Residents put gates on alleys to shut out criminals

[alp227]

The rear alleys in the communities surrounding Broadway in Southeast Baltimore typically conjure up images of rats, litter or worse — not of a playground for children.

Yet on a recent summer night, 3-year-old Stevie Benchoff hit a wiffle ball off a tee on his family's back patio into the open alley, then climbed a jungle gym that runs from their property to the one next door. His parents' biggest concern is the possibility of a skinned knee.

Down the alley, older girls played basketball. And neighbors streamed through J.D. and Molly Bowen's refinished carriage house to grab a drink and catch up on the day.

A decade ago, longtime residents say, this alley was a haven for drug use and prostitution. Fed-up residents banded together to shut the T-shaped alleyway off from the rest of the neighborhood with a locked gate — illustrating a movement that is spreading to neighborhoods across Baltimore.

Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-alley-gating-20140830,0,1802830,full.story

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. They are taking back their neighborhoods, and good for them.

[oldandhappy]

2. Yes! We the people...

[freshwest]

3. Glad the kids now have a safe place to play in. But still sad, overall.

But I've seen neighborhoods with grassy alleyways in the back of the houses or apartments for people to talk to their neighbors and enjoy themselves away from traffic and cars. It gives a sense of comfort and safety, and sharing and community for them.

[3rdwaydem]

7. It sounds like a good idea.

[freshwest]

8. It is the way some neighborhoods used to be laid out. I don't know if it's done much now.

I'm guessing the area in the OP is an old neighborhood that has seen better times. But they still had that place.

[4b5f940728b232b034e4]

4. How is this legal?

You're supposed to get permission if you shutdown an alley.

[wercal]

5. I don't know the details of this story...

....but alleys can be 'vacated' through the city council. The city will still have easement rights for any utilities in the alley, but it would be closed to traffic (and ownership of the alley reverts to adjacent properties). This usually isn't difficult to get done, if the alley is already impassable by car, due to lack of maintenance.

Now a byproduct of this is people start parking on the street in front of the lot...and even cutting driveways into the front yard....but this may lalready have been done if the alley is in bad shape.

[Marrah_G]

6. The article explains it

They are doing it with permission from the city.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. Read the article. (n/t)