After reviewing this I see it's back up, just as it should be!

How ODD, this was one of the most E-mialed stories or popular discussions as of feb 16-09 at 7:00 pm. Know this discussion is off the list. I guess no comments are needed!

I realize the kids need something to do in the wintertime. We have had the ice arena for years and a lot of thought, time and money have already been put into this. The city kept coming up with different results than Mr. Levitt’s!

I would truly like to see the data that was presented earlier! ("Originally, the city said it would earn little or nothing.") And compare it to the city budget; before it was adjusted, then match it to Mr. Levitt's data.

It was not that long ago we where trying to sell the ice area,

maybe we can sell it now

Janesville should follow Beloit's lead on this one.

Lamonte,

Sorry but what alot of people don't know is they went to Beloit first and Beloit after looking at the proposal said NO !. They came to Janesville after that. So we weren't even there first choice. JUST SAY NO !

The Ice Arena is owned and run by the city. It should be updated to accommodate more activities and be able to host other events. Not a lot of communities have an ice arena and we are lucky to have it. It's less expensive to do it now than down the road. It will create jobs with the people doing the remodeling.

Before anybody even thinks about taking tax payer money for this obvious pet project they need to make some serious efforts to obtain private funding.Do not tell us it is only $2 whats the beef? The beef is they have got their hands in our pockets so they can play hockey. After porking out $85k a year for subsidies on this place all we hear is its a dump,run down, bad gas etc..and now we are supposed to just giggle and hand out $229k more for what? A bag full of "if"s? If they do VERY well? If they dont we have to pick up the slack? WE WANT GUARANTEE's that this will not be a waste of the tax payers money. What will they name the place DEAD HORSE ARENA? GOOD OLE BOYS ON ICE? THE MONEY PIT? PUCKS UNLIMITED(PU). Please do not patronize the hard working citizens of this community. Adding insult to injury never ends well. We want REAL opportunities, REAL jobs. Viable Investments with the little money we have left in our coffers. Give us JOBs to rebuild our battered city with. Our Youth are leaving us and with them goes our future. That is priority #1

I will be interested to see what they do with seating. The NAHL team in my city has an arena that holds over 3,000 people and has luxury boxes. For the money quoted in the paper, I don't see that kind of work being done in Janesville. Please tell me they will at least put in box seating. And for everyone complaining about Janesville bringing a team to the area, quit looking so ridiculous. The last article said that this would equate to less than $2 more of tax per person. So you won't be able to get those extra 15 packages of Raman noodles next year. Big deal.

Wow...we had to pay $2200 just for our daughter to play hockey. So the money for ice time is there.

spacejam wrote..."I'm all for getting jobs in Janesville with tax payer money!"

There will be, BARTENDER at the ice arena.

SOME people seem to think that we are the minority (1%) against this. Lets put this to a vote to see how many people do want this.

lamont: I guess you did not comprehend what spacejam posted:
If COMMON SENSE is whining or complaining that I'm guilty!
spacejam: I guess I'm guilty of COMMON SENSE, too!

I can tell you, and the citizen's without a job can tell you, what's good for Janesville and it is jobs. (long term)
I'm all for getting jobs in Janesville with tax payer money!
When Janesville brings more employment to town then we can talk about spending on WANTS!! Until then tax payers have all they can do to pay off the debit they already have.

That figure of 14,000 was just revenue from the addition of the hockey team. If they hosted tournaments then the revenue would go up and if the team became successful.

The ice arena should be updated anyway. When has it ever been updated? Having two separate locker rooms would be nice since there is now a girls hockey team now. It's good for the economy as well if they host tournaments the people from out of town are going to have to eat and sleep which is good for Janesville's economy. I think it's just getting a bad rap from people is because it is hockey. No one ever had a problem when Monterey stadium needed to get new locker rooms. O wait that was for football.

Mooshoo - that's the perfect way to sum up this whole issue, and how often do you hear of promoters leaving a town after a year of two because of poor ticket sales....
-
"Classic fuzzy math. You dump $229,000 of public money into the ice arena, and collect $14,000 to $20,000 net "profit" per year. Hmm...sounds like a winner to me. Thats exactly why rich businessmen want you and me to subsidize their risky little venture."

Anyone interested in looking at the Janesville city budget can look here or call the phone# provided http://www.ci.janesville.wi.us/citysite/...

lamonte: I'll trade ideas with you all day-long, but lets not get personal!

lamonte: It's seem to me you need basic economics, they offer that a Blackhawk Tech College I suggest you sign up! As for rehab, I don't drink or use! Shame on you!

The first step to rehab is to admit you have a problem.Thanks for clearing that up, anyone else?

lamonte: If common sense is whinning or complaining then I'm guilty!

the city only makes $14K-$20K if everything goes according to plan.That is a luxury risk we do not need at this time. Ask in 4 years. Id rather make sure those same kids will have jobs here or we will lose them to some other city in some other state. PRIORITIES!

Classic fuzzy math. You dump $229,000 of public money into the ice arena, and collect $14,000 to $20,000 net "profit" per year. Hmm...sounds like a winner to me. Thats exactly why rich businessmen want you and me to subsidize their risky little venture.

This will be the same group complaining when the things pick up around the city and the team decides to go play in beloit or oregon.Then you will be wondering geez why is there nothing to do in this city or theres nothing for the kids to do.I'm embarased being part of this city because whiners like everybody bad talking this idea.Do you think anyone who is considering bringing a company or franchise to janesville likes to read comments like these, because there are links to alot of other sites about whats going on and i'm sure they have other cities lined up ready to open there arms to welcome this team.The problem is the people that are bashing this idea are about 1% of the population of janesville.We need people that are for this to start voicing there support to the council and city manager.Outsiders think boy you just cant win in janesville we will go somewhere else.If you dont want to go to a game thats fine but dont ruin it for everyone else because of a $1.50 tax increase.Please give me a break.

Hey, really redo the arena, make it bigger and then we could even get in an arena football team too

Please let the tax payers pay for the debit that they alreay have.
To ride into town and start spending is not sound judgement! This is a WANT not a NEED! Janesville NEEDS jobs, that is a NEED. When I say jobs I mean long-term that pay well(or be able to support a family)!

People need to get their priorities straight. We are not the whiners. The ones who want this NOW are the whiners and obviously don't care for their fellow man when times are tough for MOSTLY everyone. This is a luxury, not a need. Now is the time to support your neighbor through hard times. Not try to shove wants down their throats!

lamont: Obviously you are well off or not hurting for money right now, so why don't you flip the bill?? Like I said before, if I had the money to give right now, I would gladly support it. NO, NOW IS NOT THE TIME!

dkush...did u miss that it will make money and provide opportunity for or youth or cant you think positive (personal problem).Lets not forget it will create jobs,not alot but its something,provide income to local business,and be something fun to do with the family or friends.Lets not scare away something that is good for our community.It's not like if the team decides to move because no local support that they will be taking the improvements to our(janesville's)rink with them.The stength of americans has always been to find a way to make things better and bounce back from bad times.Now is the time.Forward thinking,not looking back

The system at the facility is very old. The system uses freon. I've heard that alarms go off there frequently for freon leaks and that parts for the compressors are hard to come by. Would updating the system mean tearing up the surface below the ice and replacing all the lines. Isn't that costly? Maybe a million? Maybe more? Having a Hockey team here like this would really be nice for the people that enjoy the sport of hockey. Have they actively pursued the option of finding private funding for this venture? When the system breaks down and is in need of major repairs the city will need big bucks to replace that old system.

I asked this before but got no answer. Is it normal for blueprint designs (for a supposedly small project like this) to cost $29,000?

I'm sorry to say it, but if our new city manager is going to start off like this with spending, we are in big trouble.

The point is that WE are all going to be paying for this at a time when no one can afford it.

The article states the city will pay $200,000 for separate locker rooms ??!!

lamonte: Maybe if we had the money to do extras, we would. Did you ever think of that???? Do you really think that people would not enjoy going out and spending money to have some fun? Or maybe you don't understand that the city of Janesville is in the RED and alot of people are out of work and are having a hard time making ends meet. I think what alot of people are saying is that now is not the time. If we can get out of this bad economy in the near future, then we can look into spending money on luxuries. I would love to be able to do things I was able to do before. I would be first in line to pay for the junior hockey team, even though I don't care for hockey, just so the kids can have something to do.

dkush21: You hit the nail right-on-the-head. I'm glad I'm not the only one to see this!

Some say the hand is faster than the eye.

Sorry, forgot to delete the bottom line of my post!

spacejam: Your right about the pencil-whipping! Look at "The money earned would go to the general fund and offset the city’s annual $85,000 subsidy to the ice arena, City Manger Eric Levitt said. The city previously released an incorrect subsidy figure of $65,000." There is your $20,000 difference.

how they say that they made a mistake in what the yearly s

To those that I have offended,
Sorry if the truth hurts!

Ah, I forgot your kids play hockey

Mr. Levitt You must have seen the city is in the "RED" How can you truely approve this?

This should Read, Janesville’s city manager has Pencil whiped some numbers and renegotiated a contract with Wisconsin Hockey Partners, and the results show the city could collect $14,000 to $20,000 in net annual revenue if a junior A hockey team locates here.

Before moving here, I used to drive over an hour to attend NHL games, at least 10 a season. I’d pay outrageous sums for everything from parking to tickets to pretzels, and get to watch a so-so team play. (At least I could watch the other team play some pretty good hockey!) And you know what – Junior A is just as exciting as the NHL, for a whole lot less. I’d love to see a team come in and give this town something to rally around, something to start replacing the big hole that GM left. I don’t know if they’ll ever make money for Jville, but if the city covers their costs, it will be a big plus for this area.

I VOTE NO!!!!!! WE DON'T NEED IT!!!!!

Where on earth do they get their numbers? DoWe Cheatem & How? Porkeys Emporium? Would somebody please turn the "We Be Stupid" sign off. Put this Hockey thing before the people of Janesville for a city wide vote.

The only reason this would not work is because all the whiners would rather sit at home on the computer than actually getting out to support something local. Bad talk...bad talk... wow is there a sun in the world you live in or are you always this depressed.Drop the puck!

Prime- They thought it would go over so they put it fromt and center. Then when it didn't go over they put it back here to hid it. How hard is that to understand. It is not wanted so they put where you don't see it to comment on it.

Here is something else that has not been picked up on here. Levitt say's "Levitt said revenue from a hockey team would be more stable than Friday night open skate, where attendance fluctuates. Open skate still would be held on nights the team has away games". The Hockey attendance won't fluctuate come on of course it will. He also say's He took a second look and believes the costs for utilities and staff were overestimated. Why and how, come on another white wash. He added For instance, the team would pay less rent if it does not do well. SO if they don't do well we pay more because they pay less. Come on they are trying to pull the wool over our eye's. But I guess it can be if you don't look hard huh Prime!

Tax: What is your point? So the Gazette was against it by displaying it front and center on web when the vote was 3-1 against, but now, the Gazette is for it by "burying" it? Are you saying that if the Gazette would have buried it the first time, that they would have been against it? I am trying to understand your post, but am struggling.

beenthere- No cheese but less pork please.

optimusPrime- Exactlly you make my point yes I know it's on the front page of the paper, but not on the web where it was last time front and center. Then the vote came out 3 to 1 against now it's hidden back here why. Because the Gazette is in it with the big wigs trying to ram it through.

what do we, the taxpayers, get when we find out the number crunching was a sham so he could get his way. will he quit! work for free! return his salary! try for a semi pro baseball team! move to canada!

yep .......crunch the numbers and make it look like a bomma feel good program.....we don't need this at this time. but as I said in the Milton guy exposing himself post......we gonna see more wierd stuff happining daily and this whole ressession thing has a long way to go befor we gonna see improvments in the economy. Some of the things that will happen are gonna be so funny and some are really going to "tick" off a lot of people......i would have used other words here but I know the rules and try to follow them so I don't get removed. everyone STAY SAFE!! and watch out for the spellling police!!!!!

Tax: It is on the front page of the printed paper. Obviously you didn't see that. Look at the view front page, right to the right of these comments

Would you like some cheese with your whine?

Why is this not on front page so public can easily get to it. Maybe because of the last one being so negative your trying to hide it so we can't comment on it.

This is a joke it is getting rammed through even though 3 to 1 against it. This article is pure crap it didn't get support so now we rework the numbers so it looks better. Come on we are not that dumb. This is just fluff trying to get it through. There is no garuntee this will go over and the city will get this money from them. This should be put to a vote. Quit trying to ram this through