City Council passes 2 pieces of legislation for Philadelphia 76ers proposed arena
City Council passed two pieces of legislation on the Philadelphia 76ers' proposed Center City arena on Thursday, however, the resolutions were procedural.
According to a spokesperson for City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, the first public hearing on the 76ers' proposed arena will be on Tuesday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m.
Here's what legislation passed Thursday and more you need to know about the Sixers' proposed arena:
What legislation did City Council pass for the arena?
The legislation passed Thursday are procedural companion to the two ordinances introduced last week at City Hall. The legislation isn't substantive and doesn't fully approve the arena.
One of the pieces of legislation removes the site of the arena from the Gallery at Market East Tax Increment Financing District, while the other would remove the site of the arena from the Gallery Neighborhood Improvement District.
Philadelphia residents will be able to comment on the proposed resolutions on Friday and at the upcoming hearing on Nov. 12.
Long road ahead for controversial proposal
Last week, legislation was proposed at City Council by First District Councilmember Mark Squilla for the arena.
The legislation included a combination of bills and resolutions regarding construction, real estate transactions, tax increment financing, zoning, street closures and various other items for the $1.3 billion arena proposed on Market and Filbert streets and 10th and 11th streets.
The city council meeting was met with crowds of protesters against the arena and counter protesters in favor of its construction. Members of the No Arena in the Heart of Our City Coalition eventually moved into the upper gallery of the council chambers and began chants of "no arena" early in the meeting.
Debbie Wei, a member of the coalition, was pulled from the crowd and escorted out by security.
"We're talking about communities in Philadelphia that have lived in spaces for generations – Chinatown is 150 years old, and the city's own impact studies said we would be severely diminished or destroyed by this project," Wei said last week. "They're just plowing forward, they haven't done their due diligence."
The proposed arena has been met with opposition from several neighborhoods on the proposed site in Market East, especially Chinatown.
Squilla recently requested the Sixers to remove a $250 million tower from the proposal that Chinatown saw as an insult. The tower would've included 395 units and 20% of them would've been designated as "affordable housing," according to the Sixers.
