Arizona Daily Star, The (AZ)

Arizona Daily Star, The (AZ)

Arizona Daily Star, The (Tucson, AZ)

June 6, 2004

Civic profile

Author: Carol Ann Alaimo, ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Section: TUCSON/REGION
Page: B2

Article Text:

Lawyer, single father forms Committee to Preserve Tucson's History

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A cause was the last thing Roy Martin needed in his life when he recently launched a drive to save a piece of Downtown history.

The 41-year-old Tucson lawyer already had his hands full as a single father of two with a busy family law practice.

But he felt compelled to do something when he heard the city of Tucson was planning to bulldoze a 115-year-old structure not far from his Downtown law office.

"My first reaction was sadness and anger," Martin said of the planned demolition of the former Talk of the Town restaurant and old Grabe Electric building at 26 E. Congress St.

"I felt helpless, like what could I do? I don't have any particular expertise, I'm not an architect, I don't own any property Downtown. I'm just a person who happens to love Tucson," Martin said.

"But the more I thought about it, that's what civic involvement is all about - regular people getting involved in their government."

So he started working the phones and got some people together. A few dozen more followed. In less than two months, the Committee to Preserve Tucson's History has grown to about 50 members, he said.

The group hopes to pressure City Hall to reconsider the demolition and do more to protect Downtown history. On Monday, Martin and other group members are holding a rally at 5:15 p.m. outside the Tucson Convention Center, where the City Council is meeting that afternoon.

Winston Watson, 42, another committee member, calls Martin "a warrior with a heart" who motivates others to get involved.

"He had a pretty full plate already being an attorney and a single father, but he managed to make time for this and made it seem effortless," Watson said.

Martin said he's motivated by a lifelong love of older architecture.

As a kid living in Long Island, N.Y., he marveled at elegant estates from the 1920s Great Gatsby era. In college at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University, he was awestruck by the 19th century campus structures with staircases worn thin by thousands of students before him.

"You just get a sense of all the people who have been there," Martin said of his affection for aging edifices.

"There's something special about being in an old building, and new buildings cannot replicate that no matter how nice they are."

øContact reporter Carol Ann Alaimo 573-4138 or caalaimo@azstarnet.com.