Colorless December, Balance and black and white

Some photos have a certain balance, for lack of a better word. This one, for instance. It follows the vaunted "rule of thirds" for the most part, yes, but there is almost an even distribution of dark and light, of subject and background.

For all the center of town feel of this photo, it is devoid of people, almost like the stop sign is ruling the roost.

The balance of tones and subject is what David duChemin refers to as visual mass, and defines it as "...a large object will pull our eye more than a small one, A light-toned object will pull more than a dark one. An element that is sharp and in focus will pull more than one that's blurred."

This in part, explains why some photos "work" and some don't. Does this one?