Citizens oppose stadium finance

Equipped with white and neon orange t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "No Stadium in Chinatown," hundreds of Chinatown residents and friends turned out for a public hearing on stadium financing held by the Philadelphia City Council on Tuesday.

"The purpose of this hearing is to elicit opinions, both positive and negative," City Council President Anna Verna said.

Approximately 130 people testified at the meeting before the three City Council members who came to the event.

Last month, Mayor John Street proposed putting the new Phillies stadium near Chinatown at 12th and Vine streets, angering many area residents.

Randy Albright, a Budget Analyst from the Center of Appropriations committee, kicked off the meeting by announcing that a Chinatown stadium would cost a total of $685 million.

Several other experts on stadium financing served as witnesses as well.

Andrew Zimbalist, a professor at Smith College in Northampton, Mass., said that his research showed that cities couldn't reliably predict the economic success of sports stadiums.

And Mark Rosentraub, a professor at Indiana University, added that the city might even lose money by building a downtown stadium.

"In other words, stadiums do not promote economic development," Rosentraub explained, summing the testimony of the two professors.

But the majority of those who testified were local citizens speaking out against the stadium.

A variety of Chinatown activists -- including residents, coaches, teachers and reverends -- presented their fears and anger surrounding the proposed stadium.

Cecilia Moy Yep, a representative of the Philadelphia Community Development Corporation, testified that the construction of a stadium in Chinatown would detract -- rather than benefit -- the local community. Yep also expressed concern over the projected cost of the stadium.

"We would all like to buy the Mercedes," she said at Tuesday's meeting. "But the fact of the matter is we can only afford the Ford."

And throughout the meeting, the assembled City Council members simply listened, occasionally questioning the witnesses, but mostly absorbing the testimony.

City Council promised to approve a stadium deal by this fall so that the new baseball stadium could open in April 2003.

Mayor Street was expected to make an announcement last week regarding how much he thought a stadium at 12th and Vine streets would cost, but has yet to release this information.

He has imposed a deadline of June 30 to cut a conceptual deal with the Phillies and the Eagles, for whom a stadium is also being built.

Ping Leung Cheung, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association and Chinatown restaurant owner, said he thought that a new stadium was a misallocation of public funds, noting that there were no public schools, libraries or recreational grounds in Chinatown.

Director of Asian Americans United Ellen Somekawa and local resident Mary Goldman echoed Cheung's sentiment.

"How do we continue to build skyboxes for the rich while our kids continue to eat in decrepit surroundings?" Goldman asked.

Still others said they thought that building a stadium in Chinatown showed a lack of consideration for the area's Asian-American population.

"There is a lack of respect for the ethnic group," Chinatown Coalition spokesman Robert Sugarman said.

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