![]() Though the Sixers’ construction firm, 76 Devcorp - along with billionaire and 76 Devcorp chairman David Adelman - announced initial plans for the $1.3 billion arena back in July, information regarding the arena’s development had been kept purposefully secret and only accessible through exclusionary channels. There needs to be an open process where someone who understands the issues explains it to them.” “Closed door meetings, secrecy, and rumors” “Many of our elders don’t speak English and rely on people to translate for them. “This needs to be an open process where the entire community is engaged,” said Michael Zhang, an active volunteer in various Chinatown organizations. 14 town hall - held in a Q&A style with interpreters for English, Mandarin, and Cantonese - marked the first open meeting since the summer in which Chinatown residents could voice questions and concerns to officials without imposed restrictions or language barriers. ![]() Unlike other arena-related meetings in the past months, the Dec. “ say the community will benefit, but they lie. A refugee from Vietnam, Sam Sam has lived and worked in Chinatown for over 42 years. “This is my home,” said restaurant owner Sam Sam, whose Little Saigon Cafe acted as a spillover location where more than 100 other town hall attendees watched the meeting over livestream. ![]() With plans to be built less than a block away from the Chinatown’s gateway arch, 76 Place marks yet another development in a long line of project proposals over the past few decades that have threatened the city’s last Asian enclave. Loud chants of “hands off Chinatown!” spilled out the doors of Philadelphia’s Ocean Harbor restaurant on a Wednesday night in December as over 200 community residents and advocates gathered for a town hall in solidarity against the Sixers’ proposed basketball arena, 76 Place. This story was originally published at Prism. ![]()
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