White Center stakes out a spot for PARKing Day this Friday
(update: here’s a link to a map of all Friday’s PARKing Day “Parks” citywide)
Perhaps you’ve heard of PARKing Day – a relatively new annual event in which volunteers in cities nationwide transform parking spaces into parks, to spotlight the importance of urban open space. This year’s edition is coming up on Friday, and there’s going to be a PARKing Day “park” in a prominent White Center spot – here’s the official announcement:
Seattle Parks Foundation is partnering with The Trust for Public Land and Feet First to turn Seattle’s parking spaces into parks on September 19th as part of PARK(ing) Day, a fun and visible event started by Re-Bar in San Francisco to bring attention to the need for more green space in urban areas.
Technology Access Foundation and The White Center Community Development Association will be transforming the parking spaces in front of Full Tilt Ice Cream into a classroom. We are hoping to provide awareness to the community about the work that we do. Everyone is invited to come out and show support to the community.
National Parking Day
Friday, September 19
10:00 am – 3:00 pmIn front of:
Full Tilt Ice Cream
9629 16th Ave SWCome out and meet your community neighbors!
For More info call – 206-722-2369×102
Tags: PARKing Day, Technology Access Foundation, wccda
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:25 am
And how’s Parking Day going to help White Center. Sounds like a useless Seattle touchy feely enviromental thing.
How about getting rid of the back-in parking on 16th instead. Not a lot of people who shop in White Center like the “New and Improve” parking, me included. I’ve talked to a few owners of businesses on 16th and they definitely don’t like the back in parking. It’s difficult for people to back in especially if another car pulls too close behind you while attempting to back in. It also cause back-ups when several cars are backing-in at the same time. The old head-in parking was better.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:27 am
Have to say I’m personally with you on the back-in parking, but only because, while I am an ace with parallel parking our sub-subcompact, I cannot do back-in parking to save my life. Last time I needed to park in that stretch, though, I tried risking the front-in method and practically got myself and my son killed. So next time … I’m going for a side street and a longer walk.
September 17th, 2008 at 9:38 am
Park(ing) day is a fun event that raises awareness about the need for more green space in cities. If having fun while also trying to increase visibility for a community need is useless, then so be it.
If you want to make a difference in this issue, I’d recommend looking into the Seattle Parks and Green Spaces Levy which will be on the ballot this November. This levy will continue the legacy of providing parks all over the city that the expiring Pro Parks Levy brought us. The new levy will be $30 less per year for the average homeowner, and still provide $145 million for acquisition and development of parklands, preserving open space as our community increases in density.
This is a citizen led effort, so help spread the word! In SW Seattle, a few of the projects are at Roxhill Playground and Skatepark, Marra-Desimone Farm, and the creation of a new major park atop the West Seattle Reservoir lid. Plus there groups can apply for a $15 million opportunity fund.
Check out the levy online at http://www.seattleparksforall.org.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:01 am
Tracy: I’ve witness a number of close calls with cars pulling into the on coming lane to get a better angle to park. The one thing I really notice is how stressful it can be when I try to do the back-in parking. The stress comes from holding up traffic while making several attempts at backing in. The owner of Pho 54 said to me last Saturday that he believes the parking situation on 16th is driving some of his customers away. I’m noticing that I try to avoid parking on 16th because it’s such a Hassel.
September 17th, 2008 at 10:14 am
To Todd’s point, one clarification for anyone who’s wondering: If you live outside Seattle city limits, the levy won’t be on your ballot.
To the overall point of PARKing Day, even in the unincorporated area, it’s worth taking a look now at where you have parks and where you might like them. Development isn’t moving as fast in White Center as it is just a few miles away in West Seattle, but because of WC’s proximity, there is no way it will be able to avoid increased density, and wise community leaders will be looking at where things stand now, in order to make sure our kids and grandkids aren’t saying “Gee, I wish you’d thought of that back then, before all this other stuff got built.” One of WC’s distinctive features is the park areas so close to the major commercial center, in fact; in West Seattle’s Junction commercial district, there is a tiny lot that is becoming a park, and a somewhat larger lot in the residential neighborhood a half-mile west that recently became a park after a whole lot of neighborhood effort, but otherwise the main parks are a few miles away in either direction.