Key legislators said Wednesday that local leaders in Milwaukee need to step up to the plate on a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks. Joint Finance Committee co-chairs, Senator Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) and Representative John Nygren (R-Marinette) commented as team officials were set to meet at the Capitol today with legislative leaders and Mayor Tom Barrett and Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.
Bucks president Peter Feigin said this week that he is confident that the NBA team and local elected officials will be able to reach an agreement on up to $250 million in public funding for a new downtown arena.
“This is going to be an important week for discussions, to see if the city and the county are going to cough up, and put some skin in the game,” Darling said. “We need the city especially to show its leadership, and the county to team up. This has been way too long. The lack of leadership on this issue is very concerning, but it isn’t s surprising.”
“The governor’s proposal came out before the budget did,” noted Nygren. “Here we are three quarters through the month of April and we still don’t have any idea where the city and county are at.”
