Evening star., 1936-01-19

ALLEY CLEARANCE
OUTLOOK BRIGHTER
IhIder Says Elimination
Speed Rests in Part on
Private Initiative.

TTjvdlc IIIlIdlIvCs
After more than 60 years Of agita-
ton for elimination Of Washington's
inhabited alleys, there is reason to
hope" the end Of these municipal eye.
sores Is in sight, according to John
Ihlder, executive officer Of the Dis
trict Alley Dwelling Authority.
The speed with which an alley
clearance and rehousing program can
be carried out depends, in part, on
the willingness of private enterprise
to supply housing for families dis
possessed from alley dwellings, Ihlder
said in an interview.
He suggested that private enter
prise provide more housing for colored
families at reasonable rents. Either
former alley dwellers could move to
these better homes when they are sup
piled at low rentals or they could oc-
cupy the space vacated by persons
moving to the new houses and able
to pay higher rents.
In Ihlder's Office is a map on which
the Districts inhabited alleys are
marked out in black. There has been
noticeable reduction in these areas
since creation Of the Alley Authority
In the fall Of 1884, but more than $50
inhabited alleys remain. These must
be reclaimed before the authoritys
task is complete.
Private Enterprise Need.
"Just how many the Authority will
have to deal with depends upon pri-
vate enterprise" 1hlder said. I'VE
hope that in the cases Of some Of the
easier alleys, especially those where
only two or three dwellings are tucked
away in distant cornxs, the owners
of adjoining street properties will
absorb them and convert them to
new and better use"
A great obstacle to the work Of the
authority and to the hope that pri-
vate enterprise will cooperate is the
comparatively high cost OF sites in
squares containing alleys. The au-
thority is forbidden by the act which
created it to work in other than alley
squares. Consequently, it is unable
to erect housing on less expensive
sites outside the "old" city, as defined
by original Washington boundaries
under the LEnfant plan.
The Alley Authority must assure
that there are other homes for the
families it disposscsses in its reclama-
ton program 1t has found that about
half OF the families affected are able
to find new dwellings without its as
sistance. The rest have been aided.
The authority is anxious, Ihlder said,
not to have persons it dispossesses be
identified as cx-alley dwellers. 1t
wants them to become stable factors
in the community, their past straits
oblitersted.
Fourth Clearance Attempt.
The alley dwelling act. approved by
President Roosevelt June IL, 1884,
marked the fourth attempt to deal
with alley clearance. The organization
which it created has acquired and is
redevelopng IA squares which con-
tanned II inhabited alleys. These
have been cleared of their hidden
dwellings and in some reconstruction
Is under way.
The first Of the other attempts to
deal with the inhabited alley problem
began in 1871, when it was thought
that then modern Improvements would
be the solution. At that time there
were no sewers, no water supply and
no system of lighting in the alleys.
Despite the addition Of these improve
ments. the alleys continued to be focal
points of disease, vice and crime.
In 1908 President Theodore Roose-
welt sent a message to Congress in
closing a report which said "the resi-
Dental alleys must be eliminated In
the same year a group Of public-spir-
tied citizens organized limited divi-
dend corporation to build good dwell
ings which would tempt the alley
dwellers out That company and
companion company have invested
about 100000 in low or medium
rental housing, but the alleys remain
and in them people.
Experience seems to indicate"
Ihlder said, that as long as the alley
dwellings remain they will be oc-
cupied."
Attempt in 1914.
Another attempt at alley clearance
was made in 1914, when Congress de-
creed that all alley dwellings be va
Gated within four years. This law
made no provision for rehousing dis
possessed families and none for i'm
provement Of the areas. The District
was defeated in the courts when 1t
tried to enforce the act.
The current program is based on the
premise that property cannot be left
vacant or it will invite abuse; that
the owners of small alley properties
cannot themselves make the necessary
beneficial changes, and that clearance
must be gradual for both economic
and social reasons.
ut would not be sound social policy
to dispossess several thousand persons
in a short time when there are not
available other dwellings into which