Funny how the article discusses WHERE to put an ice arena, not WHETHER TO. It is NOT the proper purpose of government to buy, build, own, operate or maintain an ice arena. Might as well rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic after hitting the iceberg. And to be crystal clear for those of you on city council reading this, the "iceberg" was the closing of the GM plant.

lovemycountry- Are you nuts. Hockey is not just a rich white mans sport. My kids play and I am far from being rich. I wish I was but I am NOT. Also you can out fit a kid for hockey for a lot less than $400. You dont need the best stuff on the market. Clubs also let you use there equipment.

Thanks, donkeykong. My bad.

ugghh

Pete and her NEED TO GET A LIFE together or apart they are both nasty on here maybe the gazette should look into them and read the way they treat other people

CONGRATULATIONS HANNAH!-You have passed Gazettefan in posts and now lead the Gazette on line commenter's in all categories including:

Most posts, misspelled words, incorrect grammar, offending deceased people and chasing balloons down highway 26.

Keep up the good work!

Hannah - Let me get this straight. You're not married to Pete?

Hannah, it is a sad situation. The Council is getting us hook, line and sinker. This was probably mapped out during those secret meetings held more than a year ago regarding the semi-pro hockey team. Take off the blinders, Council members. Your community needs more effort put into future jobs. That's been on the ice too long.

Shotgun - Huh????

Heard Eric Levitt on the radio report dance around on this subject taking about City profits, sharing, build a fire station where old one is, and private investor. Never once was their takes off not building it.

Do the meeting start at 6:30 now ?

So how are they paying for this?

Sandman
I agree, and read on here before there is some connection between City Manager Eric Levitte, the Rock County Youth Hockey, and him pushing this plan through.
** I thought Public officials needed to remain neutral or remove themselves from the project.
This Eric is planning the project.

Sounds like this Eric Levitt guy has it in for the tax payers. Does he have a conflict of interest in this project?

This has Doyle written all over it.

He is hangin with his buddies on the council. Its a conflict of interest .You scratch my back and I will scratch yours . See no evil hear no evil, speak no evil .

It seems this council is not interested in anything but their own dreams, which will likely turn out to be our tax nightmares!

1. WRITE.
2. CALL.
3. SHOW UP AT THE MEETING MONDAY NIGHT.
3. ASK FOR A REFERENDUM ON THIS ISSUE
4. VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE IF THAT'S WHAT IT TAKES TO GET RESIDENT TAXPAYER REPRESENTATION.

This issue has predictably spun out of control -- from $200k to $1m to $5m and climbing -- and apparently will continue to do so if this bunch is allowed free reign in this city. I expect that building a new facility was most likely the plan in the first place, not fixing up an old, under-utilized building that has poor parking to begin with and has been on the closing discussion list for years.

And don't fall for the old "fire station relocation" ploy! Why did this suggestion JUST come up now? Grasping at straws? Watch ... they'll push the ice rink down our throats, then tell us the site does not have sufficient room or roadway access or is a bad location on which to build a fire station -- then they'll buy some other land on which to build a new station! Any takers on that bet?

STOP THIS UNTIMELY PROJECT! We have yet to experience the full brunt of this recession on local services and city taxpayers -- DO NOT SPEND MONEY WE DON"T HAVE ON THE PIPE DREAMS AND SPECIAL INTERESTS OF A FEW!

If this junior hockey is so viable, give it three to five years at it's present location and see how it grows and at what level it stabilizes. It's only been a few weeks -- it's still new -- and way too early to tell how long the interest will last. Building a new facility now is like proposing and buying a house together after the third or fourth date (and remember that each of these dates has been greased by a more than sufficient quantity of beer, of course!). It's far too early to predict future attendance numbers, program stability and success.

Really, I'm rich now! Good to know. Just because I choose to have my children play hockey does not mean I'm anywhere near rich. What the naysayers are not getting here is that it can't wait a couple of years to see how it is going. It needs to be fixed now! So, because the city has contractual obligations to maintain that ice rink, they are in it for at least the 1.5 million. That is because the previous administrations did not take proper care of this facility. So now it is all dumped on us. And I'm really getting tired of the "I don't use it so I don't want to pay for it" attitude. There are so many things that I pay for in my taxes that I don't use, but I understand their value to this community. That's what you don't seem to get. The value to the community. The adding of the fire station to the current central location is a bonus for the city!

Can't blame teachers for this!

lovemycountry....are you really tryin to make this about race? everything is not in terms of black and white these days no matter how hard you try. this is the witch hunt of the 2000s. give it up.

http://www.tomahjournal.com/articles/200...
Dont forget to read this article .Its an eye opener .

How is this ice rink going to provide enough jobs for our community? What is the percentage of residents who will use this facility? Why not ask them to pay for it, because I don't want it, and I don't want to pay for it, either.

Is that what they are calling themselves now ?

council foe...Are you talking about the Forward Janesville country club?

I cannot believe, that in a time of crisis, and this is a crisis with the current unemploymnet rate in this city, that this project is even in the works. What is wrong with this city and the council? Who is going to benefit from this? A very small group of people thats who. While a vast number of people will suffer from this(more taxes). People, we haven't even seen the after effects from the loss of GM, Lear, Sanford and the many of the other small buisinesses that are not on the map. I could care less about hockey, or a local hockey team, but that is not the point. If we are to survive as a community, we should wait at least till the dust settles before making any commitments of tax payer money. Heck there is talk of local residents having to pay for trash pick up (which is probaly coming) let alone financing a new ice arena. Use the old one for now and lets wait a couple of years. Let's see if Janesville can survive the after effects of high unemployment.

At $400 for a kid to get outfitted for hockey, it's surprising those who are concerned about community welfare are supporting this. This is a white rich man's sport. Check out the Jets photos and try to find a non-white. http://janesvillejets.pointstreaksites.c...

When the boys baseball came to the council meeting requesting 1.5 million to expand there park at the sports complex, no one was at the council meeting complaining. It all took place less then 15 minutes and you folks just spent 1.5 million. However now they want to build a skating rink and the complainers are in high gear. What gives? Is baseball so much better for our kids then hockey? I do see where your priorities are, baseball and basketball. You folks spent 72 million for basketball and no one complained like this.

I say use the old menards plenty of parking and right by the highway Great location and plenty of exposure

Not a surprise to see this special interest pet project being rushed. Why is no one investigating this insider deal that will rob Peter the taxpayer to pay Paul the friends of the council. The logical plan would be to see how profitable the current location can become with the new sports team and in a few years if all is well then put this up for a vote. Otherwise let the private investors put their money into the new rink. If they cannot see the return of investment then that's your answer.

Here we go again. It is not the proper purpose of government to buy, build, own, operate or maintain an ICE ARENA! The current state of the economy (horrible) *should* make this crystal clear, but, apparently not. So go ahead, build it, run it, do whatever you want. And as I have continued to say, YEAR after YEAR, this will continue to be a problem for the citizens of this city who will continue to be forced to pick up the pieces - pay the millages, fund the bonds, make up for the loss of private business, etc. etc. etc.
The only reasonable solution is to privatize. And if no one in the private sector wants to own and run an ice arena, well then --- DUHHHHH --- that proves that it's not worth the investment.

If the Council does end up approving this new arena, please (at least) DO NOT build it inside Palmer Park. That place is nearly sacred to a lot of residents.

i suppose we may need to fight the battle to keep the dog park again. one of the site being considered for the arena:
-- A site on Palmer Drive adjoining Interstate 90/39. The undeveloped area of Palmer Park is a pet exercise area.

Let the recalls begin !

Well for one I am all for this. I know alot of people that use the rink. It will be good for Janesville. Go ahead beat me up for my opinion but I am all for it.

council_foe: I don't want to beat you up; I want to join you in the fight against this ill-timed waste of taxpayer money.

Where the heck is this nonsense coming from. One minute we're going to spend 200,000 to fix the old arena. Next it jumps to 1.5 million to fix or 2 million to build new. We were opting to fix at that time. Now we're looking at 5 million to build new? What is it like .000001% of the Janesville population that gives a hoot about an ice arena or ice hockey? I've met a lot of people in this town over the years and I can't name ten that care about anything other than football or baseball. The Milwaukee Admirals can't even fill the seats and that's in a major city. This seems like a massive money pit that only a small minority will care about, but the majority will pay for. I used to think the children's museum was a bad idea (due to lack of money), but at least more people would get use out of that. Oh, wait they wouldn't serve beer. What a joke. I'm waiting for the next round of talks to see what that figure is. Soon we'll have a retractable roof stadium that seats 65,000.

Once again the good old boys politics . The matter of using tax payer money is the main issue , and the public needs to be asked what it wants , and put it on record ,instead of this constant disregard for what the citizens want their tax money to be used for . Is a city wide recall needed to drive home this point ? Someone has an agenda who feels that they need to push this issue repeatedly to fullfill a commitment . Seems like someone has their hands to deep in the public cookie jar , and their buddies are the only ones who get any cookies . Now your free to beat me up .

I feel that the south side would make a better location for several reasons.
1. It keeps traffic away from to downtown area.
2. It would make the south side more appealing to business looking to bring that side of town (food and entertainment) Hotels would be more interested if more and more attractions were added. It would be like a chain of events. The more “class A” businesses in one area, the more people, meaning more revenue and a better chance of businesses surviving and more jobs.
3. With the loss of GM, a lot of businesses over have lost a customer base. (Pick N’ Save, McDonalds, Burger King, Family Video) People who would travel to watch the games or for the events that the hockey team/club would host would bring people to those businesses instead of to the ones on the north side of town.
4. There’s more room on the south side. The south side has a lot of prime acres that are open for people to build on. It is close to the interstate.

I do like the idea of using the current arena location for the new main fire station. Finding a central enough place with enough space for a facility was going to be a real challenge.

I'm not a fan of ice (either in a rink or on the roads), but this plan is growing on me. I'd like to see more private investment and consider the value of the land as a portion of the City's commitment to the project package.