Year: 2024

76 Place Wannabe Shot Callers

The billionaire owners of the Philadelphia 76ers are used to calling the shots. So they keep setting deadlines for City Council to give them what they want. First they said they wanted government approvals by June 2023. Then they said December 2023. The wannabe shot callers have set a new deadline of “early September.” A 76ers spokesperson told CBS News Philadelphia:

We remain focused on bringing a state-of-the-art arena to Philadelphia as we have been for the last four years. We are hopeful to reach an agreement with the city this summer to ensure legislation is introduced in early September, which will allow the 76ers to open our new home in time for the 2031-32 NBA season.

The billionaires don’t give a fig that the “independent studies” which they paid for have not been released. They don’t give a fig that Councilmember Mark Squilla repeatedly promised to give the public 30 days’ notice before legislation is introduced.

The Philadelphia Inquirer on the state of play:

Fall. That’s the target, once City Council returns from its summer break Sept. 5. But don’t expect immediate passage of arena-enabling legislation.

Councilmember Mark Squilla, a key player, has promised that the public will have 30 days to review any legislation before it is introduced. Activists in Chinatown, which abuts the arena site at 10th and Market Streets, are sure to have objections. Public hearings could take time, given concerns that the arena will generate traffic, crowds, and trash.

And waiting in the wings for the completion of the government-approval process are lawyers from the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the national civil-rights organization that has sued to protect Chinatowns in other cities.

Squilla said he “expects a yes-or-no decision on the project by the end of the year.” As we approach the dog days of summer, the wannabe shot callers will miss yet another deadline.

A few days after setting the “early September” deadline, 76ers limited partner David Adelman told Marc Zumoff that “our timeline has always been for us to get approvals by the end of this calendar year.” For those keeping count, that’s the fourth deadline.

Philadelphia 76ers’ Arena Proposal Enters Its Terrible Twos

The Philadelphia 76ers announced their proposal to build a basketball arena atop SEPTA’s Jefferson Station on July 21, 2022. Public records show 76 Place representatives had been meeting with SEPTA and Philadelphia government officials as early as April 2022.

The 76ers have spent millions on unsuccessful mayoral candidate, lobbyists, lawyers, architects, traffic engineers, consultants, public relations, Astroturf community meetings, canvassing, and race-baiting billboard.


Two years later, their millions have brought the 76ers no closer to getting the approvals necessary to build an arena that would benefit no one other than the billionaire owners themselves. So like a two-year-old, the owners are throwing a tantrum. They reportedly are in negotiations to build an arena in Camden, New Jersey where their headquarters and practice facility are located. ROI-NJ reports:

The sources indicated that talks have picked up recently, in part because HBSE’s efforts to build a new arena in Center City Philadelphia have hit repeated roadblocks, despite the fact that the owners have indicated they would self-finance the $1.3 billion proposed project.

[…]

The clock appears to be ticking on 76 Place. In order to be ready for 2031-32 season, construction likely would need to begin in 2025. That means approvals from the city need to come this year.

76 Place hype man David Adelman has said there is “no Plan B.” Fact is, the 76ers proposed building an arena at Penn’s Landing in 2020 (Plan A). 76 Place is Plan B. The move to Camden would be, well, Plan C.

To mark the second anniversary of 76 Place, I will submit new FOIA and Right-To-Know Law requests to the Federal Transit Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, SEPTA and Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

SEPTA Should Get Their Money Where They Spend Their Time

The region’s public transit agency is facing a fiscal cliff. General Manager and CEO Leslie Richards said the agency’s COVID relief funds have dried up and SEPTA is facing a $240 million deficit. The agency was counting on an additional $140 million in state funds. Instead, SEPTA will receive $53 million of the one-time transfer of $80 million to the Public Transit Trust Fund passed by the Pennsylvania legislature on July 11.

SEPTA does not have money to keep the buses, subway, trolleys and trains running, but they have money to pay outside lawyers to fight the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records’ order to produce records related to the Philadelphia 76ers’ proposal to build a basketball arena atop Jefferson Station. The public has a right to know the impact of six years of demolition and construction on SEPTA’s operations and budget.

SEPTA officials and employees have been meeting and consulting about 76 Place since April 2022. Records obtained via my Right-To-Know Law requests to local agencies show that 76 Place representatives embedded themselves in the agency’s operations. SEPTA employees frequently met about 76 Place. Richards and Chief Operating Officer Scott Sauer led SEPTA Board members on “site visits” to 76 Place. The SEPTA Board has a 76 Place subcommittee.

While SEPTA officials and employees huddle with representatives of the 76ers billionaire owners, the agency wants more taxpayers’ money. The beleaguered transit agency should get their money where their employees and officials spend their time.

UPDATE: In a report released on July 15, the Federal Transit Administration ordered SEPTA to fix the “escalating pattern” of safety incidents. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

Citing a “deteriorating safety record” with a higher-than-average accident rate, the Federal Transit Administration has ordered SEPTA to better protect transit operators from assaults, improve employee training, and tighten bus and rail procedures to prevent injuries and fatalities.

The regulatory agency found 16 problems that it said make the regional public transit system potentially more dangerous for riders and workers — including staffing shortages in key jobs. In all, it required 24 corrective actions in its exhaustive Safety Management Inspection of SEPTA’s bus, trolley and subway operations, according to a report released Monday.

FTA launched its investigation in August 2023 after a rash of Philadelphia bus and trolley crashes, including five major collisions during a single week in late July of last year that killed one person and injured at least 25.

[…]

Improvements will require new spending, especially for hiring, even as SEPTA confronts a $240 million operating deficit, Richards and other executives said. It is not yet clear how much compliance will cost.

Read more

Summer Reading List: 76 Place Documents

I submitted Right-To-Know Law requests for records related to the Philadelphia 76ers’ proposal to build a basketball arena atop Jefferson Station in August 2023. The City of Philadelphia denied all of my requests so I filed an appeal with the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records (OOR).

The OOR issued its final determination on January 9, 2024. My appeal was granted in part and denied in part. The OOR ordered the City to turn over responsive records by February 9, 2024. As expected, the City appealed the OOR’s decision to the Court of Common Pleas Philadelphia County.

Paula Knudsen Burke and Mayeesha Galiba of the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press represent me on appeal. With their back against the wall, the City has agreed to turn over responsive records. The City produced the first batch of records on July 1, 2024.

Stay tuned.

Who Will Be the First to Say Goodbye to 76 Place?

The Philadelphia 76ers has been courting elected officials and policymakers behind closed doors for more than two years. Axios Philadelphia recaps:

The Sixers’ pitch to build a $1.5 billion arena in Center City hits its second anniversary this month with little to show beyond slick renderings and millions of dollars spent on lobbying.

Why it matters: The transformational project can potentially turn around the struggling Market East neighborhood but has divided residents and fueled concerns about quality-of-life issues and displacement.

State of play: All eyes remain on PIDC. The public-private development agency has yet to complete independent studies on the economic and community impacts of the plan, known as 76 Place.

Key legislators and officials have said they’re awaiting the completion of those studies before moving forward, including with legislation needed to kickstart the project.

The intrigue: The studies are a half-year behind schedule and span two mayoral administrations.

What they’re saying: PIDC spokesperson Kevin Lessard tells Axios there’s no timeline to finish the studies.

76 Place social media team has not posted on X/Twitter in more than six weeks.

Who will be the first to say goodbye to the billionaires’ scheme to make more money on the backs of taxpayers in the poorest big city in the country?

UPDATE: 76 Place is back posting on X/Twitter. David Adelman is regurgitating already debunked factoids.

Stop the Presses: Construction Workers Support Building New Arena

It’s baseball season and the Philadelphia 76ers are back at the top of the order. 76 Place hype man, billionaire David Adelman, held a pep rally with construction workers on April 12, 2023.



With limited support for the Sixers’ “win-win” proposal to build a basketball arena atop Jefferson Station, Adelman held a pep rally with construction workers on June 3, 2024.


Here’s the thing: Those “thousands of construction jobs” would be created whether the arena is built in Philadelphia, Camden, or wherever.

The Sixers’ have spent millions on lobbyists, newspaper, TV and social media ads, window signs, paid canvassers and billboards for their Astroturf campaign. With little self-awareness, Adelman is now whining that it has “been hard to cut through some of the manufactured noise.”

Adelman says, “We love Philly.” What’s love got to do with it? Study after study shows that the push for a new sports arena is all about more profits for billionaire team owners.

Black Music Month: Let the Sunshine In

This year marks the 45th anniversary of Black Music Month. The celebration of African American musicians and their contribution to American culture is the brainchild of music mogul and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Kenny Gamble, radio personality and media coach Dyana Williams and Cleveland DJ Ed Wright.

The first celebration was held on June 7, 1979. President Jimmy Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter hosted a dinner and concert on the White House’s South Lawn.


I love music. I also love transparency and accountability in government. Sunshine is said to be the best disinfectant (h/t Louis Brandeis). So Black Music Month and, indeed, every month, let the sunshine in.

Philadelphia Art Commission’s Inartful Dodge

The Philadelphia Art Commission falls under the Department of Planning and Development. When questioned by Valerie Russ of The Philadelphia Inquirer about the short notice given for the Art Commission’s May 8, 2024 meeting, Department spokesperson Bruce Bohri said, “Public notice for this Art Commission meeting is compliant with the Sunshine Act.”

Under the Sunshine Act, public agencies must provide at least three days advance notice of a regular public meeting. Art Commission staff met with Midwood Investment & Development’s art curator for over a year but the public was given the minimum notice.

Tellingly, Bohri is silent about whether Odili Donald Odita’s concept design is compliant with Section 14-702(5) of the Philadelphia Zoning Code:

The items or programs provided to earn this bonus must meet the definition of “On-site Public Art” or “On-site Cultural Programming” in Chapter 14-200 (Definitions). It is not the intention of these requirements to allow decorative, ornamental, or functional elements of the building or public space that are not designed by an artist and created specifically for the site, nor to have landscaped areas or other furnishings or elements required by this Zoning Code, to qualify as part of the public art requirement.

After 40 minutes of “deliberation,” Commissioners gave final approval to Odita’s repetitive design that has been installed on walls from Philadelphia to Venice, Italy. The only thing new about Odita’s “Newfound Forms” is the medium. This would be his first public sculpture.

To be honest, I question whether Odita ever visited the site. If he had, he would know that 12th Street is one way and the correct SEPTA bus route.


Bohri claimed the review was “consistent with longstanding Art Commission procedure.” But get this: In their submission to the Art Commission, Midwood acknowledged that “this will be the first public art erected pursuant to this zoning bonus.” The 40 minutes from presentation of the concept design to final approval by the Commissioners is without precedent.

In a letter to the editor published by The Inquirer on December 31, 2020, Midwood CEO John Usdan promised “to properly honor the memory and legacy of Gloria Casarez, the LGBTQ community, and Henry Minton on this site.”


A nameless representative told The Inquirer Midwood’s offer to recreate the Gloria Casarez mural “still stands.” Will Mayor Cherelle L. Parker hold Usdan to his promise to honor Black abolitionist Henry Minton?

Public Art Matters

On the eve of Black History Month 2021, Midwood Investment & Development demolished one of the few extant buildings associated with the Underground Railroad. The New York City-based developer demolished the former home of Henry Minton, an elite caterer and abolitionist who played host to icons of American history, including John Brown, Frederick Douglass and William Still.


The Henry Minton House had been the subject of a heated discussion at the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2019. The road to demolition was paved by the Commissioners who ignored the unanimous recommendation of the Committee on Historic Designation.

Before demolishing the Henry Minton House, Midwood had painted over a mural honoring LGBTQ+ activist Gloria Casarez which adorned a wall of the 12th Street Gym.

The whitewashing of Gloria’s mural triggered a media firestorm. Midwood CEO John Usdan promised “to properly honor the memory and legacy of Gloria Casarez, the LGBTQ community, and Henry Minton on this site.”


Demolition of the Henry Minton House and 12th Street Gym was not the end of the story. Midwood has a conditional public art density bonus that allows the developer to build more cookie-cutter apartments on the site. 210 S 12th Street is in the footprint of the Henry Minton House and 12th Street Gym. The public art zoning density bonus is site-specific and must be approved by the Philadelphia Art Commission.

Fast forward to April 24, 2024, the law firm that represented Midwood at the contentious Historical Commission meeting asked to be placed on the Art Commission’s May 8, 2024 agenda. The Commission’s response: Done.

While Art Commission Director Alex Smith met with Midwood’s art curator “over the past year,” the public was given three business days’ notice. The agenda was posted on Friday, May 3, 2024. The Art Commission meeting was held on Wednesday, May 8, 2024.

In this shamelessly “corrupt and contented” city, the Art Commission conducted a sham review of Midwood’s concept design. In less than 40 minutes, the Commissioners voted to give final approval to a concept design that erased the African American and LGBTQ+ history of the site. The Commission approved a pig in a poke, e.g., “Rendered colors indicative only – Final color selection TBD in Design Development.”


The rendered colors’ similarity to the Pride Rainbow flag is a mere coincidence. Other than the medium, there is nothing new about “Newfound Forms.” Painter Odili Donald Odita’s repetitive design was installed in Philadelphia on a now-blocked mural, Cleveland, Richmond and Venice, among other cities.

Author E.A. Bucchianeri said, “Art is in the eye of the beholder, and everyone will have their own interpretation.” Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder could see final approval of Odita’s repetitive design made a mockery of the site-specific public art density bonus.

I have submitted a Right-To-Know Law request that will shed light on the Art Commission’s perversion of the public art review process.

76 Place Masquerade

76 Place development team’s second time before the Civic Design Review committee fared no better than the first time. KYW Newsradio said the Sixers’ master plan for Market East “got another brutal bashing.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported:

Members of a city-appointed advisory panel panned the Sixers plan for a downtown arena on Tuesday, calling it “undercooked” and questioning whether construction would repeat harmful mistakes of the past.

“I don’t think as a city we just need to accept this as our fate,” said committee member Ashley DiCaro, a senior associate at Interface Studio urban planning. “We need to think about the real giveback here and whether we should build this thing.”

Not to be outdone, the Camden-based 76 Place communications team posted a half-baked transit map rife with errors on X/Twitter. When the map was ridiculed, the post was deleted.

Much to their chagrin, I had taken a screenshot.

AT&T Station was renamed NRG Station in 2018. There is no “Bridgeburg” station. The Bridesburg Station is located in Northeast Philadelphia, not in North Philly at the end of the Broad Street Line. How can anyone trust the design of a transit-oriented project when they cannot draw an accurate transit map?

76 Place front man David Adelman told a group of businesspeople that “five years from now people will look back and feel like this was a no brainer.”

Five years ago, the Fashion District was a “no brainer.” The state and city pumped $137 million into the project to revitalize Market East. As noted during the CDR, the Fashion District is now a dying indoor mall:

She [Ashley DiCaro] and some other members of the city’s Civic Design Review committee — which includes design and land-use experts — reached back a half-century to the building of the Gallery mall, which turned three central blocks of East Market Street into a mostly closed, inward-facing series of walls. Five years ago the site became the Fashion District, another struggling mall, where the basketball team intends to build.

Today, DiCaro said, it’s clear the Gallery was a mistake, one that wiped away the natural urbanism of the city in exchange for a promise of development.

The promised development never happened. Instead, Adelman and his development team began meeting with government officials behind closed doors in April 2022. The proposed arena would demolish a section of the publicly-subsidized Fashion District.

In a city that’s majority-minority, Adelman, a billionaire, is playing the race card to further line his pockets. One Pennsylvania Political Coordinator Nydea Graves said:

Arenas are not for the community, they are for the developers. 76 Place won’t pay any property taxes. Research shows that wages fall for black workers when arenas are built. None of this helps our people. The developers pit black folks and Asian folks against one another, keeping us busy while they profit. 76 Place is the same old exploitation dressed up in a Sixers jersey.

76 Place is a self-serving project masquerading as “a catalyst to redevelop and bring back Market East,” a decades-old dead zone for retail and hot spot for crime.