During the Transit Strike of 2004 one native New Yorker rode his bike for the first time in a decade. He found the city rife with dangers to cyclists and pedestrians at every corner. Realizing that safety for cyclists and pedestrians was not part of our city’s street design he joined the campaign for Livable Streets. That man is Dave ‘Paco’ Abraham, the Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn Volunteer Committee Chair since early 2009.
The highly active TA Brooklyn Volunteer Committee has given a voice to the street users in Brooklyn with a renewed fight for a Car-Free Prospect Park and urged DOT to implement Leading Pedestrian Intervals like those at Boerum Place & Livingston and enhanced roadway neckdowns such as the ones at Bergen & Smith. There’s plenty of fun going on in the group too! The TA Brooklyn Volunteer Committee coordinates monthly bikes rides all over the borough including the recent second annual Brooklyn Waterfront Epic Ride with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative. The Epic Ride culminated in a feast at Rockaway Taco. And trust us the 50 mi. ride along the water to the Rockaways was well worth the views and delicious eats. In the past two years, Paco has created some amazing Park(ing) Day spots in Brooklyn and we wanted to find out how he pulled it off.
At right: Paco, TA Brooklyn Committee Chair!
Park(ing) Day NYC: Can you tell us a little about the Park(ing) Spots you helped create? The one in 2008 was highlighted in the StreetFilms video and we want to know how you got an elected official to hang out in your space!
Paco: With the help of friends and TA BK members, I created Staycation Park for Park(ing) Day 2008 and it was a complete success. We reclaimed the northeast corner of Downtown Brooklyn’s
busy intersection at Court Street and Atlantic Avenue, an ideal spot where hundreds of people stopped to enjoy the couple hundred square feet of grass, chairs, board games, and snacks. 
Though most were rather puzzled seeing a temporary park pop up on the street, nearly all stopped to sit down or write a note on the comment chalkboard and quickly they all smiled realizing how much better the street used as a park for all rather than being just a storage space for an empty vehicle all day. In the end, I spent nearly 12 hours enjoying the company of friends, strangers, and even local leaders such as Assemblywoman Joan Millman and current City Councilman Brad Lander who both accepted my invitations.
The bustling Stay-Cation Park in 2008!
In 2009, I helped TA BK committee leader Martha Jackson set up a Park(ing) Day spot on 5th avenue in front of Gorilla Coffee in Park Slope that had a similar success. Though there was no grass laid out, blankets, lounge chairs, magazines, and friendly faces set up to again demonstrate that a 20 by 10 stretch of asphalt does a lot more as a park than it does as a parking spot. This was also the beginning of our groups ‘Fix Fifth Avenue’ campaign, a long-term effort seeking pedestrian and cyclist improvements across all of Fifth Avenue’s to create a single livable corridor from Flatbush to the Verrazano. We wrote a brief synopsis of the history of the existing Fifth Avenue bike lane and had people sign a petition to extend it past its current terminus at 23rd street in South Slope. Though I couldn’t spend all day there, scores of residents stopped to enjoy the park and realized that very little infrastructure is needed to make drastic street improvements.
The TA BK committee is already floating around plenty of ideas for spots this year. Come and join us when Park(ing) Day rolls around again!
PDNYC: How has Park(ing) Day helped the Transportation Alternatives Brooklyn Volunteer Committee?
Paco: Park(ing) Day has given TA BK a tangible way to demonstrate problems in the way current space is allocated. On a typical street with curbside parking and one lane of traffic in each direction, there’s perhaps 80 feet of space. At best, 25 feet of it is given to pedestrians on the sidewalk… but the remaining 50 plus feet are solely for cars… and half of that is actually empty cars. Park(ing) Day allows our members to give naysayers a perfect example of the illogical design our streets currently have, while at the same time showing the amazing potential even slight shifts different designs can offer.
PDNYC: Do you have any stories or memorable events from Park(ing) Day?
Paco: Having friends and family visit my park was great and local politicians’ coming was equally memorable, but the best part of it was welcoming unfamiliar faces to share the space. I estimated more than two hundred people sat down at Stay-cation Park throughout the day and many, many more simple walked past, talked for a minute, then went on their way with smiles. And just about all of those were complete strangers who clearly had their day brightened. The best of all of them was a man who had heard about Park(ing) Day from my interview on the Brian Lehrer show while driving around. He was so intrigued that he drove over to see it first hand, then parked elsewhere, and came over to play a game of Scrabble. ‘Man hears of park and ditches his car;’ sounds like a perfect Park(ing) day success story to me.
Paco hard at work creating the Stay-Cation Park!
PDNYC: How has Park(ing) Day changed your view of what public space is and can be in New York City?
Paco: Park(ing) Day showed me how valuable even a few square feet is in our dense city. Rather than storage for an empty vehicle, its much better served as a destination point for people to enjoy. I’m encouraged to see the DOT capitalizing on the idea with little reclamations like the Bedford Avenue bike swap on North 7th, the expanded neckdown at Bergen & Smith, the mini plaza at Hoyt-Schermerhorn Station, and the new Pearl street Pop Up Café in Downtown. However, I think we are still in desperate need for more of these changes, and perhaps more Park(ing) Days throughout the year, so that when you walk past a pop-up Park it doesn’t look out of the ordinary.
PDNYC: As a ‘Safer Streets’ advocate, what are the unique ways Park(ing) Day has promoted the causes you support?
Paco: Though Park(ing) Day’s most obvious benefit is how it reveals the wealth of space we waste on parking cars, it also offers a perfect opportunity to show the importance of daylighting. Both spots I set up were at the corner of the street, and strongly helped promote safety by giving pedestrians more room to step off the sidewalk without having to worry about cars speeding past. At the same time, the openness of the parks reduces the blind spots where a motorist may not see someone as they enter the crosswalk. We’re all pedestrians when we get out of the car, off the bike, or exit the train so pedestrians safety measures benefit us all.
PDNYC: What advice can you give this years Park(ing) Day participants and street activists in particular?
Paco: Park(ing) Day isn’t new and thankfully NYers have been witness to positive changes in their streetscape the past few years so this year, Park(ing) Day participants could try to go bigger, bolder, and always more engaging. If it’s a stark contrast to the surroundings, it’ll grab more attention. If it’s got some engaging activities, it’ll keep people there. Whether it’s a board game to play, an canvas to paint, a trapeze to swing on, a ball pit to dive into, or even a simple chair, its best when there’s something for visitors to participate in. One other tip, choose a corner spot at a busy intersection. It will offer more foot traffic and provide much needed daylighting.
PDNYC: And can you give us one reason why people should host a Park(ing) Spot?
Paco: Most New Yorkers don’t have a yard at their disposal; here’s your chance to design one however you’d like.
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New Yorkers take back your streets and create your own front yard! Register to host a Park(ing) Spot by August 30th!
By Abenson on August 27th, 2010.
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