Park(ing) Day Los Angeles recap

Due to rain phobia, I missed Park(ing) Day Los Angeles yesterday, when activists and artists and other open-space-loving people turned parking spots all over the city into temporary parks.

Now I have to settle for ogling pictures and reading about the fun everyone else had: wading in a kiddie pool in the area at USC taken over by the School of Architecture, or playing with pets in an impromptu dog park downtown.

Jenn of Jenntography blog walked around all day taking pictures, which is what I'd like to have done, now that I'm seeing what I missed via the Park(ing) Flickr group.

Ed Fuentes of blogdowntown visited two downtown spots, noting that "to illustrate what the day was about, as if on cue, a car ducked in the spot as the last piece of sod was taken way at 2pm sharp. The instant reclamation by the auto was almost a statement in itself."

The day had its naysayers, of course. Ed described a sign at one temp park -- "Honk if you love open space" -- which got his readers fuming about the irony of asking cars to honk in support of an anti-car event. One commenter complains that activists parked a U-Haul to bring in the stuff for their Park(ing) space -- which, if true, was indeed a silly move.

Activists often gets criticized for failing to cover all bases -- as evidenced by the constant media scrutiny over what Al Gore eats, how he travels, how he heats his home, etc. The paper LA Times, for example, quotes some people skeptical about Park(ing) Day Los Angeles because it doesn't cure other ills, like, say, urban poverty.

That said, criticism also serves as an opportunity to get creative. An LA Times video shows activists from Livable Places towing benches and trees and other fun stuff for their temp park -- via bike!

By the way: Today is World Car Free day. I have a feeling the intermittent rains will keep many at home, serendipitously freeing the road from cars --

Photo by Francine Orr / LAT