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Happy Park(ing) Day 2010!

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Time's Up! parks it outside Mayor Bloomberg's Upper East Side mansion today

Today is Park(ing) Day (Observed). Most banks and post offices are open, but hundreds of New Yorkers across the city are taking the holiday off of work and turning parking spaces into whimsical mini "parks." In a sort of friendly competition for the most creative use of a curbside parking space, designers install everything from geodesic domes to botanical gardens to ball pits, liberating over fifty parking spaces in all five boroughs from the TYRANNY of automobiles. And outside the Mayor's residence, activist group Time's Up! is having some fun.

Time's Up! has been the main voice of opposition against the Bloomberg administration's abandonment of the Spitzer Community Garden Agreement, which required the city to do a State Environmental Quality Review of the gardens before bulldozing and preserve. Earlier this week, the Parks Department announced new rules which the city says offer the gardens more protection against eminent domain arguments. But Time's Up! is protesting changes that could cost community's their gardens "for a myriad of reasons—noise complaints, incidents that occur adjacent to gardens, and or failure to maintain 'good standing.' "

Anyway, the Park(ing) Day website has all the info about where you can find a pop-up park near you. In Park Slope they're setting up a container garden for wildlife and butterflies; the spot outside P.S. 122 in the East Village is "Alternative Side Parking" where they're promising to "embody 30 years of Queer Performance." The holiday culminates with a big Park(ing) Day BYO BBQ after-party under the BQE at 6:30. Send us your photos and tag your Flickr photos Gothamist; we'll do another Park(ing) Day photo feature later!

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Comments [rss]

  • John L

    "Time's Up! has been the main voice of opposition against the Bloomberg administration's abandonment of the Spitzer Community Garden Agreement, which required the city to do a State Environmental Quality Review of the gardens before bulldozing and preserve."

    Further proof of how much of a hypocrite Bloomberg is. He keeps pushing these meaningless green initiatives but when it comes between his developers and these New Yorkers trying to preserve these city gardens he characteristically takes the side of his rich developer buddies. What's "greener" than these community gardens, apparently another skyscraper, at least in Bloomberg's eyes.

  • PKMKII

    I'd love to see someone try this in Bay Ridge. They'd be run over or beat up within 20 minutes.

  • Cannibal

    haha or in the projects

  • WorksInDUMBO

    must be nice not to have a job.

  • Stevennnn

    Notice how this is in the hipsters areas for the most part?

  • virgilstarkwell

    until i can park my car on the great lawn in central park, these self-righteous, holier-than-thou hipsters can go fuck themselves.

  • OuHe

    Is that what this crap is. Had to edge out one of these hippies from my usual spot this morning. oh well

  • Nyctini11

    So that's what those dorks in the blow up chairs sitting outside my office are doing?? Clearly not working, even though they are attempting to appear as though they are.

  • RyanLee

    Written while not working and posting to Gothamist...

  • Nyctini11

    I was on my lunch break!

  • Kojak

    Not again with this shit. Get the FUCK out of my spot I'm trying to park over here!

  • 1stephanie

    The loss of 50 parking spots throughout the five boroughs for one day is such a travesty!

  • RyanLee

    Sorry, I'm using this spot to play a sweet sweet banjo tune... "ba da da der da der da"

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