The Eugene Green Alley Project was started by University of Oregon senior landscape architecture major Jeffrey Luers. The push for green alleys has long been an interest for Luers. He has lived next to alleyways in his last two Eugene residencies and has first-hand experience with the pitfalls of their present conditions.
“It started out way smaller,” Luers said. “I started by searching for alley parks and it really interested me.”
The projects aims to develop the 26 miles of alleyways that Eugene has into more sustainable community spaces while exploring their potential uses.
“This is about facilitating conversations that I think should be happening,” Luers said.
Teamed up with a group of PR reps from the UO School of Journalism and Communication, Luers has made a lot of headway on the project since starting it last summer.
Luers has devised a list of multiple purposes for the alleyways, which was organized by the results of a survey that ran from Jan. 1 to Feb. 14 that reached 95 Eugene residents. One of the results presented is that out of the surveyed 59 residents that responded to the question and live on an alleyway, only 11 were satisfied with its current use.
“It would be really nice if the alleys were paved or served a better purpose than what they are currently,” junior Anna Wencel and senior Nicole Ghiselli said. They are roommates and live off campus near an alleyway. “It isn’t the most pleasant of places and we primarily use it during the daytime for walking and biking.”
The survey showed that the top use for alleyways is walking, followed by biking. Luers suggests that we pave the alleyways that have been gravel for the 30-45 years that they have existed. This would provide pedestrian-friendly areas that could decrease the amount of bike and car collisions.
The biggest dislikes people have of alleyways are crime and drainage, in addition to access and lighting. The Green Alley Project would bring these dilapidated places into consideration. They have progressed by talking with residents of the Friendly and Whiteaker neighborhoods about the development.
The group has also attracted local businesses such as Falling Sky, Hop Valley and the Growler Guys that have agreed to get on board with the project.
The Green Alley Project will be collecting 25 percent of sales from Ninkasi Brewing Company on March 31 from 12 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Luers compiled case studies of three different cities such as Chicago, Detroit and Montreal that have implemented green alleys. The Green Alley team presented this collection of information to the City of Eugene last Monday, March 10. This resulted in gaining endorsements from both city councilman Chris Pryor and Mayor Kitty Piercy.
“It’s been growing faster than I can keep up with,” Luers said. “That just goes to show how powerful the idea is.”