Martin Austermuhle
Casey Trees’ park last year. Photo by Casey Trees
If you’re circling in your car around Metro Center tomorrow looking for a parking spot, you might come across a small, impromptu park where you’d normally think to leave your car. That’s because it’s PARK(ing) Day.
Tomorrow groups across the world will reclaim parking spots, turning them instead into temporary parks in hopes of promoting green spaces. Locally, Casey Trees will be taking over a spot at 12th and G Streets NW, where they hope to raise awareness of the importance of a healthy tree canopy. (The design of their park is below.)
“This year’s design demonstrates how we can improve the livability of our city by replacing concrete and asphalt with large shade trees and green space,” said Mark Buscaino, Executive Director of Casey Trees, in a statement.
And though the day started as something of a guerilla experiment, Casey Trees won’t just be taking a spot or feeding the meter all day—the organization got a permit for its park.
Casey Trees won’t be alone. Artisphere is planning on transforming a parking spot in Rosslyn (at the corner of Wilson Boulevard and Lynn Street) where it will collect used professional clothes for the homeless and promote an ongoing exhibit, “Beyond the Parking Lot: The Change and Re-Assessment of Our Modern Landscape.”
Last year, Councilmember Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and David Catania (I-At Large) turned two council parking spots in front of the Wilson Building into parks for the day.
UPDATE, 1:35 p.m.: Wells is setting up a park again, says his office.
On Friday, September 21st, Councilmember Tommy Wells will celebrate national PARK(ing) Day by converting parking spaces on Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the John A. Wilson Building into a temporary urban park. Chairman Phil Mendelson and Councilmembers Mary M. Cheh, Kenyan McDuffie, and Michael A. Brown have all joined Mr. Wells in contributing their parking spaces for the day-long event.
The mission of PARK(ing) Day is 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. At sites throughout our region, people will be transforming regular curbside parking spaces into temporary urban parks and public spaces.
Councilmember Wells’ office is working with Washington Parks and People (http://www.washingtonparks.net/) to create this temporary urban park and open space downtown. The asphalt parking strip on Pennsylvania Avenue will be converted into a small park that includes sod grass, picnic tables, benches, local plants, a reading room, bicycle parking, and a wealth of information about current plans and initiatives to improve public space in DC.
