There are some reasonable, common sense solutions to the meltdown of relations between the business community and Tucson City Hall.

• Attitude adjustment: Throughout government, the attitude toward business must improve.

"If downtown is to succeed, something has to happen to change the mentality that business is evil," said a SAHBA member. "Financial risk equals profit, it’s pretty simple."

To become more business-friendly, start the paradigm shift in Development Services. Appoint account executives to help private enterprise navigate the system. As the single point of contact for clients, their charge is to complete projects.

Likewise, citizens must change their attitude toward elected officials. Although voters approved "livable wages" for unskilled workers in 2006, the Mayor and Council haven’t had a pay raise since 1999. Their pay is about 65 percent of the average Tucsonan’s salary.

"Residents must take responsibility. They fail to elect people of vision because they themselves have no vision. You get what you pay for," said a builder who believes higher salaries would attract quality candidates.

• Political willingness: City leaders are reluctant to take on opposition leaders who fight progress.

"Someone in authority has to confront staff and lay down the law, then restore balance with activists. Letting staff and citizens micromanage the process is not the best way to revitalize downtown," said a past president of SAHBA.

Staff and NIMBYs have over-reached their stakeholder status. If staff resistance continues, reassign employees.

"If Council truly believes revitalization is the goal, opposition can be overcome," he said. "Handle resistance in a practical way to benefit all citizens."

• Form a URA: If city officials continue to capitulate to naysayers, form an independent Urban Renewal Authority (URA).

"Something like the (Regional Transportation Authority), Tucson Airport Authority or Chicago Transit Authority would give elected officials political cover to actually do something," said a SAHBA director. "Give the private sector legally binding authority and get the politics out of urban renewal."

The URA would manage programs of revitalization and preservation. It would shield the council and make the tough decisions about sites to be razed.

"Some say knock it all down. I don’t believe that," said a builder. "As old buildings come down, individual property owners will want to emulate success and redevelopment will happen by itself."

• Traffic and parking: Downtown is plagued with traffic-related woes. Big-picture solutions include a new interchange to tie Aviation Parkway into I-10 or letting private enterprise build a series of multi-level parking garages in exchange for a 25-year revenue-sharing agreement.

• Set real priorities: Even when he was mayor Tom Volgy said transportation, jobs and growth were Tucson’s perennial issues.

For transportation, the Regional Transportation Authority should help. Yet 20 years later, the city’s main economic drivers are still university and government jobs.

Hopes for immediate growth, new jobs and tax revenue are tied to Rio Nuevo.

"The ultimate priority is getting private business to come in and risk their time and money," said a SAHBA builder. "When they succeed, that encourages other businesspeople to step up behind them. Jobs and growth follow."

• Development incentives: Provide a menu of incentives including reduced or waived fees, density bonuses, tax abatements, or even free land.

Once the City targets a site for infill, and the type of project, give developers a higher level of certainty. In the extreme, the city installs infrastructure downtown to make infill more attractive. Once in place, business is more likely to undertake improvements.

One builder mused about the "wasted dollars" to study proposals "that had no potential of happening." Instead, that money could have been invested in infrastructure to make parcels "shovel-ready. So far, it has cost much to do nothing."

"If they have to waive all the short-term fees to achieve their long-term vision, then do so," said a SAHBA director.

• Streamline the process: A good first step would be to set reasonable statutory time limits for permits, plan reviews and decisions on development actions.

Put accountability into the process: If the city misses a deadline, the service is free. If a builder wants to accelerate paperwork, he pays a rush charge.

"If the City can get people together who have a vested, mutual interest, let them be creative and step aside. Getting bureaucracy out of the way has to be a priority."

• Start over: Regulations overlap in the Building Code and the decade-old Land Use Code. Some have no relevance today.

The "one size fits all" method is flawed, and realistic applications for mixed use, high densities and revitalization were never contemplated. Some codes of little benefit only add to housing costs for workforce residents.

According to Forbes Magazine, Tucson is the nation’s seventh-most-unaffordable city.

For many, the complex matrix of antiquated ordinances is a deterrent.

"The city’s shotgun approach to fixing regulations with band-aids doesn’t work. There are pieces here and there, but nothing is connected," said a member of SAHBA’s Technical Committee.

Many say scrap the Land Use Code. Through an open public process, make a new code with developers at the table before a single word is written.

"It needs a comprehensive overhaul, especially for downtown. It should have a specific development plan based on the specific circumstances on the ground. What is the parcel? What can be done on it?" said a SAHBA director. "Handling development in different wards needs flexible considerations."

Others see traps in the rush to reform. Because city leaders don’t enforce their goals in an organization that resists change, a new code could become more onerous.

"Knowing how the city works, don’t be surprised when they roll out a new Land Use Code that was drafted in some back room without any input from developers and SAHBA," said a board member.

City Council’s conundrum

Although the mayor, council and city manager drive the bandwagon in public, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes prep work. That’s where the core problem is.

"This is an anti-business council and staff, absolutely and unequivocally," said a former SAHBA board chairman. "The business community and everyday citizens know how hard it is to do business with the city staff. It’s nefarious. There is at least one no-growther on the current council."

Another past chairman of SAHBA also questioned government’s true motives, saying, "I do believe there are city employees who don’t want any new development to move in, period, despite what they say in public."

The city needs an in-house revival to inspire the entrenched bureaucracy. Then, reset the bandwagon’s route and roll ahead one block at a time.

As one SAHBA director summarized, for Rio Nuevo and redevelopment to succeed, every city employee "has to see themselves living there. The first question is, what would it take to get me to move downtown?"

Those needs "become their priorities," he said. "The clear answers are commercial development and housing that fits their lifestyle."

When people feel safe downtown and have easy access to services like groceries, retailers, pharmacies and health care, attitudes will begin to change. Entertainment, transportation, parks, and restaurants are all "quality of life issues" in play.

"Only when the bureaucrats see themselves living downtown will downtown be successful," he said.