Alley Homes Fight for Respect -- and Trash Pickup

Kyle Kreutzberg rehabilitates an alley dwelling in LeDroit Park. Washington Post photo by Nikki Kahn.

The online story, "Alley Homes Fight for Respect -- and Trash Pickup," in the Washington Post, has a nice gallery of additional photos, and covers alley dwellings in Washington, DC. Two points that could have been made a bit more strongly, are:

(1) having residents on the interior of blocks helps bring more "eyes on the street" and reduces disorder and other problems, a la the story David Bernhardt recounted about a woman who intended to urinate in his alley; and

(2) that having more housing options on the interior of blocks provides more options for housing, presumably some that is more affordable (the greater the supply, especially of extant housing, a la "a large stock of old buildings" being necessary to support Great American Cities, the lower the price)

Finished. Kyle Kreutzberg rehabilitates an alley dwelling in LeDroit Park. Washington Post photo by Nikki Kahn.

Index Keywords: alleys; urban-design-placemaking