Learning New Stuff Is Fun

We got a call from Christine Ingrassia (our City Alderwoman) this morning. We had sent Christine an email two days ago asking her what approvals, if any, we would need if we wanted to pursue the paving of the alley running along the back of our property. She called to confirm she had received our email and was working to gather the appropriate records to determine the current status of the alley. She said her search of readily available records did not indicate the City had ever "vacated" the alley. But, she wanted to go back into more distant records to ensure that has never been done. If the alley has not been vacated, she said we could either initiate the process to do so OR we could look into steps to improve the City's maintenance of the alley. In our email to Christine, we had mentioned that several of the property owners adjoining the alley, thinking we were responsible for its upkeep, had previously contributed money to have new gravel laid down. The prevailing belief, among the property owners, is that since the property boundary markers meet in the center of the alley, the ownership of the alley is split between the property owners on either side of the alley. Hence, the alley running along the back of our property is half on our property and half on the property behind us. If this is not the case, and if the City is responsible for its maintenance, we will have to rethink our proposal to pave it. To our knowledge, this is the only alley in the surrounding neighborhoods that is not hard surfaced. If the City is responsible for its upkeep, perhaps we can petition them to surface it. We'll wait to see what else Christine discovers.