From Park(ing) Day to Park(d) Plaza

Last year, City Fabrick–an urban design nonprofit which attempts to transform physical environments for people–opted for a different approach to Park(ing) Day. Instead of occupying a metered space, they opted–via nothing but black and white masking tape–to create a space for the public without losing a single parking stall.

Their newest project, Park(d) Plaza, doesn’t shy away from the philosophy that public space can be altered to offer the same services for, say, car parking, but also extend into those exploring their neighborhoods on feet.

Reconfiguring an entire parking lot–in conjunction with the support of Vice Mayor Robert Garcia and Building Healthy Communities–located at 4th Street in between Elm and Linden on Frontenac Court, the 30-foot by 75-foot sidewalk accessible space not only boasts improved disability access, but actually ADDS a parking stall.

“Our goal is to show off the opportunity to display win-win on the use of public assets,” explained Brian Ulaszewski, executive director of City Fabrick, who calls this a do-it-together urbanism project.

The City Infrastructure Funds/California Endowment-funded space, which cost $6354, is decked out with an info-graphic paint design that provides stats on how the plaza was created and what it offers. The space is entirely temporary until the property owners, the City of Long Beach and the Tousi family, wish to do something else with the lot.

This upcoming Monday, October 22 at 11:00am, the public is invited to check out the plaza and grub on some food offered by a food truck.