Thank goodness city leaders have decided to bring the whole uptown arena issue up for debate again. I, for one, didn’t feel we really had the chance to thoroughly explore every possible nook and cranny of this complex city issue, which of course we heard about nonstop for the first half of 2001. For example, I still need to understand… umm… hold on…
What I really want to understand is why anyone is still talking about this. What, after all, was the point of the big deal referendum last year? Not that it seems to matter to most of Charlotte’s leaders, but the arena referendum was overwhelmingly voted down last June. That means that people voted against it. To further clarify, people did not want taxes spent on a huge, unnecessary building in which to house the Hornets, a major league basketball team with a perfectly good arena already. And the reason that we, the ordinary non-rich and non-snotty residents of Charlotte, were supposed to purchase this new arena was because the poor little owners were not making enough millions of dollars. They wanted to build more of the expensive kind of seats generally enjoyed by wealthy people, as opposed to the regular-person priced seats for those of us who would actually be funding the arena.
Why Charlotte voters didn’t go for such a sweet deal is completely beyond me. But the fact is, they didn’t. And here’s another fact: somehow, the City Council is still contemplating building a new arena. This is a slap in the face to all Charlotte voters, whether we voted for or against the arena. Our leaders are implying that we can’t make our own decisions which, of course, is 100 percent correct — the public is never capable of making any important decisions, due to the sad fact that the public is primarily made up of idiots. But by having a referendum at all, Charlotte leaders indicated their faith in the public; they cannot simply retract that trust when things didn’t turn out as they intended. Maybe government types will learn a valuable lesson about trusting the idiot public with important decisions in the future. I mean, democracy, that’s obviously for the birds.
Plus, when we all celebrated last June, it wasn’t just because the referendum failed but also because, frankly, we were sick of hearing about it. And now it’s all being inflicted on us all over again.
Now I’ll grant you that city business leaders are willing to cough up a lot more of their own dough this time around, which is a step in the right direction. But we’re still talking about using city properties and assets to finance the deal, and the latest word, as of this writing, is that the General Fund was mentioned in regards to the arena project, meaning that your property tax dollars aren’t out of the woods yet. Any use of property taxes to fund a downtown arena would be a serious betrayal of the people’s trust. I’m not too worried yet, of course, because city councilpeople are generally weenies who aren’t willing to risk re-election over unpopular proposals.
To be fair, I understand that local business leaders are simply trying to find a way to keep the Hornets because they’re good for business. Having an NBA team in Charlotte gives us the illusion of being a real city, an image that business types like to emphasize. It’s something that people all over the country can associate with Charlotte and it gets us some publicity. Going to a basketball game is also something to do, a place to take your out-of-town guests, or in any case your out-of-town investors.
Here’s the cold hard truth: a new arena deal isn’t going to fix what’s wrong with the Hornets. The only thing capable of doing that would involve the sale of the team or a personality transplant for the owners. Mr. Shinn and Mr. Wooldridge have been in our fair city long enough for us to recognize the truth about them and their money-grubbing, attention-grabbing ways. These two guys are in it for the fame and fortune, and they’re blowing this joint because they aren’t happy with the reputation they’ve built for themselves here over the years.
This is why I think we need to quit with the name-calling and rudeness toward New Orleans. This situation isn’t their fault. They want an NBA team. Why should we blame them for it? We also want an NBA team. Sure, we all know things aren’t going to be peachy for long once George and Ray actually return “home,” but that’s no reason to bash the Big Easy. I’ve heard Charlotteans, from radio personalities to bankers, talking trash about New Orleans, mentioning everything from gambling to whores.
It’s so silly! We sound like jealous middle school children calling each other names. This whole arena controversy has an air of childishness about it anyway; there’s no need to exacerbate the situation.
In the final analysis, it would be unfortunate if Charlotte lost the Hornets. But basketball shouldn’t be our only concern, anyway. We also need to support theater in Charlotte and the music scene. There are up and coming bands all over Charlotte and many theater groups who lack support. I’m not saying these things should be supported instead of basketball, but yes, there are possibilities for Charlotte even beyond basketball.
Ideally, it would be terrific to keep an NBA team in the city. But we’ve had many months to become accustomed to the possibility of losing the team, and I think most people have made their peace with it. Now our leaders need to adopt the public’s air of nonchalance. We all know that the last thing Wooldridge and Shinn need is to have two cities fighting over their team. Their heads are already too big to fit inside the current arena. *
This article appears in Feb 15-21, 2002.
