DATE: Thursday, March 27, 1997              TAG: 9703270389

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TERRI WILLIAMS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   94 lines

PROUD NEIGHBORHOODS FIGHT FOR WHAT THEY ONCE HAD

In the Pierce Park, Oakdale and Magnolia communities, you will find proud people.

Almost 30 years ago, longtime residents fought to close up a deep ditch behind the Pierce Park neighborhood. Many didn't allow their children to play in back yards for fear they'd drown.

The ditch - which cut most residents' yards in half - was sealed only last year in a joint effort by the city and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

That was just one victory. They're looking for more.

There are numerous problems, but the chief one is drainage. When it rains, snakes and other vermin become a nuisance, thanks to clogged ditches. And forget outdoor barbecues - the mosquitoes are too bad.

``This is our community,'' says Magnolia resident Helen Daughtrey. ``I tell my children you have to preserve it. We may not have much, but we do have our pride.''

Tonight they'll bring their concerns to state Del. Lionel Spruill, who is hosting a town meeting at 7 at Oak Grove Baptist Church, 2635 E. Washington St.

Ditches stay clogged because funding has always been a problem for Suffolk communities in what was the old Nansemond County, officials say.

When Suffolk merged with the county in 1974, the city entered into an agreement with the Virginia Department of Transportation; VDOT agreed to maintain the roads and streets in the former county, which spans more than 430 square miles. Suffolk would handle projects within the 2.2-square-mile limits of the pre-merger city.

But as Suffolk grows, so do the demands.

``Money wasn't the issue 20 years ago,'' said Vice Mayor Charles F. Brown, who represents the area. ``Money is the issue now.''

MacFarland Neblett, a VDOT resident engineer, said the state gets about $1.1 million annually for surface repair and ditches in Suffolk's outlying communities.

Officials blame the drainage problems on the flat terrain within those communities. Last month, VDOT workers re-cut a portion of the ditches on the east end of Riddick Drive, Neblett said. But he concedes more needs to be done.

``We're not going to completely resolve it,'' he said. ``You've got to work with what you have.''

Yet money isn't the only issue with residents.

They say that as growth has taken off in northern Suffolk, their needs have been neglected. In fact, they argue, their community has become a dumping ground.

Just four years ago, they marched to the city's inspections department to have Suffolk Ready Mix Mechanicsville Concrete Inc. on East Washington Street cited for trash and debris violations - mostly blowing dust from a gravel pile. They also contended that other trash was backing up the ditches. The company was later cited for several violations and eventually closed, said Vanessa Savage, housing official for the city's inspections department.

But residents still want the gravel removed.

Julie Arzillo, who owns a debris-removal company with her husband, bought the Ready Mix property about six months ago. She said she's trying to work with residents by removing the gravel.

``We're trying to get rid of the pile. Half of it is gone already,'' Arzillo said recently. ``If anything, we're trying to be a positive influence.''

It doesn't stop there.

Last December, residents protested when the City Council approved a zoning request allowing Jeff Gardy and Richard L. McKinney Jr. to move their junkyard from a rapidly developing residential area off Suburban Drive to a site near Magnolia. City officials contend the area was zoned for high industrial use, so the junk yard was compatible.

Their fight is about preserving something that was once special, the residents say. They remember a time when their neighborhoods were pristine. Drainage, junk yards and concrete companies weren't an issue.

Longtime residents like Daughtrey say the three communities were places where middle-class blacks moved in the mid 1950s and '60s. Doctors, teachers and other professionals bought lots in Pierce Park and built their own houses. In Oakdale, streets are named after black historical figures like Thurgood Marshall.

``I always considered Pierce Park prestigious,'' Daughtrey said. ``People worked and labored hard to get here.''

Other residents, like Amanda Rodgers, who lives in Pierce Park, wonder what they are getting for their tax dollars. Rodgers says she feels alienated from the rest of Suffolk. But despite those feelings, she's not giving up.

``You all keep up the fight,'' Rodgers tells the other residents. ``If the good Lord takes me, you all still keep up the fight.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by JOHN H. SHEALLY II/The Virginian-Pilot

``This is our community,'' says Magnolia resident Helen Daughtrey.

``I tell my children you have to preserve it. We may not have much,

but we do have our pride.''

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