Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 21, 1990 TAG: 9006220035
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES STEBBINS CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
They have had to combat rising crime, derelicts, eager developers, trashy yards, junk cars and unconcerned landlords, among other things.
But with cooperation of the government and financial help through grants and law enforcement they are winning - slowly.
It is probable that without them many of the neighborhoods would have continued a decline that generally set in after World War II.
Interviews with leaders of five neighborhood groups in the southwest area of the city drew a picture of their activities.
Not all of the neighborhood groups have had to fight crime and dereliction, however. Some have had to fight the government, which had pledged to help.
One example is the Greater Deyerle Neighborhood Association, which was formed to protect the neighborhood from possible harm anticipated from the planned extension of Peters Creek Road south from Melrose Avenue to Brandon Avenue.
The driving influence behind this group was Danielle Rand, who feared what could happen if the road extension did not include restraints in its planning.
Jim Ellison, now a co-president of the association, said that as originally planned, the Peters Creek Road extension would have devastated the Deyerle neighborhood. Ellison and Jonathan M. Rogers now jointly lead the association.
Originally, the extended four-lane road was to have intersected with Brandon Avenue between Deyerle and Mudlick roads.
"It would have ripped the heart out of the neighborhood," Ellison said.
But through the influence of the association, a compromise on the road routing was reached. It was "not entirely a success, but better than nothing," Ellison said.
Another success of the association was to defeat a proposed zoning for a large swimming pool next to Southwest Plaza, which residents felt did not fit into the neighborhood.
But the association could not keep out a fast-food restaurant that the people did not want.
The association is making an overall impact on the neighborhood, but the pressure is still on.
Rogers said there is concern about a rumor that a tax benefit on urban farm property may be eliminated. Several farm properties in and around the Deyerle neighborhood could be affected and become developments, leading to more congestion, Rogers said.
There are no parks in the area, so this possibility "has suddenly become a concern," he said.
"We are trying to preserve the integrity of the neighborhood, which is single-family residential," Rogers said.
So the neighborhood group is keeping close watch on Roanoke's comprehensive development plan known as Roanoke Vision.
Much of the success of the association is attributed to Rand, who gave the neighborhood a unified voice in city hall, Ellison said. Rand no longer lives in the neighborhood.
Another neighborhood group is the Greater Raleigh Court Civic League, which has used negotiation and communication as its main tools toward neighborhood improvement.
Russ Ellis, president of the group, which was formed in 1978, said this is not a controversial group but it is constantly on the defensive on behalf of Raleigh Court.
"Our main goal is to increase the quality of life in the neighborhood," he said.
One of the group's biggest recent successes, he said, was in winning concessions to make the new Valley Court Nursing Home more compatible with the neighborhood.
"We worked with the developer on this," Ellis said. "We had a lot of meetings, and there were a lot of compromises on both sides."
The civic league also successfully prevented a rezoning proposal for a condominium project that many residents felt would not fit into the neighborhood.
It has successfully completed several smaller projects, one being the erection of the Raleigh Court "gateway sign" at Grandin Road and Brandon Avenue.
Like many other similar groups, the Raleigh Court Civic League was born in the midst of problems - two objectionable rezoning petitions.
A proposal to open a halfway house for teen-age girls on Grandin Road and a proposed apartment complex on a residential street were the issues that brought Raleigh Court residents into the civic league.
Ellis said a number of residents rose to the call and made the neighborhood a unified group.
"We're an organization made up of neighbors, and we're proud of our neighborhood," he said.
The area covered by the civic league is generally along both sides of Grandin Road north of Brandon Avenue.
The Wasena Neighborhood Forum was formed in 1985 mainly as a crime-watch group, and that still is one of its main functions.
But it also developed what is known as the Triangle Park at Hamilton and Kerns avenues off Main Street.
The group also has been instrumental in getting street lights, stop signs and parking regulations, according to R.J. Hall, who was president until the April meeting when David O. Garcia was elected to head the group.
Hall said the group generally works to improve the neighborhood, but a more-or-less failed project, he said, concerns building new sidewalks and curbs.
"We have not been able to accomplish that yet," he said. "There's always a money problem."
Hall said the group originally was known as the Hamilton-Kerns Neighborhood Forum and was made up primarily of residents on Hamilton and Kerns avenues. It later was expanded to take in most of the area south of Wasena Park along both sides of Main Street.
Emma Rice, a former president of the Hurt Park Neighborhood Alliance, believes the group has had a positive influence on the neighborhood, which lies generally west of downtown between Patterson Avenue and the Norfolk Southern railroad tracks.
Rice was president for about eight years but recently turned over the job to Lular Lucky.
Even though the group has accomplished a lot, Rice said, it still has a long way to go. Lucky said the group has strong support of a lot of people in the neighborhood.
One of the group's main projects now, added Lucky, is to make the neighborhood "one working unit."
"We want to bring the community together so we can focus on the whole neighborhood," she said.
The alliance, organized in October 1981, has participated in Clean Valley Day for several years and has held senior-citizen dinners during several Christmas seasons.
One of its greatest projects, Rice believes, was "Operation Paint Brush." This was held for two years, and Rice would like to repeat it.
"This was one of the best things we've done," she said. "The people we helped were really grateful."
In one year the exteriors of nine houses were painted, about six the next year. Some of the painters were neighborhood volunteers, and others came through the Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership, an umbrella group that links the neighborhood groups to the Roanoke government.
In addition to painting, some small repairs were made.
Rice said she fixed lunch for the workers each painting day.
Exterior painting not only preserves the houses, but it also improves the appearance, and Rice indicated that the image of the neighborhood is one of the big goals. A lawn care program for older people is in the works.
Another project, Lucky said, is to preserve two historic buildings on Salem Avenue between 10th and 11th streets. One was at one time a black-owned bank operated by Dr. John Pinkard. The other was a store that occupied a building across the street from the old bank.
Stephanie Fowler of the Roanoke Neighborhood Partnership said the Hurt Park group has been active in general community betterment and takes a lead in spotting places where improvements should be made. Its members are active in crime prevention, she said, and they take the lead in spotting potholes, broken sidewalks and neglected lots.
The alliance also is participating in the partnership's leadership training program.
Adjacent to the Hurt Park neighborhood south of Patterson Avenue is the territory of the Mountain View Neighborhood Alliance. This group has scored several successes in past years.
It is now inactive, but some of its leaders plan to reorganize it this spring.
The group was formed in 1980 out of a desire to bring more recreation to the neighborhood and to spur property owners into improving housing.
Bob Crawford, who was a founding member of the group and is now its acting president, said that 10 years ago the nearest recreation facility was at Wasena Park. Wasena is on the south side of the Roanoke River and not considered a part of the Mountain View neighborhood.
Out of the effort to bring in more recreation, the group organized the West End Community Center in a building owned by West End Presbyterian Church at 613 12th St. S.W., and created a park area at 10th Street and Campbell Avenue on the site of the former West End School.
Crawford said operation of the center now has been turned over to a group of churches in the neighborhood.
The school property, Crawford said, was a neglected lot after the old school building was torn down.
"There was a lot of glass on it," he said. "We wanted something more attractive and functional."
The neighborhood people met with the Roanoke Parks and Recreation Department and got the city to convert the property into a recreation area.
Crawford said that in the years when the neighborhood alliance was more active, it had an ongoing project of helping neighborhood residents with property improvement.
Alliance officers would spot agencies that dealt in housing improvement, and neighborhood workshops were held to pass on this information to residents.
Crawford said the alliance has been a positive influence in the neighborhood and he hopes it will reorganize. It fell into limbo several years ago, he said, because several key people left the neighborhood.
The area south of Roanoke's downtown, in the pocket formed by Marshall, Day and Elm avenues on the north and the Roanoke River and Webber Highway on the west, south and east, once was one of the best suburbs of Roanoke.
Most of the houses were built between 1880 and the 1920s, and the area was an elite residential neighborhood for many years. But after World War II, people began moving to newer suburbs and the area, now known as Old Southwest, went into a decline.
"It was going straight downhill," said Joel Richert. "It was overwhelmed with halfway houses."
By 1971 when Richert and her husband, Robert, moved into the area, Old Southwest was a hotbed of prostution, drugs and crime. It was so bad, she said, that police were advising families to move to better neighborhoods.
But the Richerts saw that Old Southwest had hundreds of good, substantial houses. They felt the neighborhood was too good to abandon.
So, in 1974 when some federal grant money became available to organize inner-city neighborhood leagues, the Richerts whipped up enough support to win one of the grants.
Since then the area has been bouncing back.
One of the biggest tasks for the neighborhood group, of which Sceva Phillips is president, has been to stop a rash of house demolitions. There was a trend, Richert said, to tear down a house when it became vacant because the land was worth more than the house. Also, business was encroaching.
To combat this, the Old Southwest group managed to get the area designated a historic district. "But this wasn't easy," Richert said. "It was a long haul."
The group also fought to prevent demolition of Highland Park School. And it fought to bring about improvements of playgrounds and parks.
Also, the Old Southwest group saved the Alexander/Gish House at 641 Walnut Ave. and now has it designated a historic house.
"What we've done basically is to preserve our housing stock," Richert said. "We've done a lot of little things to improve the quality of life."
One of the neighborhood's popular features has been the annual parlor tours held for the last 10 years.
Today, the Old Southwest group continues to work actively to improve the neighborhood, and Richert hopes to eventually see it regain its glory of past years as one of the premier residential areas in the city.
by CNB