MetaChat - PARK(ing) Day is Friday!

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16 September 2009

PARK(ing) Day is Friday!
from http://parkingdaynyc.org/about:

On October 29th, 2005, Transportation Alternatives took over a parking spot on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Using basic materials, they created their first "parking spot squat", offering free bike parking and a place to sit and talk to friends and strangers alike. →[More:] It was an immediate success, drawing crowds and attention from the press. Most importantly, it got people thinking about whether $.50 an hour was a fair price for such a useful piece of public space, and whether that space should be occupied by cars at all.

T.A.'s 2005 "Parking Spot Squat"

As it turned out, people on the West Coast were wondering the same thing. A few weeks after the Brooklyn squat, the San Francisco-based arts collective REBAR launched PARK(ing) Day as a national event in which people in cities all over the country reclaim parking spots as vibrant, public spaces for one day. In the years since its debut, the annual event has expanded globally and is now celebrated in 50 cities.

post by: aniola at: 15:21 | 6 comments

...a national event in which ~~people~~ [self righteous young attention whores] in cities all over the country ~~reclaim parking spots as vibrant, public spaces~~ [deliberately inconvenience everyone else so they can hopefully get laid by that hot punk art school dropout bike messenger they've been crushing on].

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 16 September | 16:42

This seems designed to further heighten the tensions already present between cyclists and motorists. I can't see any positive outcomes other than someone getting laid by that hot punk art school dropout bike messenger they've been crushing on.

For the rest of straight society, the deprivation of parking spaces will only piss them off and make them hate cyclists all the more.

Other than that, though, nice concept.

Welcome, aniola. . .* friendly smile*

posted by danf 16 September | 17:24

Hmm. Yeah - I should probably point out that I was a self righteous young attention whore in my youth, and still (secretly: sshh!) have a thing for hot punk art school dropout bike messengers. Which is why I will be all sad if I have to park right on top of one of them because they're taking up the only available parking space in the city just to be a smartass.

posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson 16 September | 17:41

Dude, bike messengers? With the little cycling caps? With the tight pants riding down as they lean over the handlebars, exposing a fair amount of skinny white boy ass? Ain't no secret that bike messengers are hot, It's Raining Florence Henderson.

posted by Juliet Banana 16 September | 21:54

Well apparently I missed the deadline to apply for an official $10 City of Pittsburgh Park(ing) Day permit. Sort of takes the renegade charm out of it when it's all officially sanctioned and the mayor and city council are out there hanging out in park(ing) spaces.

posted by octothorpe 16 September | 22:04

I don't get it. I read what it's about, but I still don't get it. What's the point? And is there a message they're trying to get out to society at large? I kind of agree with IRFH's first comment in the thread.

Mind you, I'm a bicycle commuter, too....

posted by Doohickie 16 September | 22:57

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