Still looking for good open-source vid of the New Old Coliseum implosion this AM, but in the meantime it is worth reflecting on what it all means.
I think Rev. Mike made a very good stab at it in his End of An Era post:
The demolition of the Coliseum marks another way point in a contentious period in Charlotte that began in 2001 and continues to ripple through today and beyond. Thus, I hesitate to say it marks the end of the contentious period. In 2001, Mecklenburg County voters defeated a referendum that would have given the green light to building the Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Uptown Charlotte. (Yes, we are so silly as a community that we do not refer to our center city area as “downtown.”) In response, the Hornets, who had pushed the new arena under the threat that they would leave Charlotte if it weren’t built, pulled up stakes and moved to New Orleans. Many, myself included, said good riddance to bad rubbish.
However, the Charlotte City Council, desperate to maintain our image as a “world class city,” whatever that means, altered the funding package slightly from the original bond ordinance that had been on the ballot. Under the cover of this being a different package than the one the voters had rejected, the Council proceeded to fund construction of the new arena with certificates of participation (COPs), bonds that do not require voter approval, instead. The electorate was outraged and bounced Lynn Wheeler, the person on the Council considered to have spearheaded the effort, out on her ear in the next election.
Mike goes on to say that the Arena decision still shapes the issues the city and county face today, like the transit tax repeal and the CMS school bond. Like I’ve said, in a very real way the lack of proper priorities and focus in this town can be “blamed” on George Shinn. Shinn simply made too much money out in the old Hive, giving Charlotte an out-sized view of the realm of the possible and firing up and sustaining a burning drive to never let any again big civic structure escape the I-277 belt.
Little known is the fact that Shinn and the Hornets at one time wanted to buy the new old Coliseum off of the city, but city officials did not want to lose control or the revenue stream the building was throwing off. That stream was slated to be tapped for a new convention center in Uptown, you see, so a deal was quite impossible.
That led directly to Shinn’s unhappiness with the building and that situation — greatly compounded by a string of bad luck and negative headlines in the Charlotte sports world — made Shinn’s exit inevitable.
Once that happened, the Uptown power structure was in place to shape the agenda.
Boy, have they.
