by Students for the Preservation of Chinatown (SPOC)
Currently, Philadelphia Chinatown is in a fight against greedy developers attempting to build a new 76ers arena at 10th and Market St. Here’s what you need to know:
A Brief History
Chinatowns across the U.S. have a long history of being eroded by gentrification and displacement. However, thanks to decades of activism, Philly’s Chinatown stands strong. In the early 1990’s, Chinatown fought successfully against the construction of a federal prison in their community, and in 2000, they fought against a proposed Phillies stadium in Chinatown. Much like the current fight against the ‘76ers, residents understood that a “stadium would have paralyzed Chinatown with traffic and illegal parking during events, harming both residents and businesses and blocking any further opportunities for Chinatown’s growth.”
In 2008, residents advocated against Foxwoods Casino, resulting in a win for Chinatown residents. But not every campaign has been successful. The convention center took the homes of 200 residents in 1993, and the Vine Street Expressway cut the community in half. On top of this, developments boxed in the community in the Market East area.
The Current 76ers Fight
Now, Chinatown faces another existential threat because of predatory development. Although residents, business owners, and visitors alike strongly oppose the proposal for the arena, developers still charge full steam ahead. The developers’ practices throughout this process has been shady at best. They have built for themselves a laundry list of dishonesty which includes donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to pro-arena mayoral candidates, offering dark money to city officials, trying to accelerate the arena’s building timeline by sneaking in language into other unrelated bills, and lying about receiving community support for building the arena.
How Penn is Tied to it
The billionaires who are spearheading the construction of the arena all have strong links to the University.
David Adelman is CEO of Campus Apartments, which profits off of the many Penn students who live in housing owned by the company. He made his billions by profiting off the distruction of the Black Bottom (see: A History of Displacement). Adelman also is continuing this gentrification of West Philadelphia by serving as founder and vice president of the University City District. He is chair of 76 Devcorp, which is responsible for leading the 76ers’ development proposal. He also serves on the Penn Medicine Board of Trustees.
David Blitzer serves on the University of Pennsylvania Board of Trustees, on the Board of Overseers at the Wharton School. He is also the Global Head of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities group, which is tied to the fossil fuel industry (see: Penn and the Climate Crisis) and who the UN accused of creating a global housing crisis for their actions of aggresively evicting and buying up homes around the world. Critically, Blitzer is also co-managing partner of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, which owns the 76ers.
Josh Harris, a Wharton graduate and the other co-managing partner of the 76ers, recently donated $1 million for the Penn Medicine Wharton Fund for Health. In 2019, he donated $10 million to the Wharton school. Contrastingly, Harris does not apply this same generosity with his own employees: during the pandemic he attempted to implement pay cuts that outraged many, including star-player Joel Embiid, which pressured him into reversing this decision.
Other than having close ties with Penn, these three men are also linked by the fact that they’ve spent their whole lives exploiting and displacing communities to make their billions – and Chinatown is their next target.
What You Can Do
If you would like to get involved, Students for the Preservation of Chinatown (SPOC) is a coalition of college students across Philly fighting against the arena and is active on Penn’s campus!
Sign this petition to say no to the arena in Chinatown and receive newsletter updates from the broader Philadelphia coalition.
For further reading:
Penn Disorientation Guide 