Tactical Urbanism’s biggest holiday in Seattle, PARK(ing) Day, expands into a weekend day this year for the first time. This is huge news as it opens the experience up to an entire group of people who might not have been able to experience it before, if they work business hours. This year PARK(ing) Day will take place Friday, September 16th and Saturday, September 17th.
If you’ve never heard of PARK(ing) Day before, it’s a chance to reimagine our streetscapes in completely unique ways. Since 2007, Seattle has participated in this international event, which turns over curbside parking spaces into mini-parks, activity centers, and also active demonstrations of possible permanent safety improvements. Past years have seen demos of protected bike lanes on Rainier Avenue and NE 65th Street.
The Seattle Department of Neighborhoods is also partnering with the Department of Transportation to provide small grants for those who want to spend money on improving their parking spaces. This could also help take many people’s ideas to the next level.
You can read more about both the grants and the PARK(ing) Day applications here. The deadline to submit applications for both is this Friday.
Ryan Packer lives in the Summit Slope neighborhood of Capitol Hill and has been writing for the The Urbanist since 2015. They report on multimodal transportation issues, #VisionZero, preservation, and local politics. They believe in using Seattle's history to help attain the vibrant, diverse city that we all wish to inhabit. Ryan's writing has appeared in Capitol Hill Seattle Blog, Bike Portland, and Seattle Bike Blog, where they also did a four-month stint as temporary editor.