In June 2006, Transportation Alternatives volunteers staged a "Parking Spot Squat" in Brooklyn's busy Park Slope neighborhood. The volunteers "liberated" two parking spaces, providing amenities that allowed residents to sit and relax.
The demonstrations created a temporary, but much-needed public space.

The event caused many to question traditional notions of the way public space is reserved for automobiles, and why that space is turned over to drivers at such a low cost. Many similar events have followed, and REBAR sponsored an amazing display of public space reclaimation in San Francisco.
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<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[intro music]</font> <br>
</p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [00:11]
What we’re doing today is just showing how this space can be used
in alternate ways instead of the storage of private vehicles.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [00:20]
We’re on 7<sup>th</sup> Avenue here. It’s incredibly dense
with people doing all kinds of activities, and there’s virtually no
place for people to hang out and linger.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [00:30]
The sidewalks are jammed. You could think of how you might repurpose
the space and everyone’s like jammed up on the sidewalk trying to
negotiate this very small amount of space and getting in each other’s
way when, you know, the cars have basically the whole street. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [00:44]
A lot of emphasis is put on vehicle storage whereas not enough is put
on space for pedestrians, and bicyclists too. You know a lot has
been said about, you know, Park Slope, how, you know, you get trapped
behind a mother with a doublewide stroller and their dog and all that
stuff, but you really can’t blame them. What we really need
to do is think about how to expand the sidewalk. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [01:06]
Park Slope has no single centre. There’s no specific community
centre where people hang out and congregate. And this is probably
about as close as we get is Connecticut Muffins out here, cos there’s
public space benches, so people hang out. So this… we’re in
a sense extending that.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [01:22]
And we want to follow the rules, do what a car would in this space and
so we’re following rules by pumping the metre. It’s a very
cheap space. If you do the math, at 25 cents for half an hour,
the space, one parking space is $150 a month.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [01:39]
You know this beats rent. Why not just live here for $150 a month?
It’s bigger than my apartment. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [01:45]
This is a legitimate use for the space and we’re paying the metres
and we’re using it and enjoying it and opening up a public space that
wasn’t here yesterday.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [01:53]
I’d seen on the Transportation Alternatives website that they did
this… they did this in Williamsburg and didn’t know they were doing
it today, but when I saw it I was like, great, I’d love to join in.
So brought out… brought one of my lawn chairs and here I am, just
sitting, hanging out, enjoying a beautiful sunny day in Park Slope. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [02:12]
I was just walking by and I saw these chairs pushed out here in the
sidewalk… in the street and I thought, hey, that looks like a cool
idea and I just, you know, helped myself to a comfortable chair here
and reading The Times, get some coffee. It’s really… it’s
very pleasant you know. I never thought of it before that you
could actually like, you know, put… rent the space, just the way any
old car would and and it’s just, you know, camp out here basically. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [02:37]
Yeah, we thought we’d conform to the letter of the law which says
that there needs to be a vehicle at the parking spot, and here it is.
So we’ve been feeding the metre and parking our little SUV.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [02:51]
People have come along, they’ve really been excited about this work
that we’ve been doing. They’re seeing everybody out here and
they’re so excited that they want to contribute to our funds so they’ve
been leaving quarters. It’s been great, it’s been great that
people have been into it. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [03:05]
I think we should sort of block off some streets, like in Manhattan
and in Brooklyn.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [03:10]
Well yeah, all the streets.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [03:11]
Well, yeah, because, you know, it’s easier to walk like blocks and
stuff. You don’t really need that many cars. There’s
plenty of subway and people would be healthier.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [03:20]
There’s actually a walkway in Tel Aviv, Roosevelt Avenue, where there’s
a whole like strip, you just walk down the block and every other block
is a juice, a juice stand or a sandwich stand, there’s places for
children to play, little playgrounds, you know, it’s so wonderful
that parents… and there’s a place to ride your bike. You really
feel like it added to the quality of life there. And if we had
something like that in Park Slope, I think it would be so well utilised
and enjoyed by all these families, these young families. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [03:52]
I have to spend a lot of money to rent an apartment to store my stuff,
but people who own an automobile can store their stuff here. It
costs them $150 a month to store their piece of machinery on this space
with a metre. And on the side streets there are no metres anyway,
it’s free. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [04:09]
Imagine it as a… like a sidewalk extension or something like that,
it would become almost like a little town square or something.
You know you imagine, doing it, wrapping it round the corner and it’d
be the other corners on the intersection, it would really become a,
you know, a wonderful public urban space.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [04:25]
And we’re taking what would be two parking spaces and creating a living
space here, a place where people are meeting each other, hanging out,
talking. Activism has never been this fun. </font> <br>
</p>
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