Editor:

This letter is in response to an article in the Feb. 14 edition of Wildcat; "Sixth Street demolition begins." There is a difference of opinion on a couple of facts stated and I feel it necessary to present the other side of the issue.

The first difference concerns the fact in which Steve Brigham, UA's community affairs director states "there has been no protest from area residents." There has been a great deal of protest, especially from one Pie Allen neighborhood resident, the neighborhood which starts on the south side of Sixth Street. Sharon Chadwick, the president of the Pie Allen Neighborhood Organization, has been to a number of meetings in an attempt to save the houses involved. One of her meetings was with the Tucson City Council, the results of which had the council agreeing the houses should not be torn down (a decision that the Arizona Board of Regents has chosen to ignore). The other protests have come from the residents of these houses themselves. Anyone walking down Sixth Street anytime since the beginning of the Spring 1996 semester will have seen signs attached to the houses stating that they did not want their homes demolished. And with this letter I am adding my own voice to those who do not want the houses torn down.

The second difference concerns the apparent concern over whether or not the houses can be considered that "the two structures ... were architecturally nonsignificant" (no mention is made of the other five they want to demolish). Once again there is a difference of opinion on this belief. Chadwick, for a number of years, has worked with the Arizona State Historical Presentation Office to put the Pie Allen neighborhood on the National Register of Historic Places (a project which is close to completion). She has stated to the City Council and the Regents that these houses do have historical significance and should not be torn down.

What is also upsetting about the university's actions is that they were offered another site by the Pie Allen Neighborhood Organization for use as a parking lot that would not involve tearing down people's homes. But they refused it.

It is bad enough these homes are being destroyed, but that the university should misrepresent the facts makes the situation worse. The least the university can do is be honest and say they want that space for a parking lot and they will do whatever they have to get it!

Carol Edwards

history senior

Carol Edwards
history senior