Milwaukee Group Asks City Council To Delay Bucks Arena Vote

A southeast Wisconsin community organization continues to oppose the financing plan for building a new Milwaukee Bucks arena.

Jennifer O’Hear, of Common Ground, said her group is asking Milwaukee Common Council members to delay their votes on the arena plan until one of the Bucks’ majority owners, Wes Edens, agrees to rehabilitate foreclosed homes that his company owns in Milwaukee.

“We’ve asked him and his company to put a donation of $25 million towards rehabbing these foreclosed properties and making our neighborhoods whole before the Common Council consider his request for money for his Bucks arena,” she said.

O’Hear said if the alders approve the arena deal as it stands now, the group will raise concerns during the 2016 Common Council elections.

Officials with Edens’ company Nationstar said this summer that it’s made tremendous progress reducing the number of foreclosed homes the company services in Milwaukee.