In Monday night's vote that could lead to a new uptown arena, the Charlotte City Council found its backbone. The only trouble is that it lost its head in the process.

First, the good news. The council made a decision. That's a welcome change from the evasive irresponsibility of the previous council. Its members wrestled ineffectually with the issue for months and then threw it to city voters in a referendum June 5. The referendum was justifiable only because the alternative would have been simple dishonesty: Several council members, when campaigning for office, had promised they would not support an arena without a referendum.

The referendum's vague question about funding for a bundle of city projects produced an emphatic answer -- voters said "no" by a 57-43 percent margin. Though the vote was advisory, not binding, it made the council's job even tougher this year when a new funding proposal came along. The new proposal includes something lacking in the first one: substantial financial involvement from the local business community.

The council's 8-3 vote Monday night to proceed with an arena plan is the first step in a difficult journey. The city won't invest in a $231 million arena unless an anchor tenant is guaranteed. That tenant would be the NBA Charlotte Hornets. The only drawback is that the owners want to move the financially struggling team to New Orleans.

Charlotte has an uphill battle to keep arena hope alive. First, the city must develop a proposal that meets the needs of an NBA team. Then NBA owners must deny the Hornets' request to leave town. If owners George Shinn and Ray Wooldridge balk at keeping the team here, then somebody committed to Charlotte must be ready to buy it. The prospect of lawsuits over the ownership struggle must have lawyers salivating.

Now the bad news. In its vote, the council declared the city wouldn't deal with Mr. Shinn and Mr. Wooldridge, only with new owners. Just a minute there, said the NBA, you don't get to tell us who'll own our teams.

The NBA is right. It may be obvious to everyone, the NBA included, that Mr. Shinn and Mr. Wooldridge have burned all their bridges here. The city's course, however, must be to prepare a deal that the NBA will recognize as fair and reasonable. If the present owners won't accept it, the NBA will be justified in turning to new owners who will. The process matters.

Try to picture, if you will, the NBA owners giving a city veto power over who'll own a team. Heck, let that get started and who knows many owners would be in trouble.

The council showed its courage and commitment Monday night. Now it should show its common sense by deleting that precondition and letting negotiations with the NBA go forward. If along the way the city doesn't like the way things are shaping up, it can always say "no, thanks."