Our method wasn’t exactly “spray and pray,” but it was close. Ten years ago, my wife and I spread environmental grants broadly, but our goal – to help ensure that everyone had access to clean air and water – seemed just as distant.

I dug more deeply into one area – city planning for our streets.  Streets make up 30% of all the open space in our hometown, Seattle.  Would better streets reduce the number of cars, release a flood of bikers and walkers and thus reduce the city’s carbon footprint?

I took leadership of a small non-profit, the International Sustainability Institute.  We teamed with the local university, unleashed four dozen data-collecting graduate students, and hired a world-renowned Danish city planning firm to rethink Seattle’s downtown streets.

The Alley Problem

Then the problems appeared not on a map, but at our back door.  We moved into new offices in Seattle’s historic district, and what at first looked like a scenic brick byway revealed itself to be a festering disaster of an alley.

On the first day, I found a crack pipe at the doorway. Two days later brought syringes and, soon, a pool of blood next to the apparent weapon, an umbrella.

The “scenic” alley itself was a 100-year-old patchwork of potholes, asphalt, cement and bricks. City agencies responsible for transportation and historic preservation had fought to a standstill over the alley upkeep.  Now only the agile picked through the alley’s ruts and water pools to reach their destination.

ISI continued its city-wide work, but what about the problem at our back door?

The Community Solution

Our first move: put people in the empty alley. Yes, that festering disaster.  The local garbage collector used water trucks to spray off years of accumulated automobile oil and urine. We held concerts with our friends as the talent, and parties to display other friends’ artwork. In Summer, we backed an old U-Haul into the alley to hold a screen that showed the World Cup and the Tour de France. More and more people came to events – ultimately hundreds at a time.

As crowds grew, we organized neighbors to audit their own streets and alleys and to prioritize needs. The local business coalition stepped forward to seek funding for the most pressing problems.

But a funny thing happened on the way to creating a safe and walkable alley. If we started out bent on improving streets, we found that the key lay not in our planning skills.

Soon, art festooned the alley, 24/7.

Sitting side by side on bench seats, we shared the delight in the face of the street person who enjoyed a welcoming spot, some hot coffee to drink and a good soccer match on the Uhaul.

Institutional Support

The community activity drew local agency and government support. The Department of Neighborhoods gave grants. Transportation co-sponsored a design competition, and the Department of Planning and Development reworked city regulations that baffled the city’s own goals of a walkable downtown. The Preservation Board cheered us on.

Then designers and engineers, who first appeared at events for a drink and a movie, showed up with technical chops and an ear for neighbors they were there to serve.  Neighborhood ideas became an alley design that satisfied both warring city agencies. At last, our own alley was redesigned and repaved as a model.

As the alley work progressed, our secret weapon – the community – got larger and tighter. Yes, we got something done. We created a great pedestrian space, convinced a bike shop and a restaurant to open their doors to the alley, and restored an attractive part of the city.  But the true legacy of the alley project is the community it created. The social ties that helped us see each other more clearly and bind us to one another have become an engine to drive change.

Yes, our environmental problems loom large.  But we have a mighty counter-punch. It’s our community. I feel blessed to be among them.

Three Lessons:
  • Rethink what is a grant’s output (a redesigned alley) and what is a grant’s outcome (a revamped alley stands as a symbol of what the community can achieve together).
  • Create varied partners to boost the community’s investment in the project and to tap a wide range of creative minds.
  • Consider funding community capacity to organize for its own needs. Their power to satisfy their needs is ultimately more important than any project you have in mind.