A survey of neighborhood business owners shows widespread opposition, member organizations say.

By Jordan Levy/Billy Penn

To coordinate and strengthen the swell of grassroots opposition to the Sixers’ proposal to build a new home in Center City, advocates on Monday announced the formal Chinatown Coalition to Oppose the Arena.

Made up of more than 40 nonprofits, community organizations, and business groups in the neighborhood, the coalition formed with the support of the <strong>Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund</strong>, a national law firm that has focused on civil rights since the mid-70s.

Coalition leaders said they surveyed neighborhood businesses, and 90 of 100 signed on to an anti-arena petition, with more expected to add their names.

“The reason why we wanted to make this important is one of the things that the Sixers said,” Harry Leong, president of the Philadelphia Suns and outreach director at Chinese Christian Church + Center, told Billy Penn. “That there are people who may not have said anything — and very few organizations are opposing.”