Exactly what I was thinking of, in the Flushing/Bayside area a few blocks from Francis Lewis Blvd. 5 years ago I spent some time in that neighborhood, saw a block of row houses with the back alley with garage access and it was very nicely kept, didn’t look like a crime risk at all.
OP lovely house, nice floor plan, and the back alley looks like a street to me.
I just found out what “smart” garage door openers are.
These small devices connect to your existing garage-door opener, and they then let you check on or operate your door from anywhere, using an app on your smartphone, tablet, or (in some cases) a computer.
Think of a smart garage-door opener controller like a smart door lock: an excellent security and access tool for your home, vacation home, or rental property. You can open and close your garage door remotely, or use geolocation features to automatically shut the door for you, so you don’t need to worry about having left it open. Controllers can give you a heads-up if your garage door is accidentally left open, so you can close it from wherever you are
There are security drawbacks to anything “smart” though. Do your homework on smart items before buying so that you know if it is truly safe to operate remotely and that no one else can copy the key code and do the same.
My brother lived in a similar place for many years - also a Chicago suburb - and never had a problem.
I don’t love the concept myself, just because those alleys can be tight to maneuver a car in, and I’ve never loved the idea of a long (well, it’s long when you’re hauling groceries!) hike to the actual house!
In his neighborhood, the houses were all from around World War 1 in age. I don’t know if newer places are less likely to have the alley / detached garage structure. On-street parking for overnights was apparently prohibited or at least strictly restricted,
The alleys I’m used to in Chicago it’s about an equal distance to the kitchen from the front or the garage. Actually, it’s a little shorter from my garage. And they’re not all that tight, but the OPs alleyway is practically a full sized street, so no issues there.
A few years ago my coworker mentioned there were several break ins on his street. There were none on his side. There were houses behind him.
The other side of the street had a strip of woods behind the houses. It was a buffer area that separated the neighborhood from a strip mall.
People were coming through the woods and breaking into the houses. This was before home security cameras became common.
This is out in the suburbs. We put up a stockade fence years ago, and there is a narrow ‘alley’ running between our fence and the neighbor’s fence. Kids cut through it all the time. It’s always filled with junk, bicycle parts, pieces of lumber, old potted plant containers, and so on. Kind of a nuisance to keep it cleaned out. We find booze bottles and marijuana pipes, too. I don’t know how dangerous it is, or if villains are lurking in there.
I wouldn’t want to confront the partiers!
Maybe set up a highly visible security camera to watch the “alley”. And/or get with your neighbor to maybe set up some kind of locked fence at both ends of it. People hanging out back there would by definition have somewhat poor judgment and might be interested in damaging the fences and/or the houses.