CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte City on Council Monday night easily approved a financing package for a new $230 million downtown arena that could alter the NBA's Charlotte Hornets plans to pack up and head to New Orleans.

Wooldridge: Too late, Charlotte

NEW ORLEANS -- The vote to build a new arena to keep the Hornets in Charlotte came too late to keep the team from moving to New Orleans, co-owner Ray Wooldridge said. "We've made our decisions, and there will be no turning back," he told The Times-Picayune. "Here they are coming in at the last hour. I think the process right now characterizes my two years of negotiations in Charlotte." The Charlotte City Council approved a financing plan for a $231 million arena Monday night. Wooldridge told the newspaper Sunday night that Charlotte lost its chance to keep the Hornets in June, when 57 percent of city voters said no to an arena proposal. "Charlotte made a decision last June, which was to conduct a referendum," Wooldridge said. "It was their decision. They chose to do it that way, and they gave us the answer. It was unacceptable to the voters." The NBA's stand is that Monday's vote does not guarantee an arena. "It will be something that will reflect perhaps some interest in thinking about building one," said Russ Granik, the NBA's deputy commissioner. -- Associated Press

By an 8-3 margin, the council voted for a financing plan that features a $100 million pledge from two banks and a large energy company. The final tally didn't come until the end of a sometimes contentious hearing featuring more than two hours of public comment from about 60 people. Several hundred people jammed into the council's chambers for the meeting.

"Charlotte is stepping up to the plate tonight," Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory said moments before he counted the votes. "This was not an easy decision but in the end run, this was a positive step for both of us (the city and the NBA)."

The financing package includes $100 million pledged by Bank of America Corp., Wachovia Corp. and Duke Energy Corp. Top executives with the corporations had given the council until Monday to approve or reject their offer.

The rest of the arena funding would come mostly from hotel taxes and property taxes, the latter of which added a lot of fuel to an already hot debate.

Some council members and more members of the public chastised the council members who supported the package, saying it was tantamount to a slap in the face to voters who rejected an arena financing plan last summer.

"I am one of those voters who you have chosen to ignore and I will not forget your impertinence," said opponent Joe Bondurant.

Another opponent, John Warlick added: "This is a disgrace to our city. If special interests want to build an arena, they are free to do so. But not with our property taxes."

Supporters like councilman Malcolm Graham said a vote against the package was a vote against the city -- not the Hornets or owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge.

"When I was a kid on the playground we used to say you either dribble or you shoot. You can't hold on to the ball," he said. "It's time for this community to shoot the ball."

Other council members who voted for the package said they did so to spur economic growth in the city's downtown area.

The Hornets, saying they cannot make any money playing in the 14-year-old Charlotte Coliseum, have asked the NBA for permission to move to Louisiana by next season. A committee of NBA owners is studying the request and is expected to announce a decision in early April.

It's the second time in as many years that the team has threatened to move. A plan to relocate to Memphis was derailed when the Vancouver Grizzlies made the move instead.

Critics oppose the use of any property taxes to pay for the construction of a new arena. In June, voters overwhelmingly defeated a financing plan in which officials refused to consider using property taxes.

"The loudest, clearest and most important voices in this debate were the 100,000 Charlotteans who exercised their right to vote last June," Charles Held of the group Charlotteans Opposed To Sports Taxes said before the meeting.

"The Hornets have said goodbye. It is now your turn to quit by ending our long arena nightmare."

The proposed new downtown arena would seat about 18,000 people and include luxury suites and club seats, something the Hornets co-owners say they desperately need.

McCrory has said the arena will not be built unless there is a major league sports team to play in it.

Over the weekend, NBA commissioner David Stern said time was running out to head off the team's efforts to move to New Orleans. Even if the arena-financing issue is resolved, he said, that doesn't mean the team will stay in Charlotte.

The NBA commissioner acknowledged that, if the Hornets remain in Charlotte, it would be under new ownership.

"I would say that's right," he said. "But there has been a lot of talk about what people (in Charlotte) were going to do and no one has come up with anything concrete."