On the bus ride into work this morning I passed by the Capital Park neighborhood north of Peace College. I couldn’t help but admire how inviting this neighborhood is. One thing that makes a big difference in my opinion is the use of alleys.
Once upon a time, all a home’s “plumbing” was tucked away from public view, only accessible through the alleyway. Half the front yard wasn’t paved over, and half the facade of a home wasn’t wasted with an ugly garage door.
Had trash to put out? It stayed in the alley, not on the front sidewalk. Had to park your car? The alley will take you to your garage, keeping the front street open for visitors. With an alley there’s no barrier between the front of the home and the sidewalk or street. A home can come right out to the street to greet company.
I wonder when (and why) subdivision developers stopped appreciating this extremely useful part of the neighborhood.
Try having one behind your home somewhere larger, say like Washington D.C. where my grandfather had an alleyway. You’ll find all manner of passed-out drug addicts, homeless people breaking into your garage on cold nights to sleep and make use of your car as a toilet and it’s always nice to find someone passed out stone-drunk in the alley first thing in the morning so you can’t get your car out and go to work (all these things really happened on a frightening and regular basis off good, old 44th Street). If you ask me, goodbye and good riddance to them.
That isn’t an alley problem. That’s Washington, DC!