Momentum! It’s a mysterious political process that mostly involves elected officials declaring loudly that a proposal has it, then repeating it often enough that the local media believes it. In the case of the Milwaukee Bucks arena talks, we’re now in full perpetual motion machine mode, with Wisconsin senate majority leader Scott Fitzgerald declaring that public funding for a Bucks arena can get done by Memorial Day, notwithstanding that it would require the city of Milwaukee to provide cash that Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett says he don’t wanna, plus that Fitzgerald’s own plan for state funding doesn’t actually include a revenue source.
(Yes, I know that I previously said this was the racino phase, but there can be a phase and a mode at the same time, okay?)
Fitzgerald also indicated that he’d be looking to Milwaukee County to chip in some funding, to go along with $150 million in kicked-back future NBA player income taxes that may or may not materialize, kicked-back property taxes from a possible tax increment financing district for the Bucks’ planned development alongside the arena, and anything else he finds while digging through supply closets. The goal here appears to be to set a deadline, thus shifting the question from “Should we help pay for a Bucks arena?” to “Which of us is going to pay for a Bucks arena?” And the fact that Fitzgerald’s brother is a paid lobbyist for the Bucks undoubtedly has nothing to do with this sudden urgency at all.
If they pull this off in MWE it’ll be pretty amazing frankly. Where’s the outcry from the public? Everything about this whole process has been hatched in the dark, and nary a peep from anyone it would seem. Is there really that degree of support? I watched the process with the new Vikings (and before that Twins) stadiums in Minnesota, and the underbelly of those stadium processes was quite unsightly. And frankly I’m still amazed the Vikings got their stadium. And then I look into Wisconsin and see this going down, and knowing the politics of their state recently, I am just befuddled/dumbfounded in how they forge ahead like a bulldozer without headlights in the black of night. You hear it coming and it is frightening, and when it gets here it is too late to get out of its way. That’s kinda how this feels. Not my state, not my taxes, so I’m not squawking specifically, just, well, amazed at the process I’ve seen.
Chris,
It’s pretty much as you describe. However, a poll this week shows at least 67% oppose it in MKE Co and 89% statewide. But that’s to “public subsidies” that are tangible. It’s already lined up that the arena and many “ancillary enterprises” would be tax-exempt (per Walker). This currently includes a new arena, practice facility and several blocks of an “entertainment annex,” parking structures, and other “amenities” that the public will be building, after demolishing a well-functioning parking garage the city built for current arena. City will also take care of utilities and give away other land. County may throw in many acres, and state has already offered the main site. These Bucks owners are major real-estate developers and one has a loan company with many foreclosures in MKE. They could pay for all this development and be happy with all the tax exemptions, 30 acres of free land etc. but greed knows no bounds. So I see the bulldozer heading into town. A group called Common Ground is the only formal opposition.
Chris, It’s pretty much as you describe. However, a poll this week shows at least 67% oppose it in MKE Co and 89% statewide. But that’s to “public subsidies” that are tangible. It’s already lined up that the arena and many “ancillary enterprises” would be tax-exempt (per Walker). This currently includes a new arena, practice facility and several blocks of an “entertainment annex,” parking structures, and other “amenities” that the public will be building, after demolishing a well-functioning parking garage the city built for current arena. City will also take care of utilities and give away other land. County may throw in many acres, and state has already offered the main site. These Bucks owners are major real-estate developers and one has a loan company with many foreclosures in MKE. They could pay for all this development and be happy with all the tax exemptions, 30 acres of free land etc. but greed knows no bounds. So I see the bulldozer heading into town. A group called Common Ground is the only formal opposition.