That same day, Thursday , the association unveiled its Business Resource Center, which is designed to help new businesses launch and existing enterprises grow in the Williamson Road corridor. Gene McGuire, president, recalled that the association emerged in April 1981 to complement the work of the Williamson Road Action Forum, whose members had organized to fight massage parlors and address other symptoms of urban decline in the neighborhood. In the years since, Williamson Road's renewal has proceeded. But McGuire readily concedes that progress has been slow. The massage parlors are gone, but adult - video stores linger.
Some businesses thrive.
Others sport faded and peeling paint or boarded-up windows. Some have criticized t he organization for achieving too little in its two decades. Last year, John Huffman of White's Automotive Service circulated a petition he intended to present to the Roanoke City Council to ask the group to cancel the special - service tax district for Williamson Road that yields a large portion of the association's funding. The organization also receives money from Roanoke County, membership dues and other sources. But Delores Phillips, who works as the association's part-time executive director, said years of effort finally paid off during the past year.