By M. Bryant
Chris Larson
It’s time to let it go. Plain and simple, move on.
After listening to Wisconsin State Senator Chris Larson and supporters at a recent press conference on the Milwaukee Bucks arena deal, you have to ask why we are still talking about this.
Larson and crew continue to lament Milwaukee County’s decision to sell 10 acres of land in Milwaukee’s Park East Corridor to the Bucks for $1.
The parcel of land purchased is not slated to house the arena but as the site of the team’s new practice facility, a grocery store, apartments and office space.
At the time of the sale, Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele talked about the decision.
This section of land was previously the site of the Park East Freeway spur, torn down in 2003.
The freeway spur was in disrepair and estimated repair costs were at $100 million.
The spur was also a physical and economic barrier to growth on the near north side.
If that land could be developed we could see an increase in property taxes that were needed to support social services and County responsibilities like road repairs.
Even though we have seen a slow trickle of development in the corridor to include the Moderne, the Aloft Hotel, the Brewery and others, the pace was not as swift as hoped.
In fact much of the land sat undeveloped for well over 10 years.
One factor for the slow development was costs to developers to prepare the site for construction.
County documents indicate that roughly 150 old footings from the Park East freeway spur would have to be removed.
In addition, sewer lines need to be re-routed, the soil likely is contaminated, and possible buried debris. Estimated costs to address these concerns are about $8.3 million.
The value of the Park East land was valued at less than $9 million. In selling the land to the Milwaukee Bucks, the team’s ownership and others are now responsible for the majority of the costs associated with cleaning up and preparing the land for construction, not taxpayers.
Without thoroughly vetting the rationale, Larson and his supporters have consistently labeled this deal as a “giveaway” to wealthy people on the backs of taxpayers.
However, this can clearly be disputed by looking at what we get in return: Taxpayers, who might still have some costs associated with the cleanup, will still save millions in construction preparation costs.
Revenue from professional basketball players who pay income taxes for every game they play in our state.
Job creation, with estimates of over 2,100 permanent non-construction, non-arena jobs, and an estimated 14,000 construction jobs would be non-existent without this project.
Taxes generated from the team staying and developing this section of town will support our public schools and university system, job training, safety net programs, road repairs and every other service and amenity provided by varying levels of government.
Either way, the deal is done. We now should be focused on making it work for Milwaukee residents who need family-supporting jobs.
We should be working to guarantee that surrounding Milwaukee African-American neighborhoods benefit from the development and see tangible outcomes as a result of the Bucks arena deal. We should be focused on getting African-American businesses engaged in the development and as tenants in this development.