Philadelphia City Council wraps up latest Sixers arena hearing without voting on controversial project
Philadelphia City Council wrapped up another hearing on Tuesday on the controversial plan for a downtown 76ers arena. It was the final scheduled hearing featuring testimony and the Sixers were back at City Hall.
Councilmembers did not take up a vote Tuesday on whether to move this plan out of Committee of the Whole, which would have marked a major step in the project. Instead, they called a recess until Thursday morning.
Councilmembers still have a lot of questions and concerns about the project. There were some tense exchanges over who would pay for extra trains SEPTA would have to provide for events.
The Sixers say they are not paying that, which seemed to be a point of contention with a few lawmakers. There are still questions over the $50 million Community Benefits Agreement (CBA), which many councilmembers say needs to increase.
The Sixers said Tuesday they are willing to have those discussions, but at this point, no one had an exact number to share.
"I think the minimum has to be another $10 million, at minimum, if you want to be realistic, but I think we need more than that if you see the requests from the community," said Councilmember Mark Squilla, who represents the district where the proposed arena would sit on Market Street.
"I think the fact that they're willing to negotiate puts a lot of my members comfortable in the direction that we're going into," Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said. "It started off with a 'no' a couple of weeks ago, and now we're talking about having negotiations moving forward. So I do believe it makes some members more comfortable in terms of this process and how we move forward."
One councilmember brought up the idea of a $300 million CBA to be paid out over 30 years, but Sixers officials balked at that offer.
A councilmember also asked the Sixers, if the arena doesn't pass in City Council, what other options does the team have? The Sixers responded by saying the only other viable option for them is to build an arena in Camden, New Jersey.
Earlier this year, New Jersey officials pitched the Sixers on building their new arena on the Camden Waterfront in a deal that included $800 million in tax incentives.
