Park(ing) Day Friday: Parking Places to Public Spaces

The District of Columbia is turning at least 35 parking spaces into mini-parks for the annual parking-place-to-public-space event, known as Park(ing) Day, held on the third Friday of September.

With the help of the Georgetown Business Improvement Development, Georgetown has taken on the parklet project, allowing residents, designers and businesses alike to construct their very own public space. Throughout D.C.’s neighborhoods, other BIDs and businesses are involved.

Georgetown businesses are in with the neighborhood’s BID to set up a temporary space outside: Baked & Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW; Luke’s Lobster, 1211 Potomac St. NW; the Urban Land Institute along with the Foundry Building, 1055 Thomas Jefferson St. NW.

According to the Georgetown BID, here’s what happening Friday at Georgetown’s one-day-only parkets:

“Popular local bakery and coffeehouse Baked & Wired plans an interactive parklet, designed to encourage community gathering and conversation. The space will include reclaimed railroad tracks as well as fresh plants and grass; buckets filled with chalk encourage visitors to draw or write messages in the ‘park.’  

“The Foundry Building, owned by JBG, will host complimentary refreshments from Canal Cafe and short yoga demonstartions from CorePower Yoga from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

“The Urban Land Institute parklet will encourage visitors to relax and have fun, while learning about ULI and our mission to ‘create better places.’ The parklet design is inspired by ULI’s Building Healthy Places Toolkit, and is constructed of modular shipping palettes configured into living ‘green’ walls, recycled carpet tiles, a one-hole mini-golf course, and unique site furniture for lounging and working.

“Visitors will also have the opportunity to play Urban Plan, ULI’s innovative city planning and development game, which captures the complex trade-offs and challenging issues of land-use decisions via an engaging game of Legos.”

Also significant for this day-only event is the full participation by the District Council for the first time. In a release, the Council stated: “This year, spearheaded by the Maryland-D.C. Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, Washington Parks & People, and the D.C. Council, the event will convert all 13 Councilmember parking spots in front of the John A. Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW) to temporary parks on Friday, Sept.18, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.”
 
The Council will host the Nature Conservancy, Washington Parks & People and other participating organizations, including D.C. UrbanGreens, Living Classrooms Foundation, the Anacostia Watershed Society and the Washington Area Bicyclist Association to make Friday the District’s largest involvement in PARK(ing) Day yet. 

 Park(ing) Day’s inception in San Francisco 2005, originated with Rebar Art Studios desire to inspire people to reimagine the environment and their place in it. Its vision is to convert meter (or zone-restricted) spaces temporarily into public parks, thus generating new forms of communal space. What started as a single locale has launched into a global movement with more than 100 cities on over four continents involved. Visitors can learn more about the Park(ing) Day project at www.parkingday.org.

Here is the list of all Washington, D.C., participants, according to the District Department of Transportation:

American Public Health Association, 720 I St. NW

American Society of Landscape Architects, 636 I St. NW

BicycleSPACE, 2424 18th St. NW

D.C. Council-Nature Conservancy-Washington Parks & People, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Department of Parks and Recreation, 1250 U St. NW

Gensler/Golden Triangle BID, 2020 K St. NW

Georgetown BID/Baked & Wired, 1052 Thomas Jefferson St. NW

Georgetown BID/Luke’s Lobster, 1211 Potomac St. NW

GoDCgo, 1201 G St. NW

HKS Architects Inc., 1200 K St. NW

Island Press, 2000 M St. NW

JBG, 1055 Thomas Jefferson St. NW

JBG, 1200 New Jersey Ave. SE

JBG, 955 L’Enfant Plaza SW

Lee and Associates, 638 I St. NW

Mayor’s Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, 500 I St. NW

NoMa BID/Ayers Saint Gross, 1200 First St. NE

NoMa BID/Carpe Librum, 1551 First St. NE

NoMa BID/DoTankDC, 1200 First St. NE

NoMA BID/JBG/Washington Animal Rescue League, 1222 First St. NE

NoMa BID/REI, 1151 First St. NE

NoMa BID/Senate Square, 2001 I St. NE

Oculus, 1440 P St. NW

Office of Planning, 1100 4th St. SW

Office of the State Superintendent of Education, 810 First St. NE

Project for Public Spaces, 1612 K St. NW

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, 1400 New Hampshire Ave. NW

The Trust for Public Land, 204 3rd St. SE

Urban Land Institute, 1025 Thomas Jefferson St. NW

Washington Area Bicyclist Association, 3407 14th St. NW

Washington Area Bicyclist Association, 605 Division Ave. NE

Woolly Mammoth Theater Company, 641 D St. NW

ZGF Architects, 1830 K St. NW

Zipcar, 2221 I St. NW