Troy, N.Y. — Architecture students in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Community Planning course are inviting Troy residents to join them in a walking tour of the William Street alley between Broadway and the Little Italy section of Troy, on Saturday, May 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is designed to inspire and promote a revitalization of alleys as neighborhood resources.

Called “Up Your Alley,” the event was organized by students to mark the culmination of two semesters spent researching and developing proposals, in consultation with the community, to better utilize and care for the alleys in Troy and other cities. Proposals created by the students for reuse of neglected buildings, re-population of commercial spaces, innovative parking and trash enclosures, and public and private recreation spaces will be posted on the garage doors, buildings, and fences along the alley route.

“The City of Troy has 43 miles of alleys that are often overlooked, misused, and abused, but they offer opportunities to create off-street parking, enhance landscaping and improve property appearance, and boost safety and security in our neighborhoods,” says Sid Fleisher, a member of the architecture faculty at Rensselaer and one of two instructors of the Community Planning course. “Saturday’s walking tour will provide an opportunity for our neighbors and others to see the tremendous potential for improving the appearance and function of these great spaces.”

The public is invited to gather at Hill’s Stationery on Broadway at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning where they’ll be given maps and information about the tour, as well as paint, a brush, and their own number.

Using the paint, brush, and number assigned to them at the beginning of the tour, participants can help fill in seven paint-by-number murals prepared by the students at various locations along the four-block alley route as they make their way through the Pottery District to Troy’s Little Italy.

To highlight the type of business that could thrive in an alley location, Troy Bike Rescue will host a bicycle repair workshop at the midpoint of the tour, in the Congress Street municipal parking lot.

The tour ends in Little Italy’s market block, where vendors will be selling food.

“This project has the potential to make a real positive splash,” says Barbara Nelson, an adjunct professor of architecture at Rensselaer who teaches the Community Planning class with Fleisher. “Our hope is that neighborhoods in other towns will pick up on our idea and implement it in their own areas.”

Rensselaer’s Community Planning course allows students to interact directly with residents, professional planners, urban advocates, and community leaders to explore neighborhood revitalization through various community-based initiatives.

In 2005 the class joined the Alley Project, a research project funded by a Rubin Community Fellows grant, to develop and compile specific alley improvement projects into a guidebook of ideas made available to Troy residents. Approximately 1,000 guidebooks will be printed and distributed at the end of May, according to Fleisher.

Contact: Amber Cleveland
Phone: (518) 276-2146
E-mail: clevea@rpi.edu