...only criminals will ride in alleys.

The City Attorney's office has recommended that the City Council pass the Robert Lilligren-proposed city ordinance that would make non-resident uses of alleys criminal.

The Public Safety and Regulatory Committee will set set a public hearing date during its regular meeting tomorrow, 9 August 2006.

[soapbox]I think its important to let the city know that there are legitimate uses of alleyways by non-residents, and that the activity the city is intending to reduce by the enaction of this law is already criminal--and therefore needs no further regulation.

If you are a Minneapolis resident, I urge you to contact your Councilperson and express your concerns. It appears the Council is ready to enact this law based on earlier reports. You can find out what ward you are in, who your Councilperson is and how to contact them here.[/soapbox]

Alley surfing is fun and profitable. I've pulled a lot of good or at least usable stuff out of the alleys this year. Contact will be made.

This will never pass, its pretty stupid.

Besides if it wasnt for alley surfing how would us broke 20-somethings furnish our apartments? (or get "new" bikes?)

It might--it passed the committee unanimously back in May, has the support of the police department, attorney's office, the mayor and neighborhood groups. I think it will pass unless we all make a fuss about it.



That's very true.

I'm pretty sure that they're just trying to have more of an excuse to just stop anyone looking suspicious in alleys. Not that they really need much for excuses now...

when i have crap to get rid of i love that i can set it at the edge of my driveway in the alley and it magically goes away.

we put it in the front yard. someone took a locked, no key truck luggage topper in less than a day. awesome!

in our neighborhood i know there's been a marked increase in crime like car break-ins, graffiti, petty theft. and there's no reason for anyone to be in our alley if they don't live there--it's a dead-end. however, i think that neighborhoods should be able to police this on their own without getting j. law involved. i don't think it'll help at all.

hey, today would be a good day to get crap, and when i say crap, i mean it, but maybe my crap is your.... i dunno. whatever you want it to be.
so if you're northside, and before it's against the law, come ride through my alley and remove things from the pile.
i'm cleanin' the attic.
it's gross.
and hot.
and i won't call the police on you, i swear.

pm me for location details if you're up for an alley drive-by northside.
wanna-be stalkers need not apply.

I think hereNT is right--they're trying to make it easier to stop suspicious characthers, but the more I think about this the bad outweighs the good. (There really isn't any good as the cops will harass whomever they want anyway.) Normally Robert is the best City Council person IMHO, but I think he's regretting sponsoring this one. That's just a guess.

Here's a very well thought out and written piece on the subject by CM Cam Gordon on the Minneapolis Issues Forum.

http://forums.e-democracy.org/minneapolis/groups/mpls/messages/view_email?id=100542&show_thread=1

Cam rules the universe.

My letter to Gary Schiff...
I write to voice my opposition to a city ordinance criminalizing nonresident use of alleys. I believe that if alleys are to be policed, it should be done by the neighborhood. Personally, I know my "across the alley" neighbors better than my neighbors across the street. We think of the alley as a link between neighbors, a site for conversation, a path to garage sales. It should not be a DMZ.
Almost every day, an elderly gentleman walks down my alley. We greet each other with, "Good morning". I don't know why he's walking down my alley and as long as he's doing nothing wrong it's none of my business. I don't know his name or where he lives, but if this ordinance passes, he will be a criminal.
Streets are shared by pedestrians and automobiles. These alleys are a special kind of Minneapolitan street. Just because their use is a bit more ambiguous than convention streets, doesn't justify criminalizing their use by "outsiders". This is the city, not the suburbs. Don't discriminate against pedestrians by passing this anti-pedestrian, anti-urban, unneighborly ordinance.
Thank you.

Here's my electronic letter to CM Glidden:

Hi Elizabeth,

It was great to see you Monday night. I'm just writing to let you know that I am not a fan of the criminalization of non-resident alley use. I have no idea what you think about this. I imagine that some from Central and Powderhorn are asking you to support the ordinance.

I immediately thought about this ordinance at the neighborhood planning meeting Monday night when one of the participants described walking through the alleys and how they can be pedestrian routes. It appeared to me that many in the audience agreed with him.

I agree with the critique that taking the step of prohibiting non-resident use of alleys will bring us one step closer to suburban-style gated communities. This is not the vision I and my neighbors seem to have for our community. I spent a few months living in St. Louis working on the 2004 elections. They have many streets that are literally gated off where residents need a key to get through. These are streets, not alleys. That's not my Minneapolis.

Please let me know what you think.

Thanks for your consideration,

Matty ****(last name withheld for security purposes)
Central neighborhood

What service! I already recieved a reply.

Here it is:

I VERY strongly oppose the alley ordinance. Elizabeth

Gary Schiff's response:

Thanks for writing. I agree completely with you. I voted against the proposed ordinance yesterday in committee and will continue to voice opposition.



Gary Schiff

City Council Ward 9

So word of mouth has it that this thing passed committee (I'm certain something better than word of mouth exists online), with only Cam and Schiff voting against it. I believe the next step is that it will be brought before the full council for approval/rejection. There are 13 council members, if everyone shows up there would need to be 7 opposed and so far there are... 3. Anyone else heard from their CM?