East Congress vs An & Stiteler round 2

The article in Zocalo this week went much further in showing the scope of the destruction to be brought on by Mr An opening a restaurant and bar on the southwest corner of Congress and 5th Ave.
There has been lots of discussion via Facebook on the East Congress take over by building owner Scott Stiteler and restaurateur Kwang An. Then Jamie Manser spoke to Mr Stiteler and updated her story in Zocalo.
Once most of the first wave of comments on the original story died down yesterday, out comes Manser's update and I am all riled up again. Stiteler sounded extremely uncaring in his comments.
What can be done? Clearly lots of citizens and business people are unhappy about the hostile take-over. Well, for starters, there's peaceful protests.

Out with the old? I hope not

Mr An, of Sakura fame, is talking about opening a restaurant downtown. That's great. Except.... he'd be displacing a few other businesses. Why do that when there are so many vacant buildings downtown?
I won't speculate as to why. It just bothers me when business people have talked about taking over that southwest corner of 5th Ave and Congress St. What will happen to Tooley's and Preen?
The owner of Metropolis has been interviewed about this and sounds like he's mainly bothered by the lack of notice. That's charitable.
All this leads me to wonder: if a business partner of the building owner we lease from wanted to redevelop our block, could they just release us from our lease and ask us to leave? There aren't a lot of options downtown for business owners who are unable to put a lot of capital into bringing a space up to code and up to par for the businesses' needs.
My point is, the 'little guys' like Metropolis, Preen, Tooley's and Perri Jewelers have spaces that are working for us. How and why can a 'big guy' come in and take over and move us out?
I know the answer to that but I hate to be cynical. I want to believe that bigger, richer business people also have good intentions and that the little ones will be taken care of. There is room downtown for all of us.

Echo of a plea

Here is an issue near and dear to our hearts. Kristen Cook, writer and blogger for the Arizona Daily Star shares our concern for the health of our small business community. Cheers for the Tucson businesses mentioned, some of my favs as well.
Ms. Cook also highlights the 3/50 Project, started by former retailer, Cinda Baxter. This program makes a simple formula out of the economic impact of keeping spending local. Pick 3 independent businesses and spend $50 total between them each month. That gesture will keep our economy going and preserve the uniqueness of our city.
Shortly and sweetly, let me echo Ms. Cook's call:
Please shop locally owned businesses in Tucson.
Over 175 are listed in the Local First Arizona directory.