In San Francisco, the REBAR group organized a mass reclamation of automobile parking spaces to provide temporary green space for pedestrians to enjoy.

Over two-dozen parking spots were liberated. Some were transformed into lush, green creations complete with sod, trees and benches. Other organizations experimented with the idea, creating eclectic installations like artwork, benches and gardens One such space even features a self-serve lemonade stand!The event also included participation from groups outside San Francisco, including some from New York City.

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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> [00:10]
It’s going to be one of the taller loads we’ve carried. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Matthew Passmore:</i>
[00:33] One of the main areas of interest Rebar is exploring these niches
in regulatory frameworks or social codes that govern the way people
behave. And in doing some research on a parking space we discovered
in San Francisco County it appears to not be illegal to occupy a parking
space for uses other than a car. Downtown area is underserved
by public open space, so we figured we’d do our civic duty and create
a little sliver of public open space for a short period of time, to
serve the lunchtime crowd and to temporarily expand the public realm.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Blaine Merker:</i>
[01:07] In order to build a park in a parking spot, first thing you
need is obviously the material from which building. So you need
your sod, you need some kind of tree, greenery nature, place for people
to sit, that’s really important. Look at the environment, is
it going to be high traffic going by or is it the kind of place where
people are going to actually want to stop and [unintelligible 01:23]
park. And finally you need a little bit of signage, some people...
having some flyers nearby that tells what the project is, you know,
trying to do, it doesn’t hurt either. That’s it, and once
you do that, you’ve got your park in a parking spot. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Matthew Passmore:</i>
[01:35] Today in San Francisco we’re doing five parks that are all
deployed exclusively by human powered transport.</font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [01:52]
A great day for Parking Day. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Blaine Merker:</i>
[02:14] You can’t stop the sod. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [02:21]
You know what? I kind of like thought I was in the Twilight Zone.
I come outside and there’s a park right here, you know what I mean?
That’s what I mean, it’s like… where am I at? </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> [02:31]
I like the idea of green parks in the city and even awareness of open
spaces in the city. </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> [02:38]
I love it. I love it. Always just right in the middle of
the city. </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> [02:43]
What’d you think of it when you saw this green 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> [02:44]
It blew my mind, and this is real grass too man, it’s what do you
call it? Astroturf. This is real grass man. </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> [02:50]
I like that it’s activism, it’s very playful and it inspires and
sort of delights as opposed to like, you know, you don’t have to scream
your message, you can kind of just be playful about 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>Matthew Passmore:</i>
[03:02] There are also about a dozen, or 14 or so other groups that
are doing this in solidarity with us. So there’s parks all over
San Francisco right now that have been built by independent groups,
each with their own agendas, each with their own kind of reasons for
doing it. And I think that one of the powerful things about this,
about this installation is that it speaks to many different people on
many different levels. And so people that are interested in public
open space or urban planning or alternative transportation or a number
of different causes, can all find support for their cause in this kind
of installation. </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> [03:41]
Our focus is to de-pave areas of San Francisco that don’t need to
be paved and plant gardens, specifically to beautify, which is the neighbourhood
treasure component and also to help manage storm water. The Mayor has
given up his parking spot for the day. We’ve taken it over to
do a temporary park installation. So what we’re doing is asking
people to give a shovel full of dirt to help plant the dahlia that is
in each of these wheelbarrows. The dahlia is the city flower for
San Francisco. </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> [04:08]
We have installed a temporary park here in Ross Mirkarimi’s parking
spot and we’re just trying to draw attention to open space issues
within the city and show how much of an impact green space can have
in an urban environment. </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> [04:22]
Petro Park is a collaboration between Isabel and Charlie and it’s
about… it’s about petroleum and the fact that so much is taken as
natural in the environment, and we’re making a parody about 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> [04:37]
Behind us people have to pay to sit down and eat whereas here you can
eat for 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> [04:40]
Yes, we have a request to feed the metre to pay our rent since we’re
renting this space for the afternoon. </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> [04:46]
This is the Hanging Gardens slash Backdoor Patio of San Francisco.
And we have these nice hanging plants and lattice, it’s just like
sitting in your own backyard out on the 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> [04:59]
Some people came by, had lunch, sat down at the table. It’s
been a good day. </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> [05:03]
Beautiful. </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> [05:10]
We want to do this. We want to have lunch in the parking space,
that we want to transform now. We want to do it too and take the
space back from the cars.</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> [05:18]
I think it’s great to take over such a public piece of… a little
public piece of 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> [05:25]
We are here promoting public space as well as bike lanes. We are
taking out a short term lease on public space and turning it into something
prettier. 70% of public land in Downtown San Francisco is used for
automobile parking, and we decided as today’s International Car-Free
Day, you know, we would put it to better use and make a park.</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> [05:50]
Since we’re interested in collecting people with their food in a more
intimate way, we’re inspiring them to experiment because we don’t
see... in a safe way, we don’t see lemons like this. And they’re
amazingly fragrant. But these are the ones that grow and we let
them grow naturally.</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> [06:08]
It’s delicious. Very fresh. Tasty. </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> [06:11]
I can’t get enough of this. I could sit here all day.</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> [06:14]
It feels awesome. It’s clean. It’s great. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>Speaker:</i> [06:30]
I think the most exciting thing was regular folks walking by a little
bit confused and seeing our park and saying, what’s this all about?
And you say, it’s a park. And they know. That’s all
that you have to say, it’s a park. </font></p>
<p> <br></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"></font></p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><i>All:</i> [06:44] Rebar. </font> <br>
</p>
<p><font size="3" face="Times New Roman">[music]</font> <br></p>
http://transcriptdivas.ca/transcription-canada/
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