GIVING RISE TO CHANGE

The word alley is more than 600 years old, coming from the French word alee, meaning "walking or passage, and aler, meaning "go." But how many of us use our alleys for walking? How many of us in the grid or midtown historic districts feel safe walking in these dirty, poorly maintained back streets? Rather than being means of passage from one street to another, they've become pools of stagnant energy and humanity. They are places for things to get stuck and lie unnoticed, whether it's an old sofa dumped in the night, or a homeless person who needed a place to sleep. Discarded items for which no one has any use finds its way into our alleys - alleys which have also lost their purpose and value over the years.

Formerly considered commercial access points for buildings facing the city streets, alleys are not treated as pathways for people. Governed by different city ordinances, and relatively forgotten during the downtown resurgence, city leaders have failed to understand the role alleys have in the overall wellbeing of our urban communities. But those of us who live here know that these alleys are not only vital pathways connecting our communities, but our literal front or back yards. We know firsthand that their health is key to growing the safety and enjoyment of our neighborhoods.
 

So, who owns the responsibility for these alleys? Maybe the right question here is who cares about these alleys. Friends of Capitol Mansions cares, and we know we are not alone. Unfortunately, we as taxpaying citizens have the understanding that since our tax dollars have been paid, we deserve — and demand — to be cared for. We've ceded our responsibility and our power to a municipal structure which doesn't share our priorities. We have come to believe that we are "customers" who've been failed by institutions, leaving us feeling victimized and helpless. But what if we thought of ourselves as "citizens?" What if we leaned on our own community instead of a faceless bureaucracy placed there by our nameless votes? What if we recognize that if we've paid for these streets, then we actually own these streets, and therefore, are responsible for these streets? What if we determine their value, uses and health, and let the institutions assist us where we need help? What if we meet our city officials halfway and see what we can do together to raise our "back alleys" into thriving forward-facing thoroughfares with restored beauty and dignity.

John L. McKnight, in his white paper Regenerating Community: The Recovery of a Space for Citizens, speaks of a new kind of societal "map," which puts citizens at the center, activated through their social groups and organizations, and only partially supported by their local institutions. He writes, "This is a citizen-centered — rather than a client-centered — map. It recognizes that citizens and their collective relationships are the principal tools for affecting the basic determinants of well-being." He explains that the kind of citizen cooperatives, like Friends of Capitol Mansions, have the power to transform the local environment, using creative action to restore what's broken and build what's needed. The government institutions are called in for support, not rescue.

There is great power in creation. Determining the use and state of our alleys will create security and commercial and social benefits that could empower our neighborhood and our neighbors to rise above the victimhood of urban living. We have come to believe that our power rests in those we have voted into office, but Alexis de Tocqueville in his great work Democracy in America, reminds us that voting is actually the delegation of power— power given away each voting cycle. While, when we as citizens come together in community to design specific local action, we are creating power. By inventing our own solutions, we become "producers of well-being rather than recipients of institutional favors."

It's time to incorporate the alleys into our local road network and make our neighborhoods whole again. Let's bring our dark alleys into the light, both literally and figuratively. We can no longer focus only on what we want out of our alleys. It's time to focus on what we want to come in. Can we join with our neighbors and bring hope into a place of abandonment -vibrancy into a place of dereliction? Can we, as citizens, turn the city's blight into our neighborhood's delight? It's a challenge that we can only make happen together as a neighborhood, as united citizens and as responsible custodians of these streets, which are counting on us for help and restoration.

When it comes to the issues facing urban neighborhoods, it's hard to decide where to start when the issues seem so numerous and overwhelming. The trick might be to start small — small changes, attainable by a small group of citizens over a short period of time. These small changes can then build both momentum and appetite for bigger change, which eventually leads to what we're all looking for: transformation. FoCM has chosen to focus our energy on the neglected alleys that connect our city grid. Increasingly becoming front doorsteps for many of our Midtown residents, we think they deserve attention and care, which we hope will promote the wellbeing and safety of our whole neighborhood. 

So, what small measures can we take to create change? One way to approach the daunting issue of alley renewal is through a system called Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), a method used by architects, city planners, landscape and interior designers, and law enforcement to create a safer community through the physical environment.

FoCM has developed our own version of CPTED based on Alley Uplift ideals and objectives, which feel a bit more citizen-scaled and attainable, called UPWARD ACTION: 

• UPend our ideas of how an alley functions in a neighborhood
• UPgrade technology and infrastructure to improve safety and aesthetic
• UPcycle urban items into functional  objects of art and urban greenery
• UPkeep the area to maintain the conditions necessary for an alley to thrive over time
• UPlift the spirit, character and  atmosphere of our alleys and the surrounding neighborhood

With any of these strategies we, as a community, can create small actions for big change. Whether we work in our small neighborhood groups, enroll other individuals and organizations to join us or get help from our city officials, if we work together, we can significantly impact the health, security and wellbeing of our alleys and, eventually, the whole neighborhood.