When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to raise $250 million for a new Milwaukee Bucks arena fell apart two weeks ago, I fully expected every elected official in town to start throwing ideas at the wall. What I didn’t expect was every elected official in town to start announcing they had ideas, but not what they were. So far we’ve had:
- Walker saying he’d propose a new plan that wouldn’t use either new taxes or existing taxes, then not actually proposing it.
- State senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald suggesting to have a state board loan the money for a Bucks arena, but not any way for the state to pay it off.
- Local commercial realtors announcing a funding plan for which “where the rest of the money comes, that is still a matter of discussion.”
And now the latest, from Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who looks creepily like a young Bud Selig:
Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele says his staff is working on what he called alternative models that will get the entire project funded.
Abele has declined to detail what that funding plan is and what role the county would play.
Can I play, too? I have a funding plan for a Bucks arena that won’t cost anyone a dime, that can make it through the state legislature, and that rewrites the laws of thermodynamics! I can’t divulge what it is, though, that’d be telling.
What’s the deadline on this malarkey? Is the league going to allow this foot dragging indefinitely? Or will they hand hold like they did in Sacto until the city grabs it’s ankles?
They need to break ground by the summer of 2017 or the league can invoke a buy back clause. Now, they don’t necessarily have to invoke it. If Milwaukee is making significant progress on the arena, they can always give them more time like they did with Sacramento.
OTOH, if they can’t get anything going now, I don’t see anything happening in the next 2 years either. Hansen is waiting.