By Charles Ratliff
IN ANY GIVEN academic year, students and their parents deposit nearly $10 million on account with the University of Arizona's All Aboard/Pocket Money card program to be used within the UA Student Union.All Aboard, active since 1982, allows students to buy meals in campus dining rooms and Student Union venues.
Most private business owners near campus feel they should be allowed to participate in the All Aboard program in order to balance the student-driven market economy in the area. They say their business has gradually decreased as more students enamored with the credit-based identification cards spend their money on campus instead of carrying cash to stores outside the confines of the university.
Business owners say this unfair market strategy resembles a monopoly that places the neighborhood economy on an "unlevel playing field."
Potentially every UA student can be an All Aboard card member, said Mike Low, University of Arizona Student Union interim director.
Low said about 15,000 students carry All Aboard funds on their identification cards, and $1.2 million was deposited at the beginning of the fall semester. He also said that number fluctuates during the course of the year as students spend and deposit, and the Student Union takes in approximately $10 million from All Aboard alone in one academic year.
Vinnie Spina, a partner in Mama's Famous Pizza and Heros, 831 N. Park Ave., said the All Aboard card is the main issue affecting businesses in the university area. He said he's definitely felt "a bite" since the start of the 1994-'95 school year, when more students than usual began carrying the All Aboard card instead of cash.
Ripples in the student-generated economy created by All Aboard have caused concern for other business owners in the university marketplace as well.
"What they (UA) are trying to do is keep students on campus," complained John Forier, owner of Capt. Spiffy's Super Hero Emporium, 944 E. University Blvd.
"Business has been down lately because students can't use their All Aboard cards here," said Cindy Darego, owner of Mike's Place, 917 E. University Blvd.
"We get students in here asking to use the All Aboard card, and we have to turn them down," said Mike Rukasin, owner of University Drug, 943 E. University Blvd.
Domino's Pizza Delivery, 1033 N. Park Ave., an off-campus business, has been allowed All Aboard access because they lease space in the Student Union as well as deliver to campus residence halls. Low said this situation resulted from competitive bidding.
"The majority of our business is covered by the All Aboard card," said Paula Phillips, an assistant manager at Domino's. She said students, the primary customer base for her store, present their cards to be swiped through a machine provided by the university when pizzas are delivered to students' dorm doors.
Darego said she'd like to see an agreement reached between the university and area businesses so students can use their cards in other stores and restaurants as well.
But the university isn't interested in making any deals. Rukasin said he and other area merchants were turned down when they requested access to the All Aboard/Pocket Money program.
Low said there's a perfectly reasonable explanation for denying those requests. He said the university doesn't want to be mistaken as a bank, placing funds on deposit to be used elsewhere.
"The question we're looking at is, 'Is it legal?' " he said. "We're not in the business to make money off the transactions." If so, he said, the university would be violating serious banking regulations.
A group of University Square business owners formed the Campus Merchants Association in January, and as the first item on their agenda they started a petition drive to show university administrators students want to use their All Aboard cards off campus.
"Students are saying it's about time," said Nicole Mertens, general manager of Arizona Images, 813 N. Park Ave.
"Every kid I've asked to sign the petition has signed," said Mort Edberg, one of the owners of Landmark Clothing and Shoes, 873 E. University Blvd.
"First we want to see how many signatures we can get," said Cheryl Emde, owner of Chedan Duplicating, 812 N. Tyndall Ave. "Where we're at right now is trying to get enough names on the petitions."
"You have to offer it (All Aboard) to everybody or you offer it to nobody," Emde said.
Gale Elliott, manager of Arizona Bookstore, 815 N. Park Ave., said everyone involved with serving students would benefit because the money would be shared not only by the university, but by the merchants as well.
"I'd much rather share our commissions, or fees, here with the university instead of sending payments off to card companies like Discover or Visa," Elliott said. "It's not our intent to take without giving back to the university."
Low said university attorneys are currently researching the issue. He said if they see no problems, hypothetically speaking, businesses could have access within 10 days.
That access, however, would carry heavy compensatory fees to offset the potential drop in business inside the Student Union.
"We'd have to set some reasonable criteria and some reasonable fees," he said, "because the service won't be free." Low said the question probably will not be answered any time soon.
Bruce Wright, UA's director of economic development, recently met with representatives of the Campus Merchants Association to discuss possibly establishing a debit card that could be used on or off campus.
"It's a balancing act, but we're willing to explore the idea of a debit card," Wright said.
Wright asked merchants to select representatives to meet with a "committee" once a month as part of a task force on business and community affairs to resolve their issues.
"The main thrust is the debit card," Edberg said. "If we don't resolve this after the second or third meeting, then it's just a waste of time."
Meanwhile, merchants say an end result of resolving this issue could be a lawsuit, which could force the university to make a decision.
"We should be allowed to participate in the All Aboard program," said Spina. "We're paying a price to be a part of the university and, yet, we're being excluded."
Spina said he contributes to the university in various ways. For instance, he said he pays his rent, as do the other merchants, to the Marshall Foundation, which owns the property. He said he pays a "slight" percentage above his rent that goes into a scholarship fund the Foundation sponsors.
The Marshall Foundation owns the University Square complex and the Geronimoz complex on North Euclid Avenue.
Charles Ratliff is a UA journalism student, and his articles have appeared in the Arizona Daily Wildcat.
 |
 |
© 1995-97 Tucson Weekly . Info Booth |
|