It's Time Has Come-Beautify Our Laneways

Overall the laneways behind houses are a disgrace. Overgrown weeds, accumulated garbage and litter, old furniture and appliances, etc. and they don't seem to get any attention from the city. Let's turn the laneways over to the homeowners and give them a tax break for keeping them clean.......

Lovin' our laneways
Alleys should act as creative spaces tended by residents who use them

Anybody familiar with Toronto knows its laneways. They are the narrow roads that snake between houses on residential streets, allowing homeowners to access their garages from the back of their property. Far from playing a strictly functional role, the laneway is an overlooked gem, one that provides an aesthetic contrast to the rest of the city, as well as holding enormous potential for development. A curious question arises: who owns these laneways?

A dilemma presents itself: a stranger passing through feels such intimacy in these spaces that the sensation of trespassing is inevitable. Yet the homeowner rarely feels the sense of laneway ownership that would merit the stranger's guilt.

The city's role is evidently minimal in these spaces, as indicated by the packed dirt and cracked concrete surfaces. If they are indeed private space, then why have most homeowners not taken charge to tend and care for them? From this confusion, opportunity arises.

Imagine a walk through town. Tired of the loud, busy, traffic-clogged streets, you seek refuge by stepping into a laneway, a shortcut to your destination. You are grabbed immediately by the archway at the laneway's entrance. It is constructed of old telephone booths. How odd."

Let's go.......