Why are people sitting around on fake grass, getting acupuncture, playing ping pong, and doing really weird stuff in parking spaces and lots all over Capitol Hill? I DON’T KNOW. I do know it has something to do with this thing called “PARK(ing) Day“. And Feet First. And maybe Flash Volunteer. More photos after the jump…

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All photos taken at 10:00 am. There’s probably a ton more things to see by now. Permits allow them to be “parked” until 3:00 pm.

Kelly O—formerly a Stranger staff photographer, music writer, Drunk of the Week columnist, and more!—finished art school and a soul-crushing internship at a corporate advertising agency in Detroit,...

38 replies on “PARK(ing) Day 2009”

  2. I think its part of the People’s Parking Lot initiative…local dude Keith, right?
    They did this/ do this in SF, making public spaces out of sidewalk grass spaces (whatever those are called I forget)

  6. Park(ing) Day is a national event started by some people in San Fran that wanted to take the streets back from cars and let people use them in other ways. It’s been going on for a few years and there were even more parks spread over the Hill last year.
    I helped set up the Capitol Hill Community Council park in the People’s Parking Lot this morning and will be there after work. There’s a map here: http://freedrive.com/file/960796
    I just checked out the ones downtown and got a smoothie from the Cascade Park. It was delish.

    And thanks for the complement Fnarf!

  7. I am desperately hoping that this violates some kind of city ordinance (especially with those orange cones that can’t really belong to them) and they come and clear them away. And confiscate all their gear. And maybe process them through the jail, just for aggravation’s sake.

  14. 11 – must be nice to be a douchebag like no-neck fnarf and spend all fucking day at work posting bullshit he knows nothing about on slog. remind me where you work so i can never support you.

  22. Seattle Arts & Lectures, Capitol Hill Housing, Capitol Hill Community Council, Babeland, Office Nomads…all at the Cap Hill site. Seattle Works and other nonprofits around the corner at Molly Moon’s. Not sure why people are hating on good old-fashioned community outreach by nonprofits and local businesses that serve people in the neighborhood.

  23. Hmm… actually getting off your ass and participating on a positive community event on a beautuful late-Summer day

    …versus posting ill-informed, rude douchebaggery on the internet.

  25. Must be great for the people who already live in the area. Makes it pretty difficult to actually go to the businesses located there otherwise. Prioritize on useable transit — for more than just people who work 9-5 to get to work — before declaring cars and the required parking they need evil.

  26. The day something like this could pass in New York without getting torn to pieces is the day New York officially became past it, I guess. The twee virus is everywhere. You live in a CITY, not a goddamn nursery. Are you going to have nap time later?

  30. Looks like so much fun! I wish I could come. I work down in Kent where there are no bike lanes and poor public transpo 🙁 We desperately need a Park(ing) Day down here!

  32. I like how urban hipster environmentalists never consider people who are differently abled and might actually need cars and parking spots. Or like how if you got rid of all of the parking spots, it would no longer be a city and you would no longer have businesses which hold up overpriced urban hipster condos that no one can afford. But, I guess they would prefer it if we went back to riding horses around town and then they could relax in the shit stench smells of pre-industrial living. Oh, but I mean, everyone is supposed to ride a bike or walk I guess. Because, yah, cars are bad and bikes are good. We get it: cars bad, bikes good. Living without cars is like so totally realistic too.

  34. I LOVE this!!!! I’d like to see them mount a row of bike racks in a parking space. It deeply offends me that soon-to-be-ex Mayor Jowly crowed about Seattle being a green city and himself as a green mayor, but most of the block in downtown Seattle and other parts of town heavily travelled by cyclists lack even a single bike rack. Fucking hypocrites!

  35. Thanks for the coverage, Kelly.

    Fnarf: I typically agree with your comments – or at least find them reasonable – and am surprised that you have something against people spending a day reclaiming space that stands empty or is reserved for cars. Your beloved NYC also other versions of pro-people/pedestrian/occupation in Times Square:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/nyregi…

    And I don’t agree with banning cars and do understand they have their place, but they are generally more of a bane on urban existence than a benefit, I’d say.

    kristinbell: you’re right, living without cars is unrealistic; we used cars to get materials to the site and I used one last week to pick my mother up from the airport. This event is about countering dependence on cars (and having a little harmless fun). Great groups put together parks and lots of passersby came to see what was going on and stayed a while.

    Check out Kelly’s link for the official site of Park(ing) Day or look through my site for more information about this and other events we’re planning for the 500 E Pine lot as well as other unused spaces.

    http://peoplesparkinglot.blogspot.com

    Thanks.

  37. When I look at how much of our public space in the city center is given over to cars (streets for cars, parking for cars) and how this arrangement is ugly, loud, and dangerous to health and well-being – I kind of wish every day was Park(ing) day!

    While I do use a car from time to time, I think Seattle would be a much better place if the dense urban core became a ‘pedestrian, public transit, bicycle, taxi and local deliveries only’ zone. Instead we cater the whole city transportation grid to commuters in their private cars who choose to live in far away suburbs and drive, by themselves, to and from work everyday…people like Fnarf.

    BTW @32 – disabled people get around much more easily and independently if the streets are not chock full of private cars driving around and parked along the sidewalks. Also, residents of those ‘hipster condos that nobody can afford’ add much more to their local economies than commuters who spend more of their money on gas, lining the pockets of Saudi Sheiks and oil company CEO’s, than on other products and activities that add to the local economy. Finally, these same ‘hipster condos’ are much more affordable once you subtract the costs of having to drive everywhere.

  38. Fnarf: Relax. Park(ing) day participants make sure every meter is paid and that they only stay for the time limit. Drivers are not the only ones entitled to use spaces. 72% of the average American city is dedicated to the private automobile. Park(ing) day lasts just one afternoon.

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