PARK(ing) Day comes to Ann Arbor
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A temporary park was set up in honor of PARK(ing) Day in Ann Arbor Friday. PARK(ing) Day participants set up parks in parking spaces all across the U.S. and around the world.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
Two metered parking spaces in downtown Ann Arbor were converted into "parks" as part of a worldwide event to demonstrate how urban landscapes could benefit from having more public spaces.
Rather than parked cars, the spaces — framed by several potted trees and orange traffic cones — contained folding chairs, benches, a CD player, art, a snack table and even a teeter-totter. People were invited to stop by, take a seat and relax.
"Normally there would be an empty piece of metal (in this parking space)," said Joel Panozzo of Ann Arbor, who organized the event. "But right now it's servicing eight people."
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Ann Arbor PARK(ing) Day organizer Joel Panozzo, left, and Ypsilanti resident Sherri Carroll sit on a teeter-totter within the temporary park.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
PARK(ing) Day is an annual event that kicked off in San Francisco in 2005. The mission, according to the website — "to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat."
Last year, 700 temporary parks were created in 140 cities around the world.
Ann Arbor's PARK(ing) Day event was held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in front of Workantile Exchange, 118 S. Main St.
"It would be great to see different organizations or businesses do this," Panozzo said.
Phillis Engelbert of Ann Arbor stopped by this afternoon with son Ryan Shea and some friends. Shea, a junior at Community High School, and two of his classmates played as a jazz trio during their lunch hour.
"It's fun. A lot of people have been stopping by, chatting," Engelbert said as the band played. "I think Ann Arbor is pretty good with its amount of public space. But more than public space, we need more opportunity for public interaction. Just for people to open up and get outside of their work and life box."
Heather Lockwood is a reporter for AnnArbor.com, reach her at heatherlockwood@annarbor.com, or follow her on Twitter.
Comments
jcj
Sat, Sep 18, 2010 : 12:43 p.m.
Most of the post complaining about the loss of revenue are the same ones that complain about the high cost of parking. Make a big deal out of the city losing $5 in revenue. Get a life!
Jeff Gaynor
Sat, Sep 18, 2010 : 9:42 a.m.
Seems like this event drew a lot of people downtown - more people than one or two parked cars would. And yes, they do feed the meters. But this also calls attention to how much land is dedicated solely to the use of cars, not to mention how cars isolate us from each other. More on Parking Day Ann Arbor at: http://parkingdayannarbor.tumblr.com/
bruno_uno
Sat, Sep 18, 2010 : 6:46 a.m.
why dont they do something constructive and volunteer maintaining the numerous parks we have in the city...talk about opportunity cost dollars lost!
SonnyDog09
Sat, Sep 18, 2010 : 6:01 a.m.
so, who fed the parking meter for the time that the spaces were occupied? Or, did the city lose revenue?
Olan Owen Barnes
Sat, Sep 18, 2010 : 5:10 a.m.
That car in that parking spot represents a potential paying customer in down town Ann Arbor - we should not forget that.
aes
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 6:01 p.m.
It's friendly and it's fun. People are nice when you get close enough to meet them (outside of their cars, that is).
Lucky Duck
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 5:41 p.m.
Great idea!
bunnyabbot
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 4:43 p.m.
this would be something that comes out of San Francisco. A2 has lots of parks: public, open, green spaces. So much so that the city can no longer maintain them, even when acquiring more.
Lokalisierung
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 4:09 p.m.
Just silly fun. Nothing wrong with that.
julieswhimsies
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 3:47 p.m.
I love this!
Thomas
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 3:34 p.m.
This is a perfect fit for the hippies of Ann Arbor. Don't forget your $5 latte.
jcj
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 3:32 p.m.
@Macabre Sunset Relax! I did not here anyone suggest we remove parking spaces permanently. This was 5 hrs out of the year. Geez!
Macabre Sunset
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 3:24 p.m.
We have urban places with more open space. It's called suburbia. We also have an awful lot of greenspace the voters approved, at considerable expense. Now, we want to spend millions to maintain asphalt parking spaces for teeter-totters and potted plants? I don't really get it. Can't you just walk a few blocks to the park? Or do you need a billion-dollar automated people-mover to get you there?
jcj
Fri, Sep 17, 2010 : 3:13 p.m.
There is not much that comes out of San Francisco that I would endorse! But I think this is a fine idea. No harm no foul.