Sixers

A Minor Kerfuffle with Councilman Mark Squilla and the Topic of Tax Dollars for the Sixers Arena

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 25th, 2024 · 2:26 PM EST

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I got a couple of press releases this week from the Chinatown groups opposed to the Sixers arena. The first one talks about Councilman Mark Squilla:

“PHILADELPHIA – In front of hundreds of constituents at the historic Mother Bethel AME Church in December, Councilman Mark Squilla made a bold commitment to prevent any backdoor public financing of the proposed 76 Place arena. In a newly-released video from POWER Interfaith’s meeting about the proposed Sixers arena, Councilman Mark Squilla was asked by a community member, “Will you commit to not introduce legislation until developers have made a legally binding commitment to not accept any public financing?” to which the councilman replied with an unambiguous, “Yes.””

Okay, so that seems straightforward enough. Squilla and the Sixers have both reiterated that the arena is going to be privately financed, so let’s just put it in writing.

But then an Inquirer story from Thursday titled “Chinatown advocates bristle as Councilman Squilla says city can’t control whether 76ers get arena funding from state, federal sources” contained this passage:

Now, Squilla says that he was only talking about city money and that he can’t control whether the 76ers obtain state or federal subsidies.

“I don’t have authority over federal funding and state funding,” Squilla said Thursday. “I don’t think my federal colleagues would be happy if I was making decisions for them, so I can only promise no public funding from what I have authority from.”

For context, when the arena legislation is brought to city council, Squilla is the one who does that. It’s part of this Philly process called “councilmanic prerogative,” where councilmembers introduce legislation for developments that are in their districts. Squilla’s district includes Chinatown, Washington Square West, and the arena site, so he’s one of the key figures in this whole saga.

That said, the Grover Norquist-style “aha” thing is a nothing burger, in my personal opinion, because obviously Squilla has no say over Pennsylvania getting involved in this, or the federal government. He can absolutely pledge to ensure that the Sixers do not use local taxpayer dollars for this, which is what the Sixers have said about ten thousands times already.

When it comes to federal and state dollars, Sixers co-owner and development lead David Adelman said this at the public community forum in November:

“We have said consistently we don’t need state or federal money to make this happen. That said, if there is an incentive from the federal government, solar power or (something similar), we might look at it. But like I said, no city money.”

An example here would be the Sixers privately financing the arena, but there’s some government program to provide rooftop windmills or some shit. That’s not something the Sixers are ruling out. And technically, yes, government subsidies come from the pool of taxpayer dollars, but we’d have to see what this entails before deciding if it amounts to corporate welfare or not. If these hypothetical windmills provide renewable energy to the grid, then there’s a public benefit.

Maybe that was a stupid example, but I can’t think of anything better.

For what it’s worth, when we had Governor Josh Shapiro on Crossing Broadcast over the summer, he said this (my emphasis in bold) –

“First off, I think we just need to look at this calmly and rationally and take some of the heat out of it. I’ll just say as a Governor, as a huge Sixers fan, I want to make sure the Sixers are here for a good, long while, and that they have a great facility to play in. I think it’s a great thing that the owners have proposed doing this without any public money. They’re not asking me as governor, and I’m not aware they’re asking anyone for any kind of public money.”

At the November meeting, the best question I thought had to do with infrastructure at the proposed arena site. Who pays for that?

Adelman:

“In the whole country right now, 99% of all arenas and stadiums receive a subsidy. We will be one of a handful in the country to not seek city money. The reason why we picked this location is because the infrastructure is already there. You have the largest subway station in the city, a mall consuming a huge amount of electricity, water, sewer – that already exists at the site. I will say it again, we will not take any city money, the infrastructure already exists there.”

That’s a fair answer, but it’s also a non-answer, because the response notes that the query is not applicable. As another stupid example, let’s say they start building this thing and realize there’s a water main that’s 500 years old and needs to be replaced. Does the city (i.e. taxpayer) cover that, or do the Sixers cover the cost? I don’t think I’ve seen that question answered anywhere.

The Sixers recently issued a list of responses to common arena questions, and the topic was answered similarly to how Adelman answered it a few months ago:

6. Who will pay for infrastructure upgrades the arena would require (upgrades to or reroutes of public transit, electrical grid, sewage, traffic management etc.)?

One of the main reasons why East Market Street is the ideal location for 76 Place is because the needed infrastructure is already there. There are no reroutes of public transit lines needed to serve the site – it is already immediately adjacent to almost every route serving the region. The PATCO speedline, SEPTA Regional Rail, subway and trolley lines, and multiple bus routes all serve the site. Center City has multiple electrical, water, sewer, gas and steam mains in place that serve the mall and surrounding high-rises that have ample capacity to serve the arena.

Moreover, as Paul Levy, the head of the Center City District recently noted, a new Market Street East arena could actually be part of an overall plan for additional state and federal investment that could, as reported by WHYY, “make Market East a part of town where people want to spend time and money year-round, residents and non-residents alike.”

And listen, when the city’s impact study comes out, we’ll learn a lot more about this. Maybe nothing requires upgrading at all, as Adelman mentioned in November. All of the sewer, water, electrical stuff currently serving that portion of the mall is sufficient for arena needs.

SEPTA, of course, is a different story, and probably worth a separate post entirely. SEPTA funding and use and safety has been an issue for years now, so how that factors into the arena plan and what will be required of Jefferson Station is a legitimate ask. Hopefully the study answers those questions. It’s supposed to be release soon.