I could really see this going either way
Asian Americans United, a Philly group that seeks to help people of Asian ancestry “build their communities and unite to challenge oppression,” will urge elected officials to reject the 76ers plan, said Wei Chen, the group’s civic engagement director.
The debate over whether the project would benefit from taxpayer support — a common practice for stadium projects until recent years, when it became politically unpopular in liberal cities — will be complicated.
The team has said it needs no local funding to build the stadium. A city spokesperson confirmed there are no plans for new subsidies.
But the arena’s developer has also said that the plan involves inheriting a 30-year property tax break for the parcel that Council gave to the current property owners, the Philadelphia Real Estate Investment Trust, to finance development of the Fashion District.
Whether that amounts to a subsidy from city taxpayers is in the eye of the beholder.
“There is no place in this world where billion-dollar corporations should seek public subsidies of any kind,” Gym said. “In a time when we are dealing with a massive housing crisis, a health crisis, a gun violence crisis, we need our public dollars and our public will to go towards addressing those.”
Additionally, the team has also opened the door to receiving state funding.