Alleys & Gating

We are planning to have a general discussion on alleys and gating at the upcoming ESNA meeting. The topic was bought up at the last meeting, and we hope to expand the discussion a bit and talk about options, pros and cons of such activities. There will be no official vote or anything - control of the alleys is, in general, up to the residents (all the residents) who abut an alley.

In the Eight Streets neighborhood, three of our 4 alleys cannot be driven down - they are foot-access only. This tends to mean a lot less foot traffic, which can be a good or a bad thing. While it makes our back yards nice and quiet, from time to time it does lend itself as a place for vagrants to hang out, a place for drug users to shoot up in relative quiet, and leads to the occasional unnoticed break in. These activities wax and wane as the general crime in the neighborhood comes and goes. But these activities can lead to a desire to close off the alleys and restrict access via gates. While sounding like a good idea, it gets very complex very fast.

When the South End was built, land was given out in parcels, and developers build what they wanted on the land. This is why some alleys you can drive down, some you cannot. it explains the occasional change in building architecture in mid block, and explains why some areas have unique configurations (like our Ringgold/Bond/Taylor streets) and some do not.

When build, all alleys, even the drive-able ones, were private property. Over time, many of the drive-able alleys (but still, not all) were turned over to the city. The residents lose ownership, but the city pays for snow removal, reconstruction, et al. Most of the walkable alleys continue to remain in private hands. But while they're private, actual ownership and use can quickly become a legal quagmire.

In general, our alleys are owned by the property to which they abut. Effectively your property line goes to the center al the alley. But that is not a blanket rule. Each property owner would have to go back to the original deed to see what part, if any, of the alley is part of their property under deed.

But because you own it, you can't just move your fence and reclaim your land. There a legal right to access the alley, which again is a legal quagmire. Our phone and cable service runs down the alley, so those utility agencies need access to the poles and wires. Originally, all our sewer service was private, and ran down the back alleys. While most buildings are on city/street service, not everyone is. And the old sewers are still back there. (The city won't work on those as they are private sewers). The shared access needed isn't legally defined, and the city doesn't want to touch this issue with a 10 foot pole. Is alley access granted in deeds? Given 160 years has passed, is it as-of-right access, become public ways since they've been accessible by the public for 160 years?

Unfortunately, establishing who has the right to do what really is a legal quagmire. You get a different answer from any owner you ask, and any city agency will give you their own interpretation. Which is why we try to work together as neighbors to try to come to common solutions. No one really needs to start bring lawyers in to argue old deeds and who has the rights to do what.

The alleyways are used by residents. We move furniture in an out. It's a convenient way to get bicycles in and out. Several garden units find it easier to come and go through an alley. (A few garden units even have alleys as their sole access). We being brush and debris out of the alleys when we clean. And as we seem to be perpetually under construction, workers often use alleys to bring large items to a home and remove waste from a home. But as stated earlier, sometimes the element we don't want to see uses our alleys. And thus comes the argument - to gate or not to gate.

Gating an alley does provide a measure of security. criminals and drug users usually can't get in once an alley is gated, But now you've locked out utility works and residents, which starts the neighbor disputes over who has the right to do what. And, unfortunately, these disputes can get out of hand.

- A gate on the Waltham/UP Alley has been there, but unlocked as a visual deterrent. One person has decided to lock it and not give the key to anyone, including the people on whose building the gate it attached. Lawyers are now involved.

- There has been discussion about gating the Milford/Dwight alley. Interestingly, a contractor who freely used the alley entrance for construction work offered to have the alley locked. I wonder if they would have appreciated not having alley use during their construction. But again, when discussion came to who would have keys, the discussion quickly degenerated into a "why should I give anyone a key" discussion.

- And the most recent incident where someone put a gate up on part of the Milford/Hanson alley without notifying anyone. This guy neighbors upset. Someone also called the fire department to take it down, but lied to the FD and said it was a public alley, when it (and the others) are not public.

So unless people want to spend a lot of money on lawyers, we need an open dialog. First and foremost, do we want gates at all? Do they really stop problems, or just give the illusion of security? We don't have that much crime. And this summer, the BPD has been patrolling the alleys regularly, bringing incidents way down. A locked alley brings no police presence. Locking always also brings the question of how to get keys to everyone. And not just the buildings that have gates attached. Every single apartment and condo will want access. All you need is one person without access to call police or fire and get locks cut off, or hire a lawyer and start suing people. This is also an issue we need to resolve ourselves. The city has a big hands-off policy on private alleyways. The police have no opinion. The fire dept can break through any gate or door, so they have no strong opinions.

So we hope at this meeting we can start an open dialog about our alleys. Should we lock? Are there better ways to address any problems other than locks and keys. If people do want locks, how do you manage access for 100 people who abut and have rights to use the alleys?

Hope to see you Tuesday...