Hornets co-Owner Ray Wooldridge's efforts to secure a
new downtown arena for the team were profiled in a front-
page piece by Liz Chandler in Sunday's CHARLOTTE OBSERVER.
Wooldridge "has to make the sales pitch of his life" when he
proposes plans for a new arena to the City Council in March.
Wooldridge, a business exec from Atlanta, said that the
quest for a new arena "is more complicated than he
imagined," as his "biggest struggle" has been his "fight for
credibility in Charlotte." Chandler called Wooldridge an
"an unlikely figure to lead the arena charge," as he is a
"guarded man who doesn't like to network." City Council
member Lynn Wheeler, who heads the committee that will
review the arena plan, told Wooldridge "not to ask the city
for more than" $60M because that's the most she believes the
council would approve without a public referendum. Wheeler:
"A lot will depend on [Wooldridge's] attitude, as well as
the amount of public money he asks for." Another "selling
point" is that Wooldridge "will stay away from property tax
money" and instead "request hotel/motel taxes" (CHARLOTTE
OBSERVER, 2/27). A CHARLOTTE OBSERVER editorial examined
Wooldridge's "challenge," and wrote that he must have "a
proposal that open-minded citizens will see is good for the
city as well as the Hornets" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 2/27).
