Where’s SEPTA’s Public Safety Plan for Proposed 76ers Arena?

In his 2024-2025 budget address, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro asked for an additional $161 million for SEPTA to keep the transit agency from falling off a fiscal cliff.

Today, I can report that @SEPTA has presented plans to address cleanliness and safety.

While they have work to do to make good on those plans, I'm prepared to increase our investment in SEPTA by $161 million, bringing the total state funding to $1 billion. pic.twitter.com/L3UkVeIhEr

— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) February 6, 2024

Gov. Shapiro said SEPTA has “presented plans to address cleanliness and safety.” Just as Willie Sutton robbed banks because “that’s where the money is,” the Sixers’ proposal to build a basketball arena atop Jefferson Station would increase crime on the beleaguered system.

Christopher Herrmann, an assistant professor in the Department of Law and Police Science at CUNY’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice, recently told Gothamist:

The subway stations are typically what we call “crime generators.” Whenever you have increased people traffic, you’re going to get increased crime, and that’s because offenders want to go to places where they can have their selection of victims.

SEPTA is fighting the release of records related to their communications about the Sixers’ proposal as ordered by the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records. The records will shed light on what, if any, plan SEPTA has to address the increase in crime if the 76ers’ transit-oriented project is approved.