posted by YUPs Caitlin Meives and Sara Jenks

Join the YUPs for PARK(ing) Day 2015 as we take over an unused surface lot in the heart of downtown Rochester’s famed parking crater!

There will be mini-golf, lawn games, lunchtime yoga and more!

PARK(ing) Day is an annual open-source global event where citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform parking spaces into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public places. The mission of PARK(ing) Day is to call attention to the need for more urban open space, to generate critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and to improve the quality of urban human habitat.

Last year, Rochester had the dubious distinction of winning the 2014 Streetsblog USA Parking Madness Tournament (read more at Rochester Subway). This was due to the preponderance of surface parking lots and parking garages in our downtown core. Many of these lots, it should be noted, once had historic buildings on them, with businesses, offices, residences, and people inside them. Today, by contrast, most of the parking lots are empty. Many are not even used for parking.

The YUPs want to reignite the discussion about the over-abundance of parking and Rochester’s over-reliance on the automobile. We want to ask the question–what might better serve our community? Maybe it’s a building, a park, or another creative use that attracts people and investment and that enlivens the streetscape.

If you want to be a part of PARK(ing) Day on 9/18, we have plenty of space for you to program with your own creative intervention (a mini park? a pop-up coffee shop? an outdoor living room?). Email Caitlin Meives with your idea.