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A change of direction for West Grace By pushing proposal for two-way traffic, man aided turnabout

BY AARON KREMER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, September 3, 2006

In the 1970s, West Grace Street was a business district for prostitution and rooming houses -- not exactly the kind of neighbors who plant petunias out front.

Drawn to the stately old houses there, Roy E. Burgess II bought one on the corner of West Grace and Strawberry streets in 1979 and became vested in the community.

The problem, as he saw it, was the highway-like traffic as commuters used the street to rush home after work.

"When I moved here, there were maybe an average of three homeowners on a block," he said. Families wouldn't subject their children to the dangerous traffic.

Now homes sell for as much as $800,000, Burgess said. "We have 10 to 15 children on every block and Friday night porch parties all summer long. It's a very visiting type of neighborhood."

The West Grace Street Association, with Burgess' help, asked the City Council to pass an ordinance for two-way traffic instead of one-way. Engineers told the council it couldn't be done without surveys and planning; the council told the engineers to complete the work within 90 days.

Burgess recently gave up his seat on the city's Commission of Architectural Review, but for years he helped steer the renovation of the city's older buildings.

Burgess will receive the Neighborhood Conservator Award from the Alliance to Conserve Old Richmond Neighborhoods later this month.

"He saw a way to turn things around and worked so hard getting traffic back to two-way and restoring a sense of community," said Jennie Dotts, executive director of the organization.

Burgess also worked with zoning to eliminate businesses that rented single rooms and that weren't in compliance with the state code. "There are people that need it," he said, "but they need to be spread out throughout the state, not just concentrated here."

Also contributing to the Grace Street renaissance were young fathers who went out every night to take photos of prostitutes and their patrons. Their two-year efforts scared away the sex trade.

Contact staff writer Aaron Kremer at akremer@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6495.

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