Baltimore Highlands has some of the trashiest alleys in East Baltimore.

Mattresses, tires, auto parts, food, broken toys, blowing plastic bags and other debris are routinely visible to anyone who walks or drives along Highland Avenue north of Highlandtown.

Every week, Baltimore 311 is peppered with sanitation and dumping complaints about Baltimore Highlands, a small community bordered by Pulaski Highway on the north, Pratt Street on the south, Haven Street on the east and Highland Avenue on the west.

Most recently on 311, “A bag of trash is hanging on tree,” a resident complained. Another posted, “Trash piled at end of alley.”

The refuse, said Rachel Timmins, president of the Baltimore Highlands Neighborhood Association, is omnipresent.

“It affects neighborhood morale. It’s hard to have pride in your community when the neighborhood is full of trash,” according to Timmins, who bought a home there a little over a year ago for its access to nearby Patterson Park and proximity to downtown.

Dumping Attracts More Dumping

The origins of the trash problems in Baltimore Highlands are complex, and Timmins is not inclined to point fingers at any one source.

Residents bear some of the responsibility, she said, but so do absentee landlords.

“Slumlords and vacants play an important role here,” she said. “We have vacant properties and abandoned disaster backyards.”

Dumpers from other neighborhoods who are too cheap to visit the landfill and come to Baltimore Highlands are culpable too.

Not all of the residents of Baltimore Highlands speak English as a first language. This only complicates matters, says Timmins.

“There are language barriers that make it difficult to educate residents about trash,” she noted, referring to the predominantly Latino community.

“And once a neighborhood is known as trashy, people just pile it on. Dumping attracts more dumping.”

An Alley Makeover

But Baltimore Highlands has been trying a number of approaches to reduce trash’s impact on residents and to bolster community pride.

Last year, the neighborhood association, with help from the Southeast CDC, reclaimed an abandoned, garbage-strewn lot and transformed it into a community space on Roberts Place.

“People used to work on their cars here and leave the oil and fluids behind,” said Timmins. Now the lot is home to a new Baltimore Highlands marker and a community garden with native plants.

Another boost comes from their participation this year in the Waterfront Partnership’s Alley Makeover pilot project.

The project is designed to educate neighborhoods with garbage issues about their trash’s impact on the watersheds and to provide education and resources to prevent or reduce future inappropriate disposal.

“It grew out of city’s Trash Work Group,” said Waterfront Partnership Healthy Harbor coordinator Leanna Wetmore, who runs the alley project.

(The Work Group includes a number of city agencies, such as the Department of Public Works, and nonprofits like Blue Water Baltimore and Baltimore Community Foundation, Wetmore said.)

Waverly, McElderry Park, Greenmount West, Patterson Park and Reservoir Hill are also target communities for alley makeovers under the pilot program.

Your Three Worst Alleys 

The first step for participating neighborhoods is to pick three of their most litter-plagued alleys.

Alley neighbors all receive new trash cans and recycling bins and community leaders will survey the target alleys weekly to document the level of trash and dumping.

City agencies and nonprofits provide ongoing outreach and education on the proper way to deal with trash and dumping and how the city’s bulk trash system works.

The project runs all year, but every weekend in April and May will be devoted to targeted alley cleanups, said Wetmore.

Alleys might get repairs or community art or other supports, depending on what the residents want and the neighborhood needs. Each community needs something different.

“Some residents are learning about disposing of trash properly,” she said, “while others are recycling and others are learning about composting, which helps reduce their trash volume.”

Timmins, an artist, designed a keep-it-clean-themed alley banner in English and Spanish for Baltimore Highlands residents of target alleys to hang from their fences or gates.

The banners will hang in alleys on Noble Street and Leverton Avenue.

“Maybe it will inspire residents to take some ownership of the community,” she said, acknowledging that’s a bit of a long-shot in a community with lots of renters.

Baltimore Highlands may not be wealthy, Timmins added, but that’s no reason not to push forward with the alley program.

“Alleys can and should be a source of pride for Baltimore Highlands.I think of it as place-making without the dollar signs.”