WILL FOUR POINT REQUEST BE A SQUARE DEAL FOR HORNETS ARENA?

          Members of the Charlotte City Council last night
     "vented about the Hornets' failure to provide a formal
     financing proposal" for a new arena, according to Lauren
     Markoe of the CHARLOTTE OBSERVER.  The council voted 9-2 to
     request a written proposal from the Hornets on how the team
     would finance a new facility; ask the Mecklenburg County
     delegation in the NC legislature "to push for" legislation
     to allow for a citywide referendum on public arena money;
     approve a CPA to "verify" that team's claim that it is
     losing $1M per month; and get the "framework" from city
     staff for an arena deal "by about" July 24 and a "detailed
     agreement" by December 31, the day the team "can leave
     Charlotte without penalty" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 6/13).  City
     Council member Mike Castano: "We're at the point now where
     we need to tell [the team] to 'take it or leave it.'"  
     Another City Council member added, "It's getting to be a
     joke and I, for one, am just sick of it and tired of it like
     most of this community is" (WCNC-TV, 6/12).