Douglas Waddel used to wake up at least once a week to find so much trash dumped in the alley behind his South Los Angeles home that he couldn't open his garage door.
That was before the city put up gates at the alley's entrances, turning a once-dangerous wasteland into a secure neighborhood refuge.
"We had burglaries and traffic going through the alleys, and the gates really cut down on that," said Waddel, a retired city truck driver who lives near 91st Street and Towne Avenue.
Installing 8-foot-high wrought-iron gates to reduce back-alley crimes is the heart of a city program so popular that officials plan to more than double the number of gated alleys throughout the city--to more than 400.
The effort started as a pilot program five years ago in South-Central, where illegal dumping has been a chronic problem. Under the program, city workers install the gates and give the keys to residents, who are then responsible for maintaining the enclosed property.
Since the program expanded citywide in 1996, the city has sealed off 214 alleys, most in South-Central. Later this month, city officials plan to hire additional contractors to seal off 220 more alleys.
But the program, which is called the Nuisance Alley Conversion Project, has run into a few problems. Dozens of gated alleys are choked with weeds and trash because they are neglected by the neighbors responsible for their upkeep.
"Overall it's working very well," said Los Angeles City Councilwoman Rita Walters, whose South Los Angeles district includes most of the gated alleys. "We do have some problems that were unanticipated, and that is that people are going in and out and forgetting to lock the gates behind them."
She added: "Some residents are even dumping their own trash in the alleys."
The program has widespread support from residents next to the closed alleys who say the gates have reduced illegal dumping, drug sales, prostitution and other crimes.
Norris Daniel, a 38-year resident of South Los Angeles, said he would often find trash and stolen cars in the alley next to his home near 50th Street and Budlong Avenue.
About two years ago, Daniel said, he bought a new set of tires for his car and was charged $1 to dispose of his old tires. A few days later, he found his old tires dumped in his own alley.
"Can you believe it?" he said with a chuckle.
Those problems all but disappeared after the gates were installed two years ago. "It's worked beautifully," he said.
