I have written about alleys many times here: Schott’s Alley, Tiger Alley, Walter Houp Court. But there are many more that I have not had the opportunity to research, many of which have never even been given a name.
It turns out that naming them is extremely important for anyone living on the alley, as without an address that is registered with the city – and thereby in the databases used by service providers – it becomes quite difficult to do what we all need to live here. This can range from being annoying – being unable to get food delivered – to downright dangerous, if emergency services can’t find you.
Most alleys have been lived in for many years, and so they have been named. But occasionally, a previously uninhabited alley gets new residents, and they need to name the alley.
This can be a very long process, as the residents of the latest named alley discovered. It can even lead to some discord among the neighbors when it comes to what the alley should be named.
In this case, it was an alley that has previously come to our attention, mainly for the use of river rocks on one of its legs, a paving material that is relatively uncommon here on the Hill. The alley also contains two buildings originally built as stables, but one now has people living in it once again.
After much discussion, the decision was made to name it River Rock Court, for the rocks that pave the leg of the alley to 10th St. A bill to do this was introduced by Charles Allen on October 4, 2021: The “River Rock Court Designation Act of 2022.” Over the next year, it slowly made its way through the legislative process. In the end, a second act was introduced: An ‘emergency’ act, which went into effect the moment it was approved by Mayor Bowser on November 21, but was only good for 90 days. In the meantime, the real act was not only signed off by the Council and Mayor, but was OK’d by Congress as well. This one was deemed effective from December 21, 2022.
But this still left the alley without any signage, something that was not added until last week. On Wednesday, Ddot installed signs both on the 11th Street and 10th Street sides of the alley, and on Friday, a proper unveiling took place there, with Councilmember Allen, ANC commissioner Kasie Durkit and numerous neighbors in attendance.
More importantly to the residents, the name and location are slowly filtering down into the databases used by the various entities to deliver items. River Rock Court has, indeed, arrived.