Gated Alley Program

When our neighborhood was built back in the 60s, the City of Phoenix set aside alleys behind most homes to allow utility access and provide community garbage bins. The alleys are also used to provide quarterly pickups of bulk trash that doesn't fit into the garbage bins.

Unfortunately, over the years, the alleys have become a public dumping ground. Residents are responsible for keeping the alley clean. At one of our meetings, Alley Specialist David Ornelas gave a presentation about our rights and responsibilities. If someone drops off a mattress in the alley behind your home, you can be fined unless you haul it off.

Back alleys are also an invitation to burglars having quick access to our backyards. Reports on NextDoor show this is a real issue. Make sure you lock your back doors, light up the back yard and keep valuables out of sight.

Recently, the City of Phoenix started offering property owners who have alleys behind their properties the option to put up locked gates at the ends of the alley to keep the public out. When the gates are installed, the property owners are given codes to unlock the gates.

Utilities, police, fire, and city workers are also given codes or separate locks. Communal trash bins are removed and each resident is given a rolling black bin to use for garbage, similar to the blue recycle bins currently in use by most homes in this area; when the alleys are gated, residents will roll both bins to the street for weekly pickup.

Quarterly bulk trash pickups are switching to a 'by appointment only' scheme city wide in September 2024, so there will no longer be any reason to store bulk trash in the alley at all.

The process of getting the alley gates requires a neighborhood organization to sponsor each alley and the Cactus Wren Block Watch is known by the city as an active sponsor. In the last couple years, we've gotten quite a few alleys gated. Some alleys have more than two entries and each entry requires a gate to make the whole alley secure. You can see one of the gates just south of the corner of Ironwood and the 43rd Ave access road.

There are usually homes on both sides of the alley so most alleys serve a few dozen homes. In order to get an alley gated, 50%+1 homeowners abutting an alley are required to sign a form requesting the gates. For this effort, the block watch sometimes needs to go door to door. When they do, they might wear orange shirts with the Cactus Wren Block Watch logo on them. Keep an eye out for us!

For more information, visit the Phoenix Gated Alley Program. If you'd like to contact someone about getting your alley gated, send us an email.