Friday, March 27, 2009

BOHICA ALERT! Bradley Center Problems

Apparently the Bradley Center needs $23 million or so...so Jim Doyle arranged for Wisconsin taxpayers to cough up $500K/year for the next 10 years to fix it up.

But $5 million of your dollars will hardly be enough. The Bradley Center is looking for another $18 million--which is most likely coming from Milwaukee-area taxpayers, folks.

The building, after all, is 21 years old. Twenty one!! Ancient!!

There are lots of needs, according to the Center's document...

1. Seriously outdated mechanical and HVAC systems requiring major upgrades.
2. An aging roof and exterior façade that requires ongoing maintenance.
3. A severely outdated scoreboard that will need to be replaced to ensure the Bradley Center cancontinue to produce sports and special events while sustaining vital sponsorship revenue.
4. Significant and increasing elevator and escalator maintenance.
5. An obsolete hockey rink system that must be replaced.
6. Parking structure repairs and structural maintenance.
7. Substantial exterior grounds repair and maintenance.
8. Outdated event production technology required to produce live sports and special events.
9. Aging and energy inefficient lighting, and worn out electrical and electronics components.
10. Infrastructure of various types including an aging plumbing system.
11. Replacement or refurbishing a substantial portion of 18,000 Bradley Center seats.
12. Security and life safety systems


Yah, hey.

Anyone at Bradley Center ever hear of "accruals"? You know, the concept that you get enough rent income so that you can stash a little cash to pay for maintenance and upgrades when needed?

And what's this "stuff" they need? "Event production" technology? A new scoreboard? Tulips and daisies in the lawn?

How do 'electrical components' wear out? Hell, the lightswitches in most homes last around 50 years or more...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How do 'electrical components' wear out? Hell, the lightswitches in most homes last around 50 years or more...

Are seriously comparing residential and commericial use? Your argument was fine up until that point. At some point people will have to decide if they want to keep subsidizing the Bucks to stay in Milwaukee. I'd say no, but I can understand other answers.

Dad29 said...

I've been in commercial buildings and I know the difference between "D" switches and common Lux household switches.

And PART of that difference is that the "D" switches should last one helluva lot longer, measured in cycles, than Lux.

Or did they spec PRChina junk?