The Rev. Henry Turner is grateful that the eyes of the city have finally focused on Dayton Street; residents have been clamoring for the attention for years, he says. But he says he's concerned that the tragedy that elevated Dayton in the public's consciousness might cause people to act rashly.

Rochester Police Officer Anthony DiPonzio was shot on Dayton Street while investigating a drug complaint earlier this year. He survived and recently underwent his third surgery.

Neighbors have long complained about drug activity on Dayton, Turner says, but it was DiPonzio's shooting that brought the problem into sharp relief.

"After he got shot, then it was elevated to a higher priority," Turner says. "The thing I wanted them to know is that, actually for us who live here, it's always been a high priority."

Turner, at a recent City Council meeting, spoke against the city's plans to turn Dayton into a one-way street. The idea, police say, is to disrupt the flow of traffic and to limit "escape" routes of suspect vehicles.

A police department mobile unit that was set up at the corner of Dayton and Bauman Streets after the shooting was replaced by a surveillance camera in May. The actions have significantly reduced crime, including open-air drug activity, on Dayton, says Turner.

"I don't think a one-way really stops crime or any drug trafficking," he says. "The only thing I'm saying is we should probably talk a little more about it."

City Council member Lovely Warren - Dayton Street is in her district - says that Turner was one of 40 residents who signed a petition requesting speed humps on Dayton instead of the change to one-way. There were 17 signatures on a petition to change Dayton to a one-way street, she says.

As a result, Warren says, the one-way legislation has been put on hold.

"It's really the residents that will drive the process," she says. "They asked us to look into the speed humps and that's what we're going to do first."