The Big Bad University Of Arizona Muscles Small Merchants On Sixth Street--But There's Hope. By Dave Devine IT CAN BE hell trying to keep a small business alive in Tucson. And perhaps the lowest rung of small-business hell in the Baked Pueblo is located south of the University of Arizona campus along Sixth Street. The merchants here have had to endure 25 years of government assault. In the late 1960s, the City of Tucson started plopping cones in the street during rush hour to speed traffic flow. This move cut off most commuters' access to the businesses during peak hours. A few years later, city bureaucrats banned parking on Sixth during peak driving hours. Then they banned parking all together. While the bureaucrats held out the promise those precious parking spaces might be replaced, they never were. And two years ago, when the traffic cones were finally removed, the Tucson City Council indicated it wanted to further reduce traffic volume on Sixth. Despite all of these insults, the area has continued to serve the needs of UA students and the general public with an eclectic mix of ethnic restaurants and other small businesses. But now comes a potential death blow: UA officials have plans for the area--plans that will require the two blocks of businesses on the north side of the street--from Pizza City to Zachary's--to be torn down. The good news is that UA officials may try to consolidate businesses on the south side of Sixth, thus retaining at least some of the area's uniquely funky business character. But the University's real focus, of course, is on its own expansion. Officials plan on building two new projects on the north side of Sixth. One will be the second phase of the Environmental and Natural Resources complex. The other project will be yet another parking garage--a structural genre which seems well on its way to becoming the architectural signature of the UA. University bureaucrats originally made a decision to build the garage on the south side of the street. But during a two-year cooperative planning effort with neighborhood representatives and merchants, it was agreed they'd move the garage to the north side of Sixth. The destruction of the businesses on the north side would be in keeping with the conclusions of a University-commissioned commercial market analysis. The study recommends concentrating businesses west of the sprawling campus and suggests that "commercial development in the Sixth Street Corridor be foregone." But it's not quite bye-bye, pizza pie yet; University officials may reject that recommendation. In fact, Bruce Wright, a UA senior officer, has proposed the school acquire both sides of Sixth, and then relocate the north-side businesses to the south side. Under his proposal, if there were not enough space to accommodate all the existing businesses, the state would construct new buildings. At the same time, Wright believes parking, streetscape and building code issues would have to be addressed--items that would require the city's cooperation. He has also proposed what he believes is an affordable five-year rent schedule for the relocated businesses. While admitting a lot of details still have to be worked out, Wright says he hopes to have a fully realized plan--and possibly a decision to proceed--by September. Dave Ellis, owner of Zachary's Pizza and president of the Sixth Street Merchants Association, says he's encouraged by Wright's proposal. But Tom Palliser, Pizza City owner, is not so pleased. He says stress from the uncertainty over what's going to happen, not to mention the continual delays in the planning process, is aggravating a medical condition, and he wants out of the area. He prefers, he says, the city's northwest side, far away from the UA. But Palliser is still caught in a waiting game--waiting for the UA to acquire the building he rents. Palliser is entitled to receive state relocation assistance because he's being displaced by a state project. But because UA officials have been very slow in pursuing the purchase of the building he's in, Palliser is still having to wait before he can even think about moving. In the meantime, he says, he's lost staff and sleep. Palliser is obviously trying not to sound too critical of the UA officials he's been dealing with, but he has a message for them: "They should remember," he says, "that they're not working with small businesses, they're working with people." Look for some changes in the area to occur this summer. The old "new Loft" building will be torn down, and planning for the street's two new north-side projects will proceed, with construction of these buildings expected to begin as early as next year. It won't seem like the same funky old place, of course; but with any luck some of the businesses will survive to offset the cold sterility of that ever-expanding empire of parking garages we call the UA.

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