Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI)
It's disgusting enough that Gov. Scott Walker is planning to
slash Wisconsin's higher education budget while committing $220 million to help the Milwaukee Bucks build a new arena.
It gets worse:
Several local officials are also speaking out against the county’s promise to collect $4 million per year in unpaid debts from residents to contribute to the stadium. Milwaukee County Supervisor John Weishan, Jr. called the proposal to go after unpaid ambulance rides, delinquent property taxes and court fees “crony capitalism.”
“This plan shifts the cost of the new arena from the state and the Milwaukee Bucks’ new wealthy owners to the poorest in our community,” he said. “I will not foreclose on someone’s home or shake down a senior for unpaid medical bills in order to build an arena for millionaires and billionaires.” [...]
County comptroller estimated in an official report that the county could only collect about 2 percent of the money they’re promising — in part because much of the unpaid court fees would go to restitution for victims of crimes if they ever got collected.
So money to build the new arena will be coming directly from Milwaukee County residents who cannot afford to pay it—and it won't be enough, anyway.
Supporters of funding for the new arena are promising that it will revitalize the area and bring in tons of new business and revenue. But it's not like this would be the first sports venue ever built with public money. This has happened before, and the economic promises generally don't pan out.
Economic promises that don't pan out are rapidly becoming a Scott Walker specialty, at great harm to the people of Wisconsin. This is just one more notch on Walker's belt of broken economic promises, however much he tries to distract voters by talking about the discounts he got when buying the belt at Kohl's.