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September 18, 2009
Park(ing) Day on Fulton
We stopped by Fulton Street near Marcy to help Gabe Willow and Eric Adler with their park-for-a-day, an installation they built for Park(ing) Day, an international event of guerrilla parking space reclamation. Eric and Gabe opted to create a miniature park in their space complete with a mountain, pond, native plants, and wildlife (the turtle hadn't arrived yet at the time these photos were taken). The second-most-common question they received: "What's going on here?" The first-most-common question: "How much are you charging for those plants?"
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Comments
Really?
Posted by: TownhouseLady at September 18, 2009 11:48 AM
trying not to be snarky is like trying not to drink at a plusas gathering.
Posted by: DeLepp at September 18, 2009 11:50 AM
this "parking" thing is one of the stupidest ideas ive seen recently. some girl was setting up a tarp on the bike lane, in front of Gorrilla coffee in park slope this morning, with chairs and boardgames (and a sign saying Bike Lane Love). cars/trucks were flying by literally within 6" of her 'camp'. i predict a death soon that will end this sillyness.
Posted by: BSD at September 18, 2009 11:50 AM
You guys have a lot of time on your hands. But I guess you aren't hurting anyone.
Posted by: East New York at September 18, 2009 11:54 AM
I'm tempted to go over and see this one. I can just imagine what the local pundits are saying.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 18, 2009 11:56 AM
park missionaries with a banjo in bed stuy. Geeze where are these people coming from? I'd rather they rally send letters and tear down failed fedder's projects and make a real park.
Posted by: jack slade at September 18, 2009 11:58 AM
People need to go back to Oregon or where ever the else they have come from! This is Brooklyn New York, one the best parts of living in Brooklyn is having a car and driving, I am sick of this anti car sediment in one of the largest cities in the world. I get it, more people bike and take the train than drive, but this is just stupid.
Posted by: Pragonetti at September 18, 2009 12:02 PM
I don't get it either. What happens when somebody wants to park their car there? I've seen people get nasty over much less than this when they're trying to park. It'd be a shame to get that banjo all smashed up.
Posted by: Kate at September 18, 2009 12:03 PM
"What happens when somebody wants to park their car there?"
Guerrilla parking spot reclamation.
Or they drive round the block a few times looking for another space, kind of defeating the object.
This kind of thing is just designed to make the participants feel good about themselves, rather than convincing anyone or changing anything.
Posted by: etson at September 18, 2009 12:10 PM
"This kind of thing is just designed to make the participants feel good about themselves, rather than convincing anyone or changing anything."
I couldn't agree more, etson.
Posted by: Montrose Morris at September 18, 2009 12:14 PM
"anti car sediment"
I find it gets on my galoshes.
Posted by: dittoburg at September 18, 2009 12:14 PM
Will this be followed by guerilla park reclamation, with cars and trucks doing donuts on the Parade Ground?
If that's a metered spot, he'll need to move after two hours or risk a ticket.
Posted by: Sparafucile at September 18, 2009 12:15 PM
I don’t get this either. Is it supposed to have an environmentalist message? All I see is self-righteous hipsters wasting a ton of sod.
Posted by: Mr Joist at September 18, 2009 12:21 PM
"anti car sediment" -- clogs my fuel injectors
Posted by: altervoce at September 18, 2009 12:22 PM
why don't they go the whole hog and have a picnic on the FDR?
Posted by: dittoburg at September 18, 2009 12:25 PM
annoying self-righteous adult crotchfruit of one of the grossest generations in american history. well, until the kids who are now between 0 and 5 come of age. BARF
*rob*
Posted by: Butterfly at September 18, 2009 12:32 PM
I don't know Rob. The kids I know between 0 and 5 are pretty damn cool. Cooler than I was certainly. I think something amazing is going to happen when the current pre-school set is adult age. These kids have such a different sense of social mobility and are blind to skin color in a way that my generation certainly isn't. I have hope for the future when I see the kids my kids go to school with.
Posted by: wasder at September 18, 2009 12:43 PM
ALso, love the way you snuck the "c-word" in there...
Posted by: wasder at September 18, 2009 12:43 PM
Agree Wasder my 3 yr old has a promising future. I think the lost ones are the test tube and crack babies from the 80's.
Posted by: jack slade at September 18, 2009 12:50 PM
kind of lame.
If you're going to do the guerrilla gardening thing, you should REALLY do it.
i mean, people should be getting off work to find their car covered in petunias or some $h#t - people should literally be stocking up on gardening shears like its 2001 duct tape because they are so scared...
i don't have a car but if i did i'd probably be pissed. i know i hate it when cars park in the bike lane - though obstructing a bike lane in traffic is dangerous for cyclists as opposed to merely inconvenient...
Posted by: young archi at September 18, 2009 12:52 PM
quote:
I don't know Rob. The kids I know between 0 and 5 are pretty damn cool. Cooler than I was certainly. I think something amazing is going to happen when the current pre-school set is adult age.
yeah, keep telling yourself that.
*rob*
Posted by: Butterfly at September 18, 2009 1:00 PM
Quote: Park(ing) Day is an international event that reclaims parking spots and transforms them into engaging, people-friendly public spaces for one day a year.
Park(ing) Day NYC is a New York City Streets Renaissance collaboration which supports the conversion of parking spots throughout New York City's 5 boroughs into human-friendly places for a single day. These small, temporary public spaces provide a breath of relief from the auto-clogged reality of New York City, and aim to spark dialogue about our valuable public space and how we choose to use it.
comment to follow...
Posted by: joe_the_bummer at September 18, 2009 1:01 PM
Best kids are today's teens - they are not stuck up and resent their 20something siblings, and make natural friends with adults b/c said siblings are so immature.
etson, you nailed it.
Posted by: Lowhearts at September 18, 2009 1:04 PM
lowhearts, LOL x 5000. okaaaaaay. *rob*
Posted by: Butterfly at September 18, 2009 1:16 PM
I need to see a tricked-out Escalade with bass throbbing in one of these places, soon. And try to stop him. He could be packing ...
Posted by: 5w30 at September 18, 2009 1:18 PM
Jack--somehow I have missed the test tube and crack babies.
Posted by: wasder at September 18, 2009 1:18 PM
"yeah, keep telling yourself that."
I definitely will.
Posted by: wasder at September 18, 2009 1:19 PM
comment.
People friendly? meaning what? what is friendly about shrubs in parking spots when people need to PARK? Someone is literally going to drive over one of these spots.
A debate about public space usage? the public wants to use this space as a parking spot. before that it was a street. before that, a dirt street. the side is where the horse shit went. why don't you reclaim some horse shit and sit in that with your banjo all day, if you want to make a point.
how can so many people rally around such a misguided effort to make a point? If you want to help, get involved with one of the new park projects that are underway in city hall. There are several.
The tree huggers need to understand what damage they do to their message my acting like a counterculture. If you sit in a tree for months, it means FEWER people will listen to you, not more!!! Does the guy think the banjo ADDS credibility? has he considered it? NOTE TO GUY: "Banjo" equals "don't belong in city". How many people are going to be LIVID when this half-assed ironic country-poser thinks he is making a point with their parking spot?
Fool. leave the city.
Posted by: joe_the_bummer at September 18, 2009 1:20 PM
At least we know the unemployed are doing with there Fridays!
But if fair is fair, I am going to start parking on the sidewalks, outdoor cafes or in parks and reclaim the space for the Automobile!
Posted by: Pragonetti at September 18, 2009 1:36 PM
I don't get this one. Volunteer to clean up a park or something if you want to improve public space.
The good news is that tomorrow's strange holiday is Talk Like A Pirate Day!
Posted by: northsloperenter at September 18, 2009 1:37 PM
I for one (apparently the only one) like it. I think the city should be less car centric honestly. I absolutely LOVE CityStreets. I don't see this as any different in philosophy. They use 50 parking spots in the entire 5 boroughs once a year to make a point about how astro turf pretty entire avenues could be if there weren't cars on them. The city allows it since they hock the GreenNYC plan.
I have to drive from my office all around New Jersey twice a week, but I know people that drive across Brooklyn to work. I have a friend that commutes from Brooklyn Heights to the far west side in the 50s. That kind of stuff seems excessive to me. But its not rare unfortunately.
I know...to each his own. I don't like car exhaust that much. You don't like smokers that much. And the bikers hate the fact that run in the bike lane. But still, we all should get a chance to make our points before we resume strangling each other.
Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 18, 2009 1:38 PM
honeysuckleweeks, while i think this project is lame beyond belief, i totally do agree with you. some people really do use their cars to commute when it's so not necessary. but they like it, and that's their right, and they pay for it i guess. i dont know, maybe i SHOULD like things like this considering i dont even have a license :)
never in a gazillion years not getting a license would i have thought it would be cool to not have one. apparently it is :)
*rob*
Posted by: Butterfly at September 18, 2009 1:44 PM
Pragonetti wrote:
"People need to go back to Oregon or where ever the else they have come from! This is Brooklyn New York, one the best parts of living in Brooklyn is having a car and driving, I am sick of this anti car sediment in one of the largest cities in the world."
I always find such comments weird. Basically it reads like "This is a city! If you don't wan't to drive, go to the suburbs!" which, of course, is completely backwards.
Posted by: davfgreene at September 18, 2009 1:46 PM
Is it wrong that I really have an urge to show up there
with a giant Ghetto Blaster boom box playing Gary Newman's song 'Cars'?
Posted by: TownhouseLady at September 18, 2009 1:51 PM
"why don't you reclaim some horse shit and sit in that with your banjo all day, if you want to make a point."
You made my day Joe. thank you
Posted by: jack slade at September 18, 2009 1:54 PM
Rob, Who do you think is going to be changing your diapers when you turn 65? Robots?!!!
Posted by: IMBY at September 18, 2009 2:26 PM
The light that burns twice as bright burns for half as long - and you have burned so very, very brightly, Rob.
Posted by: IMBY at September 18, 2009 2:38 PM
> People need to go back to Oregon or where ever the else they
> have come from! This is Brooklyn New York, one the best
> parts of living in Brooklyn is having a car and driving, I
> am sick of this anti car sediment in one of the largest
> cities in the world."
This ranks among the stupidest comments I've ever read on this site. Congratulations, it's quite an achievement.
So, if one does not like cars, one should move to Oregon, where a car is basically required to get around? Pure genius.
Yes, this one of the largest cities in the world. It is also the city with the largest and most extensive mass transit system in the world.
Perhaps your car-loving self should consider moving to Oregon, or almost any place else in this fair land.
Posted by: DitmasSnark at September 18, 2009 2:51 PM
As someone who doesn't own a car, i don't get any real usage out of all that real estate (expensive real estate) that is free or seriously underpriced curbside parking. I'm fine for people using it to park cars, but I really think people should be made to pay a fair price for it. Think about how much you pay in rent per square foot, and how much you pay to park at a meter. it's grossly unfair to those of us who don't have cars. I'm not sure why as a city we should be subsidizing the cost of owning a car.
Posted by: gomuppets at September 18, 2009 3:45 PM
So the gasoline taxes that are used to pave the streets don't count?
Posted by: Joe from Brooklyn at September 18, 2009 4:01 PM
gomuppets - what about people who don't use parks, they must be outraged that Central Park, which could possibly be the most expensive parcel of real estate in the world, doesn't charge for entry. What about cyclists getting to ride on roads for free without paying road tax?
Whats your point again?
Posted by: dittoburg at September 18, 2009 4:03 PM
The funny thing is...
if you banned cars in Brooklyn, enough people would probably leave that the population density would drop so much that it would no longer be economical to maintain the large public transportation system that makes the banning of cars conceivable.
I can just see the headlines now, "MTA shuts down F trains from 10:00pm to 6:00am due to low ridership".
And, no, I don't own a car.
Posted by: northsloperenter at September 18, 2009 4:03 PM
Go muppets:
1) How would you define a 'fair price' given the lack of alternative uses that would make money?
2) As others have said, the a la carte approach (hypothecation) doesn't work anyway. Should only people with kids pay taxes for education etc?
3) Parking spaces encourage mobility. Mobility helps the economy. Parking spaces help many local merchants, for example, attract a broader clientele. Thus the overall tax base is supported.
Posted by: etson at September 18, 2009 4:08 PM
Nsr: I think you're wrong on that. iae, the point is to control traffic and reduce it, not eliminate cars entirely.
Like bike threads, this has brought out all the intolerance. What's wrong with making a fun statement (once a year!)? It affects few people, it may make some think, it's a community builder.
HSW: Are you a fan of that British actress with that name?
Posted by: cmu at September 18, 2009 4:43 PM
"ALso, love the way you snuck the "c-word" in there..."
Wasder, he hadn't seen me around by then, so he figured he could get away with it :-)
Posted by: denton at September 18, 2009 5:36 PM
"HSW: Are you a fan of that British actress with that name?"
LOL Yeah! I thought that was way too esoteric for someone to pick up on. But I spent an entire weekend once watching the entire Foyle's War series. Which was just sooooo good. I wish I wouldn't have shot the wad all at once though because now I have to wait for the new season.
Posted by: HoneysuckleWeeks at September 18, 2009 5:59 PM
Back to the kids tangent thread...I agree, the kids in the 0-5 age bracket are definitely going to be the most well read, multi-cultural, tri-lingual, color-blind, and educated generation, but goddamn is it going to be hard to get those little entitled bastards to actually do work...
Posted by: davide5 at September 21, 2009 9:05 PM
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