congested as it is. Why add something that's going to cause more harm than good?

North Philly is a better location 1000%. It’s centralized to the city and region, public transit oriented, and the community needs a big investment project to revitalize the area.

The Sixers aren’t trying to revitalize an area they’re trying to move to Center City

That’s weird because that’s been the ENTIRE push behind the whole arena in market East. Either you don’t know what you’re talking about or the 76ers are doing a horrible job marketing their proposal!

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

That's their narrative but the only thing they want to revitalize is their wallet

well that’s how you sell it but they are not looking to North Philadelphia or the waterfront or anywhere like that. They want their own arena and they want it right in Center City.

>It’s half assed.

It's realistic, unlike

>A 76ers arena in north Philly

My Asian hubby agrees with you 100%.

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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If course they do. It's not their neighborhood.

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

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.

Do more people come to 76ers games than commuted to CC pre-pandemic?

I don’t think CC is congested at 7-10pm on most weeknights?

Build the fucking stadium

Yessir

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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.

Remember when it was the same folks clamoring for mandatory minimums? Forced choices are bad choices.

I hope the idea is that this would force more ppl to take public trans which would encourage septa to up its game.

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

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.

The brunt of the argument is that the location is transit oriented, the secondary argument is driving business growth on East Market.

North Philly can provide neither of these things as well as center city can.

It's not congested at all out side of rush hour and has plenty of room to grow, this is a dumb take.

Screw it. Since the whole entire world going to shit. Screw the feelings of long residents of Chinatown. Lets just go full blown nuts! Build the damn arena.

Damn if you do, screwed if you don't.

It's a good location and proposal. All the opposition to it is coming from NIMBYs who want to hold center city back, and suburbanites who don't want to step foot in the city proper.

Too fucking bad, no one wants it there but them

Down (the broad street line) town

They are doing a horrible job marketing the proposal are you new here

I bet the Black Israelites support it too, they can stand outside and yell at fans on game day!

North Philly has access to public transit and is a much higher priority than market east right now. Market East needs multi-unit housing, thriving restaurants and small businesses, not a huge arena that will be open 3 nights a week. Sorry, a 76ers arena was never a solution to revitalizing market East

That was my attempt at sarcasm through text lol I was born and raised in Philly, even been a lifelong sixers fan and I think the arena in center city is dumb. I like where it’s at in south Philly. If something ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

i wasnt aware this was going to go by popular vote

well, it is broke…. because they are paying rent and they don’t want to do that anymore

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North Philly doesn't have the same level of tranist access as Market East, not even close. Trying to pretend it does is stupid.

East Market has been languishing for decades, an arena coming in on top of a major tansit hub will absolutely help drive further investment down East Market.

You're trying to pretend that for some unspecified reasons blocking development will also magically drive development and build up Market East, despite that plan not working out for decades.

I get your a nimby and the idea of center city growing upsets you, but you're wrong for all the usual reasons that nimbys are.

The arena replacing a dying mall on Market Street, right next to the convention center and Reading Terminal will be good for the city.

Lol ok?

😂 you’re so out of touch with actual Philadelphians it’s hilarious. Did you move here last year or before the pandemic bro?

Chinatown has been slowly bulldozing itself to make more parking lots for years, it beyond ironic to complain about congestion in center city to "protect" a neighborhood that has been making more parking spaces by ripping down old buildings for years.

Then pointing to a building that is replacing a dying mall on Market St next to the convention center, on top of a train station, and say that's the problem with a straight face.

And so is Mariah Carey's crazy ass!

Ok well why this thread up if there's a lean to creating a arena? Bygones i guess.

I've lived here longer than you've likely been alive, and 100% longer than when you moved here from the suburbs on your parents dime.

But do please keep beclowning yourself by saying North Philly is as transit accessible as the litteral hub of every major line in the city, then claiming you know what all Philadelphians actually want.

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This just in the Asian community supports the temple on campus football stadium

I was born and raised here, k-12 public ed, community college, I’m Philly made man, can’t say the same about you though 😂 you yimbys love to step on other peoples toes with no concern of the impact you cause on communities of color. Everything in the name of ‘revitalization’ but at the expense of Black people’s quality of life. No surprise you support Rebecca either, considering you have zero concerns for the people opposing 76ers market East in Chinatown and adjacent communities.

I feel like “don’t build things that are wildly unpopular with the residents” is a good policy for a city to have in general, but that has not stopped most cities unfortunately

Since this is a race thing now I’d like to speak on behalf of the white people and support the sixers staying where the fuck they are in south philly and not trying harm Chinatown and the great people abs businesses that are there.

This is 100% politics by the sixers and using the inquirer to get it.

What you are describing is a suburb and HOA type idea rather than a city.

People in cities hate everything. Paris hated the Eiffel Tower. People hated the Empire state building and people hate Comcast 1.

I get where you are coming from but for a long time Philly didn’t even want tall buildings. That set the city back about 100 years behind Chicago and New York.

Maybe a car oriented stadium isn’t what we need. Maybe we will lose the stadium to Camden. Who knows? Just don’t tear stuff down to make parking lots and IDGAF what you build. That’s just me though.

Aaliyah movie*

> Why do they support the arena?

besides the public "Forty percent of the food, drink and concessions operations in the arena will be run by African American businesses", I wouldn't be surprised that the people that endorsing this is getting some sort of enticement. Plus, are any of these people directly impacted, I see a Pastor for a West Philly Church (that construction must be big if a church in West Philly is affected).

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> North Philly doesn't have the same level of transit access as Market East, not even close. Trying to pretend it does is stupid.

Actually your off. You might be right about North Philly not having same transit, but the rails are there and can be built easily.

However the better location is West Philly. Amtrak comes into 30th street, NJ Transit comes into 30th Street, Septa subway, rail, trolley comes into 30th Street station. 76th is right at 30th street. There is a lot of cheap land in West Philly. There are 2 level 1 trauma centers in West Philly, 1 for adults and 1 for kids so any incidents then you can get medical care right away.

Yes you're missing Patco but maybe the 76ers can help pay to extend Patco and I think there is a desire for that.

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I get the 40% for vendors stuff, but why is the Black Clergy getting involved? That is very weird to me and makes me skeptical about what is being said behind closed doors. To me, idk why any leader of any faith would get involved in a debacle about the location of a sports arena. They could be advocating for more affordable housing, cheaper public transit fares, public ed, etc, not the construction of a sports complex. That itself rings red flags 🚩

... Or Camden

clergy is how people get things done. When a politican wants to get elected one of the people he convinces is your local clergy so that clergy member can advocate for you. It the same thing with projectors. You might say "did you hear Pastor so-so talk about how great that new project would be for our community".

not only that the people that hate things are the vocal ones. Plenty of people are perfectly fine with the idea of an arena in Chinatown.

The land already has an abatement. It will have that abatement no matter what does or doesn't go there, so its immaterial on the city side.

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Should not this be simply the decision of the community whose lives would be disrupted. Wth 🤦‍♀️

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Religious leaders aren't exactly known for being able to make that distinction.

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I said Rail not subway. What does subway have to do with rail. two different thing. There is a rail line in north philly not a subway line.

Amtrak, NJ transit matter when someone coming far from the suburbs. If you live in Lancaster, Coatesville there no Septa rail so you would need to take Amtrak unless you want to drive.

A trauma center means you get the highest level of care. Penn Hospital is not a level 1 trauma center so you're referencing something that has nothing to do with it. The advantage of West Philly is that CHOP is right there so if a kid has a medical incident they're close by. Medical care is important when you have large crowds as someone is going to get hurt and easier to just bring them to where they can get care instead of the ambulance having to figure out what going on and possibly rerouting to somewhere they can get care.

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There's potentially going to be a lot of black construction workers on this project, it would be odd that they would need this project specifically but the trades have stayed horrifically segregated; the post brothers got around using union labor for their The Poplar project by hiring minority laborers. So big projects like this are the only quick way to get black men into the construction jobs they've been kept out of.

>All of these big power players seem to be focused on this dumbass market east arena when they could invest the billions into disenfranchised communities like North, west, or SW Philly.

I think you're confused what's happening, this is a proposal for a basketball arena, not a charity project. They're willing to invest in center city because they will make money by doing so, building an arena in a bad spot will not make them money.

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Boo this dumb bad plan

Kyrie would feel very supported

I don’t understand why people are so anti stadium as though the 76ers have to “do something for the city”

1. Stay in Philadelphia they could move to Camden and then everyone would have egg in their face.
2. They tried to build on Penn and landing but city council went with a different developer which I support but I believe I read a few months back that the developer who won the contract is now having financial issues.
3. I don’t support building a bowl stadium but tearing down half of the fashion district which is 40% empty anyways should be a so contentious.
4. I don’t see how building a stadium in north Philly is going to help anyone if anything it would more than like displace a lot of families.
5. If septa ran a game day train schedule we would be fine, honestly the regional rail schedule needs to be increased anyway. It’s obvious you can’t expect people to take public transportation and then run a train every 2 hours.
6. The people who keep claiming they want to protect Chinatown, act like the city can’t find other remedies, build the chins tien stitch and then boom you have all kinds of real estate for them, eliminate parking mínimums and allow it densify.

Y’all just want to complain instead of finding real solutions.

Or...they could just find somewhere not complete trash to put the stadium...oh like the district with the rest of the stadiums? Crazy thought I know...

What “all that space” on the waterfront are you even talking about? The Market street section next to Penn’s Landing the sixers already bid on and failed to win? Nothing on the waterfront is anywhere accessible as being on top of one of our transit hubs so that argument is a non-starter and will only lead to the Sixers ending up over the bridge, losing the city tens of millions in tax revenue.

Let’s say they did build it there, where exactly would you propose they put it? With current parking mínimums there’s no desirable real estate.

People living in some socialist utopia where the Sixers should single-handedly revive North Philly with an arena, ignoring that the same calls for gentrifying the neighborhood were given when Temple wanted to build a stadium by their campus. There are very few locations as accessible as above Jefferson and they want up to 50% of folks taking transit to the game, it’s that simple. And of course the Sixers are keeping their financials in mind, they’re a fucking sports organization, do you expect them to be guided by the goodness in their heart over everything?

As a wise man once said...

Honest question: if we don't refer to the mall as being a part of/disrupting Chinatown, why will this stadium referred to as being "in Chinatown" considering it's, not.

Hello? North Philly SEPTA RR station? Some of the RR stop there and easy enough to get to Jefferson station and take one stop on a train or MFL. Amtrak stops there. MFL does too.

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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Hmm as a person of Faith and a black woman, I agree with you. There are many others things, that the black clergy and business persons should be focused on. I get wanting to help “minority” trade workers with contracts but this is one the BC/business people can sit out!

why 😂 at this point they just beefin

“But that’s not a good enough reason for me!!” - half this sub

people seriously have an inability to see things from another’s perspective.

Because people are arguing in bad faith. An even better question to ask is: WHAT kind of proposal would Chinatown be okay with at this parcel? The way it’s currently zoned, any developer could plant a 40+ story tower/condo there with zero community engagement needed. Is that not going to cause the same amount of outrage as this project, even after the Girard was just built across the street with zero issue? Is that a better deal than the 50M+ in community funds the Sixers could offer to Chinatown to invest in keeping the neighborhood intact?

That’s what I really want to know because the fact of the matter is the current use of 10th and Market as a mall failed twice and the owners want out ASAP. This parcel will be changing soon regardless of opinion.

The Sixers are not a charity, they’re a sport organization. I don’t know why people are expecting them to act like Habitat for Humanity, even though they’re more than happy to invest 50M+ into the community…

Like it or not, the Sixers will not play in South Philly after 2030. Whether we lose million of tax revenue to Camden due to these bad faith arguments will be another story for later on.

most of the negative comments are because people from the suburbs find it very easy to go to Wells Fargo Center and park. That’s what they’re used to. That’s what they are comfortable with.

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>Is skin color the only determinant of race?

Yes

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It makes more sense for the sixers to stay at the sports complex than it does to move to the waterfront

Must be you everyone i spoke with loves the idea....

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

Awesome

I wholeheartedly agree, I think it makes more sense for them to stay there in general and stop trying to be NYC Jr.

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If at first you don't succeed, then dust yourself off and try again

NYC Jr.?

Market East is a one seat ride on every single rail line in the city, North Philly is not.

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.

Hate this. Saw on the news that they were likely to give many of the construction bids to AA contractors, which I'm sure are reputable but isn't this Chinatown? I get wanting to help small businesses or people you believe have been cut out of opportunities like this but shouldn't a majority of the bids go to people that live or look like the majority of people in that area? I could be off base and I'll accept a better informed POV.

All of this is becoming more wrong. The Sixers should stay where they are. I say all of this as a black person.

It won't happen at Market East.

At least on reddit (which doesn't count for much) he has 155 upvotes, and how many do YOU have?

For the record I'm against this stadium. It won't be built at Market East.

Disclaimer: Pay Wall. Maybe these questions are answered in the article: Where are all these African American businesses in the Fashion District? Why would they be in the stadium when they aren't in the area now? I don't see many in Reading Terminal Market either. What makes this proposed stadium more likely? Will the rent be less? And when will it be ready? Not in a year, so I don't think they even know what vendors will be in it.

Yea the Hive Mind collective mentality on Reddit. So its a good decision because some random spoke to his two friends about it? Are you legit against it or because Reddit told you so?

Congested as in traffic.

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Nothing like believing two minorities are supposed to believe in the same thing just because they are minorities.

NYC jr. 90% of the nba arenas are downtown. Running the gamut from Detroit to Los angles.

They can’t. Only Chinese people can live in Chinatown. It’s like Israel; if others move into Chinatown it’ll loose it’s “character” more than any stadium would do

It’s legal and liberal supported segregation.

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

Yep yep.

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.

Why even stay in this area? Austin, TX could use a professional franchise.

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