So Friday was Park(ing) Day, a day when cities around the country take over parking spots and turn them into urban parks. When my friend Whitney said she was volunteering at the one downtown, I immediately begged to tag along with her for her 7-10 pm shift. Our ride downtown was pretty pleasant, featuring Minnie Pearl impersonators outside the Country Music Hall of Fame:
Minnie Pearl lives, in Nashville anyway!
Blocked-off streets due to a downtown music festival (no problem for bikes!):
And a few hills:
Here’s what we were expecting to find, thanks to the Nashville Civic Design Center’s Facebook page:
Here is what we found:
The Flik sadly contemplates the dusty remants of an ancient civillization
No green stuff, but lots of traffic!
I guess Nashville can’t give up a parking spot for more than a few hours? I won’t lie, we were pretty annoyed—especially Whitney, who had volunteered her time and was not contacted about the event ending early.
We salvaged the evening with a progressive ride to the Nashville Night Market, dinner at Silo in Germantown and a beer at the Taproom.
Anyone have a more positive Park(ing) Day experience than I did? Hope so.
I made a detour through downtown San Jose, CA to see the seven parklets that were supposed to be there for (PARK)ing Day. Of the seven, only four were still going at 5pm. :(
But the nicely done parklet in the tony suburb of Los Altos was still going strong until long after dinner. It was three spots long and had a really high quality bike corral with it. We were impressed. Pix here: http://ladyfleur.wordpress.com/2012/09/24/parking-day-from-parking-space-to-people-space/
I’m glad someone had a better experience! Those are awesome photos.
How disappointing!
Yeah, it was a bummer. I don’t know if Whitney ever heard anything back from the coordinator guy. They weren’t publicizing it very well to begin with…
ha—Sadly the CHA day was similar: thriving during business hours, when I was chained to my desk, and gone by 4/5 p.m. I even OH a coworker griping about the parking spots being taken and how annoying it was.
Le sigh. The South.
Le sigh, indeed! Sorry you missed it too.
The afternoon rain kind of killed our park in at UIC in Chicago, but before it rained it looked pretty awesome
As a Kentuckian, just popping in to appreciate the Bulleit bottle :) I actually know the Bulleits! I used to make their coffees every morning at my former coffee shop!
How cool! Yeah, I think it’s neat that they’re using those empty bottles as water carafes.
As a Kentuckian, just popping in to appreciate the Bulleit bottle :) I actually know the Bulleits! I used to make their coffees every morning at my former coffee shop!
How cool! Yeah, I think it’s neat that they’re using those empty bottles as water carafes.