The Philadelphia City Council meeting on Thursday, October 24, 2024, went off track just as it began, as protesters opposed to a plan to bring a new stadium for the Sixers to the city’s center filled the room with chants.
The disruptions began Thursday morning just as Acting Secretary Liz McCollum-Nazario read the package of legislation on the stadium proposal that had been introduced by Councilman Mark Squilla.
He had not yet finished introducing the legislation when the chants of “no to the stadium!” broke out among the crowd gathered to attend the meeting.
During this time, at least one person was removed from the meeting and several protesters marched through the room while applauding and shouting “no to the stadium!”
Some of those present in support of the proposal could be heard shouting “build it!”
Finally, City Council President Kenyatta Johnson was able to calm the crowd. “Listen. We have a legislative agenda that will allow all of you a lot of time to come to the council, several different opportunities, before this bill is voted on, to express your opinions for or against,” he said while the crowd calmed down.
The chants began again in earnest after Johnson said the process was fair and transparent.
After about half an hour, the crowd calmed down and the scheduled City Council meeting resumed.
CHAOS IN COUNCIL : Anti arena activist pause council session with chanting and signs.
One of the leaders of the save China town coalition escorted out by security @NBCPhiladelphia pic.twitter.com/vtB3cPQ2UW
— Miguel Martinez-Valle (@MiguelMValle) October 24, 2024
Outside, IBEW political director TJ Lepera said he thought Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker did an “incredible job” with the stadium proposal.
“I think Mayor Parker did an incredible job negotiating this with the Sixers,” he said. “It’s definitely one of the largest pilot projects as far as stadiums in this city. So it’s a great deal for the school district, a lot of money coming into the city, and it’s much needed.”
From another perspective
However, for Vivian Chang, executive director of Asian Americans United, the proposal was far from a fait accompli.
“I’m telling everyone this is the first quarter, right? I think the game just started and I think we can tell, because the developers are getting desperate,” Chang said. “They’re threatening to move to Jersey. They’re doing all these things with the mayor. “That’s not a sign that anyone is confident in what they’re doing.”
Inside, although the crowd was calm, the discussion over the stadium proposal was not over, even though the bill was not going to be voted on that day.
During a public comment period, Philadelphia resident Rosie Mae Henson turned discussion of a bill focused on drivers parking in bike lanes into a discussion of the traffic impact the stadium could have on the city center.
He talked about traffic studies, saying the stadium could cause “gridlocked traffic” downtown. He asked the council to require a traffic management plan for the stadium before approving any plan.
Johnson noted after his remarks that speakers would need to focus the discussion on the parking regulation bill at issue.
Some others followed suit by trying to link the bike lane parking bill to the stadium proposal. Wei Chen, who was next to speak, promised to talk about parking.
“We Philadelphians, who are in every corner of the city, are here today to say there is no stadium, there is no deal. And the parking system must be improved,” he said. “We don’t trust this process. We don’t see a plan. We don’t support a bad deal for the city of Philadelphia.”
