'Protect our Philly Queer spaces': Gayborhood group petitions City Council to oppose Sixers Center City arena

CENTER CITY (KYW Newsradio) — Leaders and supporters of the group No Arena Gayborhood, were at City Hall on Thursday morning to add their names to a growing list of community organizations in opposition to the planned Sixers arena in Center City.

Mayor Cherelle Parker announced her support for the arena last week and laid out the deal she made with its developers in a three-hour presentation on Wednesday night .

In addition to calling out Parker, supporters of No Arena Gayborhood were at City Hall to deliver a petition to City Council, demanding Council members not to support the arena project. Drag King and social worker Eugene Rideher Betta laid out the message from the group.

“We’re here to tell Philly City Council: ‘Protect our Philly Queer spaces,’” he said.

Jackson Morgan, who volunteers with No Arena Gayborhood, said the movement stands in solidarity with the Save Chinatown Coalition that also opposes the arena. He believes many of the same negative impacts predicted for Chinatown would also hit the Gayborhood.

“We don’t want the businesses in Chinatown or the Gayborhood to be pushed out in favor of the generic corporate district that comes with an arena,” he said.

One of those businesses that could be impacted should the arena get built is the Level Up Bar & Lounge at 13th and Walnut Streets. Lasha Cristál works at the bar and lounge and said it is one of the only remaining safe spaces for Black LGBTQ+ individuals to gather in the Gayborhood.

With the arena potentially moving to only a couple blocks away, she said it threatens the bar’s accessibility given the predicted uptick in traffic.

“When parking in the area gets more expensive, we will lose patrons who travel to the Gayborhood,” said Cristál. “We want the people who love our bar to keep being able to come, and not get priced out.”

She went on to ask city leaders that if the arena gets built, “who is Center City Philadelphia for?”

“When you talk about local economic impacts, it’s meaningless to talk about potential gain when you’re not accounting for all of the loss that will happen economically and culturally,” she said.