Student activists call for the protection of Chinatown and the preservation of UC Townhomes in front of a campus apartment in Philadelphia, Nov. 18.
WW Photo: Joe Piete
Philadelphia
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on November 18 to demand billionaire David Adelman stop the predatory development of the new Philadelphia 76ers basketball arena in Chinatown. Organized by students to protect Chinatown, the rally and march connect Chinatown organizers with residents fighting to evict University City Townhomes in West Philadelphia through a major construction project. We have faced yet another effort by despicable developers to destroy their community.
Protesters gather in front of the administration building at the University of Pennsylvania. Students and UC townhome residents have been demonstrating for months to expose his UPenn’s historic role in destroying neighboring black communities throughout decades of University City’s expansion. I was. They are asking Ivy League universities, which have avoided paying property taxes, to reimburse townhome residents from a multi-billion dollar fund.
David Adelman is the CEO of Campus Apartments. Campus Apartments has been key to the university’s expansion through the construction of multiple high-rise student residences, faculty condominiums and extended stay hotels. The company’s assets exceed his $2 billion. UC Townhomes owners Adelman and Brett Altman are both members of Drexel University’s Real Estate Advisory Board.
In July, it was announced that Adelman would serve as chairman of 76 Devcorp, the new company responsible for developing 76 Place at Market East, a proposed new arena in Center City. Adelman became co-owner of the 76ers and the New Jersey Devils.
A planned $1.3 billion, 18,500-seat NBA basketball arena in Chinatown threatens to drive up rents and overwhelm the area with traffic during games. The experience of other city centers shows that sports facilities ward off seniors and low-income people who don’t want to live in areas that resemble dead zones around arenas and stadiums.
With 4,000 residents and numerous small businesses, Philadelphia’s Chinatown is the last remaining community of color in Center City Philadelphia and the last vibrant and thriving Chinatown on the East Coast. One.
Deborah Way of the Asian American Coalition, who spoke at the rally, said that for decades, residents have built multi-lane highways (1980), baseball stadiums (2000), and casinos (2009). While there, Wei peeled off T-shirts with the same basic layout as today’s arena, one after another.
UPenn student and Save the UC Townhomes organizer Kenny Chiu talked about growing up in South Philadelphia but spending time in Chinatown often with friends and family. The eviction of Chinatown residents mirrors the eviction of West Philadelphia’s Black Hebottom neighborhood, where he’s UC Townhomes residents have been fighting evictions by gentrphia and developers for months. rice field.
The rally was followed by a march on the UPenn campus, stopping at the Wharton School of Business, notorious for promoting developers. Demonstrators then marched to his housing on Walnut Street and his 41st Street campus. A popular chant along the way was, “From West Philadelphia to Chinatown, corporate greed is down!”
Student organizer Taryn Flaherty leads a chant as protesters march against billionaire developers in Philadelphia on Nov. 18.
WW Photo: Joe Piete
