http://www.azcentral.com/community/s...3insideZ8.html
Alley renaissance is proposed by downtown Scottsdale clubs
Peter Corbett
The Arizona Republic
Nov. 6, 2006 12:00 AM
SCOTTSDALE
Amid downtown's glitz and emerging luxury condo scene one entrepreneur hopes to rev up his business by going back to the alley.
Randy Smith, owner of the nightclub called 6, is seeking to transform the alley behind his Stetson Drive bar into a patio with decorative lighting along what now is a stark, asphalt drive with skanky trash bins.
City officials are open to the idea but the metal bins are a fly in the ointment.
"I'm into urban chicness but a big, stinky, garbage container - that's a little too chic," Smith said.
Scottsdale is looking at its alleys as spots for hideaway shops and interesting nooks that visitors might discover. It is part of an effort to make the increasingly urban core pedestrian friendly.
Elsewhere, an alley renaissance is emerging in places like Seattle, San Francisco, Vancouver, British Columbia, and even downtown Flagstaff, where business owners have embraced their backdoor customers.
John Little, Scottsdale's director of downtown, is enthusiastic about Smith's proposal and sees other opportunities for similar alley improvements downtown. But there are hurdles.
The alley overhaul hinges on finding a new way to remove trash rather than letting it rot in metal bins.
New way to handle trash
Scottsdale wants to explore a solution pioneered by a Seattle-based company called CleanScapes, which operates in the Northwest and San Francisco.
CleanScapes picks up trash in leak-proof plastic bags several times a day from its customers, eliminating the need for metal bins.
Scottsdale is considering a pilot program that would use a similar collection method with a golf-cart truck hauling the refuse to a large bin elsewhere for removal to a landfill.
It is a method that could also eliminate noisy trucks from slamming trash bins outside downtown condominiums early in the morning.
Another roadblock is getting adjacent business owners to cooperate with an alley makeover.
Andy Meyer, owner of DJ's of Scottsdale, said he is all for Smith's idea of using the alley behind 6 and the other bars in the 7300 block of Stetson Drive. The alley abuts the Galleria Corporate Center parking garage.
"It would be nothing but a plus for everybody," Meyer said, adding that he would use the space behind his 32-year-old bar as well.
He is skeptical, however, that Scottsdale will go along with Smith's proposal.
"If the city would do that I would be shocked to death," Meyer said.
Will the city buy idea?
Little, the city's downtown administrator, said Smith's alley proposal is "just the kernel of an idea, but it's a dang good kernel."
Scottsdale would have to work out a license agreement and rental rate for using the public alley behind 6.
Smith, who operates another downtown bar, Mickey's Hangover, said 6 would use collapsible barriers to give ambulances access to the alley in an emergency. Most deliveries could continue to use the front doors of the businesses, he added.
6 currently uses its back door as a VIP entrance, but Smith's Bottomline Hospitality Group wants to provide a comfortable patio for the club with a stamped concrete or brick deck.
The front half of the building could then be turned into a 63-seat American bistro. "This would activate an urban space" and create the kind of discoverable place that would be memorable to tourists, Smith said.
Wine bar finds 'truth'
It would be much like the Kazimierz World Wine Bar behind the Cowboy Ciao restaurant at Stetson Drive and Sixth Avenue.
Like a speakeasy, the wine bar, tucked in a courtyard, is only marked by a cryptic sign that reads: "The Truth is Inside."
Smith, who is working on opening two other restaurants, said he is anxious to try a pilot program in the alley behind 6. But the city has not yet fully vetted his idea so he has to be patient.
"It can be a huge positive for the city," Smith said. "It's a whole new way of thinking about these types of spaces."