Looking down alley from south to north
A zoom down the alley looking south to north
Our apartment complex on the right along the alley
The standard condition of pavement along the alley, along with graffittied utility boxes (which, in my opinion, may look kind of cool if in contrast to a tidy environment)
A view from the alley into our apartment complex courtyard. Notice the existing space on either side for parking.
To get an idea of the architecture in this neighborhood: this is our complex. It is an older California style. Plenty of potential.
Stepping back again: looking down the alley from south to north. This is the apartment complex opposite ours. They have completey renovated these, thus, change is already in motion.
The alley looking at the parking area for the apartments being renovated.
A view further down the alley, turning around for a moment to look north to south at the two aforementioned apartments and their shared alley space.
Okay, try not to get virtigo... looking south to north from the trash cans in the picture before this one, across the alley to the back yard of a house being renovated.
These are city owned parcels (with the old, vacant houses from the early 1900's) across the alley from the picture before this one.
A zoom in of the city owned vacant lots.
Again
An alley view of the apartments just north of the vacant lots posted above.
We step south again to look down the other side of the alley (the blue apartments mentioned above are to the right in this photo). Notice how close exterior walls are to the back of lots (ex: building on the right)... not only is this inefficient for light entry through windows near these walls, but it shuts off connections between the buildings and the alley = neglection = the ease of blight to occur.
Another view of the wall.
Looking farther north to the next apartment complex. These are interesting. I will post pictures of the front view of these buildings at some point so you can get a better feel of our neighborhood. It is actually a cute area with all of the revitalization happening and still very affordable. This complex uses solar panels and has a large interior courtyard. But from the back, along the alley, they appear extremely crappy, no?
A connection from 5th Ave to parking in the alley
The back of the aforementioned apartment complex again. The solar panels can be viewed at the right of this photo.
An entry from 5th Ave again into the alley between the aforementioned apartment complex and a single family home.
The aforementioned home and a business to the north.
Yeah, we find these often in the alley. Gross.
Turning around here to look from the north to south, we see the solar panelled apartment complex already discussed and a complex in serious disrepair just opposite it. This complex has one of those walls along the side that sits too close to windows.
The southern end of the complex in disrepair. Though, people live here. Look at the space behind the fence between the two trash cans. Perfect for a pocket of green, eh? A little garden or something?
The complex again. That gate could be better connected to the alley (if the alley was attractive for being connected to)
Looking from the aforementioned apartment complex north
The business again across from the aforementioned complex
A business with the same architecture across from the aforementioned business
An single family house at the north end of our alley
The alley along the block just north of ours
A view down the alley from north to south. The Phoenix courthouse is in the very distance of this photo.
A business at the north end of the alley
The single family, historic home at the north end of the alley
11 comments:
Drought resistant plants. A place to showcase artwork. A place to post community stuff - like a weather resistant kiosk for "lost cat" or "free microwave" notices. Covered Parking with solar panels. new pavement. signs that say "welcome home" cuz the alley looks like it is the first place people are when they "get home." it just doesn't feel like home, huh?
Could you montage the photos into a panoramic view?
Thanks. These are good ideas. I like the kiosk and welcom sign ideas. Yes. I will take pictures again next weekend and do a montage. I'm thinking I'll have six views. Into the alley and from the middle of the alley at the south end, two of the same from the north end, and two taken from the center of the alley looking east and west panning from one end to the other. It may be a few weeks before I have those up but I will definitely be working on this. Thanks!!! :)
hmm, the biggest problem i see is that there is parking on either side of the alley, meaning that the middle space is probably used for driving to a large extent (not thru, but to pull into/out of parking spaces). is that correct?
i like the kiosk idea, and anything you can do with plants to make the place less depressingly urban un-revitalized. bright paint would be nice, too! murals. could you get a community art project going?
i'll think more!
Totally! A community art project would be extremely beneficial for this effort. And yes, parking is on either side so there is plenty of working room here. I wonder if we could design it to where parking is on one side. There isn't enough parking on the main streets for apartment dwellers. I wonder about that city owned lot with vacant houses... could that be a community parking area with landscaping? We'll dwell on this
htis alley is terrible
No shit:) Hopefully it won't stay this way.
It's a very nice view to the courthouse. I hadn't realized that. Also, there's something to be said about how uninhabitable it all feels. I think the business at the end has dealt with the squalor aspect of the alley, but even that space doesn't feel like it should be occupied by those of us who are alive. Would more symbolic/generous plantings help this?
I wonder if we should be looking into various types of urban gardening and green space. Even further, maybe garden types that reconcile ecological issues with urban environments..so that now we're welcoming other types of living creatures into the area.
Maybe our intuitions about green space are anchored in some other idea that says "living things should be here, and because they are not this space appears unhealthy."
yep, green is better and paint would help mucho mucho. also, i would not have prostution or other icky things going on back there. if you need a condom, you need an apartment. i think some cool streetlights would add some character
Becks, awesome with the 'cool' street lights. That's perfect. I think attention to detail is always a beautiful thing, especially when things are simplified. So, some funky wall murals, limited but efficient vehicle space, community and "living" areas (gardens, thoughtfully landscaped patches, kiosks, welcome signs, etc), and interesting lighting. This is all great stuff, friends:)
And Aaron, yeah, we should definitely try to draw attention to the fact that there are views in this alley (the courthouse) and perhaps, we'll bring life to this place... or hopefully life will bring itself as soon as people hear about this, get excited, and want to take a part in it.
I'll try to have more for everyone in the next few weeks.
Love!
How hard is it to get a TIFD passed in AZ? I'd ask a planner or councilman to push for one.
James
Hey, James, what's a TIFD? Let me know and I'll look into it. I'm not trained in zoning/codes/etc:)
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