Mayor Cherelle L. Parker Issues Statement on City Council Committee of the Whole Vote in Favor of the Sixers Arena

PHILADELPHIA - Mayor Cherelle L. Parker issued the following statement today after Philadelphia City Council's Committee of the Whole voted to report favorably from committee legislation regarding a new Sixers basketball arena for Center City:

"Today, City Council took monumental action on this $1.3 billion economic development project for Philadelphia that, as I have consistently said, extends far beyond the basketball.

"I first want to commend City Council for all of the due diligence and hard work that it brought to this process before it voted in the Committee of the Whole to report favorably from committee the key legislative pieces necessary for the arena project to move forward.

"I want to particularly commend Council President Kenyatta Johnson and Councilmember Mark Squilla, in whose district the arena would be built once approved, for all the work they've done to date on this project. They've been accessible and willing to communicate at all times, and I thank them for all of their intergovernmental collaboration. Council President Johnson's stewardship and management of this complex process was beyond reproach.

"I also want to thank every Councilmember who voted in favor of the arena legislation today. In addition to Council President Johnson and Member Squilla, Councilmembers Katherine Gilmore Richardson (Majority Leader), Isaiah Thomas (Whip), Cindy Bass (Deputy Whip), Curtis Jones Jr., Mike Driscoll, Quetcy Lozada, Anthony Phillips, Brian O'Neill, Nina Ahmad, and Jim Harrity all voted in favor of these bills. I am grateful to each of them for their legislative leadership."