EUGENE, Ore. (BN) — The section of alley spanning Adams and Jackson Streets just north of W. 3rd Ave, colloquially known to residents as “Rape Alley”, is being deemed Eugene’s first Possible Unsafe Zone, officials said Wednesday.
Signs similar to those designating familiar Safe Zones around the city will be placed at either end of the section of alley, only instead of the words ‘Safe Zone’, signs will consist of two arms crossing into the shape of an ‘X’. Passersby will be warned to enter at their own risk.
While no rapes have actually been known to occur in the alley, and the ground has been free of mattresses for months, officials are responding to years-long social media posts referring to the stretch as the scariest place in all of Eugene.
“I grew up in so central LA and no place scare me like #rapealley,” one user wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Two tours in Afghanistan and if it’d to been #rapealley I was deployed, I would have gone awol,” wrote another.
“I refuse to go anywhere near there,” said Whiteaker resident Simona Simms, 29. “We walked out of Territorial [Vineyards & Wine Co.] one time and I really had to pee, so we walked back into the alley, and as soon I saw the mattresses and dirty underwear, I couldn’t hold it anymore. I actually peed myself, I was so afraid.”
