“The
cities will be part of the country; I shall live 30 miles
from my office in one direction,
under a
pine tree; my secretary
will live 30 miles
away from it too, in the other direction, under another pine tree.
We shall both have
our own car. We shall use up tires, wear out road surfaces and
gears, consume oil and gasoline. All of which will necessitate
a great
deal of work ... enough
for all.” -- Le Corbusier, The Radiant
City (1967)
The
fourth annual Park[ing] Day LA,
which will be on Friday, September 16th, will
bring together a diverse constituency of community
groups, neighborhood
councils,
design & architecture firms, professional organizations,
non-profits, cyclists & pedestrian
advocates as they work together to transform numerous parking
spaces & parking
lots located throughout LA into ephemeral parks for the day.
By occupying a parking spot and feeding the meter, volunteers
will
enhance the
street with
a sustainably
designed pocket-park.
Too often,
when people think of Los Angeles they envision a maze of
asphalt, smog and traffic congestion. The automobile reigns
supreme and as a result
one’s
ability to navigate through the City becomes compromised with the
burden of too many vehicles clogging the road. Sidewalks have been
narrowed
and opportunities
for open space, parks, civic plazas and public places have been
sequestered into
the hills, which unfortunately are often inaccessible to anyone
without an automobile. Despite being home to one of the largest urban
parks in North America (Griffith Park), Los Angeles significantly
lacks adequate & accessible
open space, urban parks, plazas and civic centers.
‘Historically,
civic leaders had the mind set that Los Angeles was a city
of single-family homes each
with their
own private backyard and there was no need for public open space,
parks and recreation. This oversight, coupled with an increased
population growth has
left the City
of Los Angeles with only 10% of the recommended 8-10 acres of
parks and open space for every 1000 residents.’
While the
recent development of such parks as the LA Historic State Park,
Rio de Los Angeles State Park, Baldwin Hills Conservancy & Audubon
Center at Debs Park are enthusiastically applauded, Park[ing] Day LA hopes
to further celebrate the momentum of providing additional parks & open space throughout Los Angeles – especially
as it relates to smaller, more infill opportunities to enhance
the public realm with the benefit of recreation, landscape,
habitat
and opportunities
to cool
the City with increased canopy coverage. Additional parks will
help reduce the heat-island effect of the City by converting
our over-abundance
of
concrete and
asphalt into green spaces that will inevitably promote the civility
of the City by offering more spaces for the public to converge.
In 2005, the Rebar group, a small group out
of San Francisco, opened eyes worldwide by transforming a metered
parking spot into a park-for-a-day
in an effort to
make a public comment on the lack of quality open space in American
cities. Their goal was to reprogram the urban surface by reclaiming
streets for
people to rest,
relax and play and to:
-
Promote
a critical dialogue among artists, designers, activists, citizens,
corporations, and government
regarding the need for urban
open space and they way in which
streets are currently used.
A
diverse group of committed people were inspired by this idea
and came together to bring this idea to the Southland.
That's how Park[ing] Day LA was
born. It is our mission to make participation in this global
event as
easy, enjoyable
and as
accessible as possible. It is our goal to bring as many people together
as we can in the creation of numerous Park[ing] Day LA spots
located throughout the City.
We trust our efforts will help educate a greater audience in the problems
and opportunities facing open space in this city.
| We plan to do
this by: |
 |
-
Host[ing] specific parking spots
along Wilshire Blvd. & other streets.
-
Inspir[ing] other community groups, design firms and parks advocates to create
their own Park[ing] Day LA spots
on September 16th
and register the location of those spots in advance so that we can have you on the map of all the
parks created.
-
Network[ing] to gather interest in both participation and funding opportunities
so that the challenges of creating
a Park[ing] Day LA spot
become more accessible to all interested parties.
-
Develop[ing] an interactive website to:
- Show the how to's of making a Park[ing] Day LA park
- Provide a forum for diverse groups to work together
- Organize & program a curriculum of events
- Map out participants
- Publiciz[ing] the day
and events to others can participate in it.
- Educat[ing] the public
that a park doesn’t have to be 100+
acres, that sometimes simply 100 square feet will do. Likewise, why
do we choose to abandon so much of our livable space and dedicate
that area exclusively for our automobiles? For instance, often one’s
workspace or office at their place of employment is smaller in
size than the amount of space they are given for their parking
spot. Similarly,
why do we sacrifice the land that we could otherwise develop for
walkable opportunities into arterials to aid and assist unsustainable
lifestyle choices?
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Stephen Box
Community Activist
SoapBoxLA.blogspot.com
323-962-6450 office
323-864-7586 cell/text
Stephen@ThirdEyeCreative.net
|
