PARK(ing) Day 2009 is coming Friday, Sept. 18th, and people all across the world (and perhaps Burien?) will take to the streets to turn car spaces into people spaces, with a deadline for application of Thursday, Aug. 20th – so you’d better hurry the heck up!

The idea of the PARK(ing) Day is to “hire” a parking space, but then turn it into a mini Park rather than using it to park your car.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We know of a certain “Municipal Lot” that doesn’t seem to have many cars parked. Or you can always take over a spot on SW 152nd, First Ave South, Ambaum…you name it! Let’s see whatcha got Burien – be sure to email us if you’re going to do this so we can show up and take pics!

In 2008, citizens created this PARK(ing) Space in front of the Seattle Art Museum.

Putting together a parking space takes a little bit of planning, however it’s an easy and simple process and Feet First, Trust for Public Lands, and Seattle Parks Foundation will help you through it. The permit process has started but you can still get in thusly:

Email [email protected] ASAP and remember, the deadline for application for a park on the street (filled out forms, plans and all) is Thursday, August 20th!

You can find lots more information and photos on http://my.parkingday.org. Here’s info from that website:

PARK(ing) Day is an open source invention, which means anyone can participate without official “permission,” as long as you observe the license (PDF).

That said, PARK(ing) Day has become a worldwide event, and this network allows participants, media and interested parties to connect and promote their PARK(ing) installations. We recommend that you “register” your PARK by:

  1. Creating a group for your city or particular PARK location, or joining one if it exists already.
  2. Adding your PARK to the 2009 Map. At least add your city, but we recommend adding the exact coordinates of your park once you’ve decided, since lots of people will taking PARK(ing) tours of their city on PARK(ing) Day.
  3. Inviting other people to your group, including local merchants and materials donors.
  4. Downloading the Media Kit (coming soon) and letting your local media know about your PARK. No need to contact Rebar – you’re the best spokesman for your big idea!

Here are some videos showing previous PARK(ing) Days to give you an idea of what this is all about:

Parking Day SE Seattle:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4ik-C7mKGE[/youtube]
“Students from the New School perform at the ‘Distraction Preserve’ park on Rainier Avenue S. This park was organized by SEEDArts (www.seedseattle.org/seedarts/ ) with volunteers from the community!”

Parking Day San Francisco:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zvG-ay7k5c[/youtube]
“The trailer for REBAR’s PARK(ing) Day 2006 – a worldwide reclamation of metered parking spaces as public parks! 47 PARKs in 13 cities.”

Parking Day NYC:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjXlZvAoyg4[/youtube]
“Parking Day NYC 2007. Watch as over 30 parking spots all over NYC are liberated from the automobile and reclaimed as space for people.”

Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.