A typical city alley is an “alien space” and a “contested space,” according to Robbyn Lewis, an advocate and resident of the Patterson Park neighborhood for nearly 15 years.
“There’s a constant negotiation of control,” she said. “There are people who want to use the alley as an illegal dumpster, and there are people who use it to commit crimes.”
But Lewis and a critical mass of her neighbors had a different vision for their alley, located between the unit blocks of N. Curley St. and N. Potomac Ave., near the northeast corner of the neighborhood’s namesake park.
“There are some who want to use the alley as something more,” she said, “as a public space, to extend the boundaries of the home.”
The group made a major step toward realizing that goal on June 18, with the completion of its arts and greens project, an ambitious placemaking endeavor that has transformed the alley surface into a flowing brook. Enhancements such as an adrenaline-filled turtle and other coastal and aquatic scenes were provided by mural artists Bridget Cimino, Adam Stab and John Collins.
The neighbors themselves laid down the wavy shades of blue to create the waters, an urban backyard creek that invites residents to dip in their toes and relax.
“We did something fantastic, but we’ve been doing fantastic things for awhile,” said Lewis, who conceived the project in July 2015 and wrote and received grants, including from the Parks and People Foundation and the Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.
Through its Alley Makeover Project, Baltimore’s own Waterfront Partnership provided a huge portion of expertise and materials, including paint, payment for the artists and a community organizer who helped ensure that each interested neighbor would be able to grab a roller and contribute to the finished product.
“We work on blocks to build resident leadership and solve some of the disconnects with city agencies,” explained Leanna Wetmore, community coordinator for the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative, which administers the Alley Makeover Project, made possible by a grant from the Rauch Foundation.
“Robbyn’s block is a really good example of a block that had been working together for years, and was ready for that big second step,” she said.
Alley makeovers, according to Wetmore, are smaller interventions in pursuit of a major goal – cleaning up the Inner Harbor enough to swim and fish by 2020. While the harbor can be an abstract concept to many residents, she added, the area behind their homes is quite immediate, and cleaning up those areas, which funnel trash, helps clean up the harbor.
“Instead of focusing on clean water, we focus on how to clean up your neighborhood,” she said.
Several alley makeovers have been completed in and near the Patterson Park neighborhood, including off Luzerne Ave., Rose St. and Milton Ave., Wetmore said. More are in the works, she added, noting that the Southeast Community Development Corporation has been a valuable partner in the effort.
“The Southeast CDC knows those neighborhoods so well, they can recommend blocks and we can layer our resources together,” she said.
Andy Dahl, coordinator of neighborhood programs for the Southeast Community Development Corporation, is pushing the concept in Baltimore Highlands, northeast of Patterson Park. He identifies “block captains” who can take the lead in cleaning their alleys.
One woman, Fabiola Lopez, a resident of the 3400 block of Mt. Pleasant Ave., organizes her neighbors, borrows brooms from the Southeast CDC, and picks up supplies from the city’s Kane St. recycling center through the Clean Corps program, he said.
“This is somewhat less flashy than the Potomac alley project, though theirs, I’m sure, started much like this,” he said.
A reclaimed public space is a wonderful thing, but Lewis emphasizes that mustering the collaboration to get there is an end in itself.
“You need to have so much social mobilization and cohesion that you therefore end up with better social norms,” she said.
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The “Green Alley” between Curley and Potomac has its own Facebook page! Visit it here.