Wow...reading these blogs is scary and sad. I'm sad that the majority of bloggers can't seem to see the bigger long-range picture and get past the deal with "me, myself and I"..how it affects them. How about looking instead at the advantages of upgrading the ice rink and not focus solely on the money? What about our future citizens who don't seem to be having a voice here? Obviously nobody here has thought much about them. Janeville's youth (kids all ages) NEED something safe and relatively inexpensive to do. Let the rink fail and close it's doors and you are setting the city up for much bigger problems. What is the youth of Janesville supposed to do for entertainment... Sit and blog all day on the computer or use unsafe sites such as Myspace and Facebook and get absolutely NO exercise or perhaps cruise the streets, or spend tons of their out of work parent's bucks at the mall or cruise Walmart? I'm only hearing negativity here and nothing that will HELP the youth of Janesville. I'm sure we could use the $200,000 or more on more police protection, security for businesses, and juvie centers because if our present citizens don't think about keeping youth occupied in safe and more healthy endeavors....that is where you tax dollars will NEED to be spent. This whole deal is not simply about HOCKEY OR FIGURE SKATING or even the possible incoming hockey team...it's about the future.
(And by the way FIGURE SKATING IS A SPORT regardless of the remarks such as "twirl girls" of "Ice Fairies". Before you rip on something why don't you try it. ALL SKATING IS A HARD WORK OUT. Also Public skate at the rink brings in over 300 people on the weekends alone. The rollerskating rink is already closed..there is no rollerblading/skateboard park for the kids...what's left? Getting into trouble? Can we all take a step back from the money and think about the future for a change. The youth will be our future voters. Think about it.

freetobeme--I disagree. The "figure skaters" were given a courtesy call saying that there were talks about it back in the Fall, and then told they would be aprised and be part of the planning with "hockey." Unfortunately, the city council chose to have closed meetings and had a change in personnel, so all user groups weren't kept aprised--including the Learn To Skate program, Polar Express, which teaches both figure skating and hockey. Furthermore, how narrow-minded that the kids are categorized as "figure skaters" or "hockey." We're all parents who pay taxes and have one thing in common--Our kids love the ice!!!

"Due to economic cutbacks, the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off." 13% unemployment rate and they think Hockey at $1.5 Million from the tax payers? Now at this time? $1.5 million can work best by securing jobs, promoting Industry..start a plant making residential solar panels do something smart with the money,don't play hockey with it. That Ice arena is a money pit. The more we put in the less we get out of it.( Build new arena at sports complex, sell existing lot for condo development etc...)SPECIAL INTEREST ANYONE?

Looks like the debate should be whether Janesville want the revenue or not. How much would the restaurants and hotels benefit from visitors? Overnight for 20 players, coaches and fans at $100/room with a minimum of 20 games plus food, fuel for all the visitors? Sounds like a small investment for a better return than not having the team in town or wait for GM to return. Pretty easy choice if I had to make it.

It may be too late before our city council decides on this matter. It takes our city council along time to decide on important matters, but issues that are important for their selfs fly by with passing colors.

All user groups WERE contacted to attend the meetings with the city and hockey partners. THEY (FIGURE SKATERS) DID NOT SHOW UP! Now, they sit and complain and about communication issues with the city, perhaps they need to look to the leadership (or lack of) in their club and figure out why they didn't come. You can't tell me they just heard about the renovations two weeks ago!! BY FAR the figure skaters pay the least to use the ice and have the smallest user group, costing the city a more than the hockey groups each year....don't want to see them not have a place to skate, but not coming to meeting and then asking ridiculous questions at the last mintue is unexcuseable.

Out of the act: Madison Rep out of businessBy Associated Press March 7, 2009 - 12:52 p.m. MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Madison Repertory Theatre is officially out of business.
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It is sad that the arts continue to decline, however, taxpayers are more than willing to hand over their money to semi-professional and professional sports teams who are more than capable of funding themselves without taxpayer help.

continued from my previous post: Then they could turn the venue into a ice arena, or a basketball court, or a monster truck rally, or rent it out for conventions. All the problems solved, hockey and sports could happen, and I'd rather have something like that being built with my tax dollars because the community will keep finding ways to use it over and over.

How about using all this money to open up a roller rink (again) so the kids actually have something to do besides going to rotary gardens and paying or going to the over priced ice arena. Why not open a big venue for bands to come play and bring in dollars and tourists from madison, rockford, beloit, and not the kind of acts that play at the 4 H fair, I mean real local bands and real rock bands, real orchestras, real musicians who attract audiences. You could hire people to sell beer, sell concessions, sell concert t shirts, bouncers, janitors, sound engineers and electricians, you could get alot of employees real quick in this town.

Janesvillean makes a good point. The improvements should serve the arena well in addition to the hockey. The user groups and other citizens ARE concerned about the proposed improvements. If the team leaves and the arena is not user friendly because of the improvements, what is the community left with? If its true that the present "warming room" will become locker rooms, then it will leave no area for anyone to put on their skates. That means nowhere for parents to keep a watchful eye on their children skating except the cold unheated stands and nowhere for hockey parents or figure skating moms to gather & stay warm, chat and observe. What about Public Skate Sessions- they have nowhere to get skates on or keep their shoes. Maybe the plans will designate a new area for this...but it would be nice if the improvements would benefit any and all of Janesville's skating population.

spikesmom - The Hockey Partners are not willing to pay for the upgrades. They want the taxpayers to do it for them.

Children's museums, junior hockey, race tracks, fair grounds vs. record high jobless rate and a very uncertain future. STOP WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY and focus on what needs to be done to keep this area afloat. The council couldn't even initially help out the Tallman house, which is something unique to Janesville, yet every time you turn around they want to throw hundreds of thousands in another direction! I don't want to pay any more taxes for these needless, nonsensical pipedreams and distractions, and neither I expect do those who are laid-off or retired. Without an independent sponsor/donor, or a project that can pay its own way - SKIP IT FOR NOW!

It really does look as though it was a major error to not include all the stakeholders (user groups as well as city/arena staff) from the outset. That probably made the difference between success and failure. Even though this sounds like a decent proposal on its face (even given we can't know whether it will succeed as a team or attraction), the arena users appear to have valid concerns and the council is right to give them a full airing.
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All that said, we can't require that as a private business the team pick up the cost. They'll just walk and find someplace else. So we have to simply weigh whether these upgrades will also serve the arena well in addition to the hockey, or if the team folds or leaves. And that's something that only the stakeholders can reasonably tell us.

chrisis? good word for this too. they pay and if they lose (and i hope they do) tough luck boys.

How much money does the figure skating group pay to use the ice arena? Work this out and let the hockey team come here. Alcohol is served at Brewers and Bucks games and lots of families with kids go there anyway. The arena needs upgrading and if someone is willing to pay that then they should welcomed with open arms.

If the partners are still bullish on Janesville, as they claim, then they can foot the bill for the renovations. Isn't anyone reading the economic news? Doesn't anyone see the unemployment rates around here? Now is definitely not the time to waste -- yes, waste -- 200,000 dollars and possibly more (for future maintenance, etc.) to attract a hockey team.

Who gets the application fee? What is it used for? Is the price of the application fee negotiable?

If the user groups want to be in on the contract process, will the user groups be accountable if this deal is a failure?

Just curious if the user groups that were not involved in the forefront meetings have since been informed and invited into the planning/contract process. . .