Park(ing) Day MA

Friday was Park(ing) Day LA, an event that the Militant is very familiar with. So he decided to look up the map and roam around town on bike and on rail on Friday afternoon to tour some of the temporary parks being set up on street parking spaces to call attention to the need for people-oriented public spaces. Pretty much the majority of the proposed parks were situated in the Central Los Angeles area, with a few in the Westside (Santa Monica to be specific), a couple in the South Bay, and a handful in the SFV and SGV combined. It seemed as if Park(ing) Day LA was less of a deal this year than last, and it did seem that there were less points on the map. Of course, the Militant still couldn't see 'em all, so here's the somewhat limited tour...

The Militant headed to one of the nearest parks to his compound (pictured right), in East Hollywood's "Hel-Mel Bicycle District" where a park set up by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust and the local neighborhood council yielded an inflatable swimming pool, a BBQ grill and some potted plants for decoration. A few people took a dip in the 80-plus degree heat, and others had their Scoops ice cream while chilling out at this location.

The Militant then headed to the nearest Metro station and took the12-minute ride Downtown where he disembarked at Pershing Square and..had to carry his ride up the northeast station portal (escalator was not in service, d'oh) to 4th street, where he headed due east. Near 4th and Spring, he saw a park ready to be taken down, with just a patch of astroturf marking the spot. Hmm. The Militant headed further and made his way to Main and Winston, where a rather large park installation was taking place.

Well, this was kind of cheating, as it wasn't the takeover of parking space but rather a (the Militant assumes, permitted) street closure. Winston, as some of you may or may not recall, is the tiny sidestreet upon where Blossom Vietnamese restaurant is situated, which the Militant covered in his long-dormant spinoff food blog, the Militant Angeleno's Mess Hall (wonder when he'll start that thing up again...).

This particular park (pictured left) was also organized by the local neighborhood council, this time the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (which was cool since the Militant always thought that neighborhood councils were just comprised of a bunch of cranky-ass, quasi-racist rich white old farts with no lives who like to shout at each other, wank off to Planning and Land Use Management issues and cling to their little fiefdoms. Oh yeah, did the Militant mention they're OLD? We're talking Pre-Cambrian, stop-driving-your-car-or-you'll-crash-into-a-farmer's-market fogeyness here. But the Militant digresses...good to know there's some NCs who aren't as fogey-ized and dig the Park(ing) Day thang) . This park had the requisite astroturf foundation, but also bore an entertainment stage, a basketball court and a display of James Rojas' infamous "Lego Downtown." The Militant also may or may not have spotted another local blogger there, who apparently had no idea the Militant was in his midst. Muhahaha. The main theme though at this park was the $196 monthly cost of a parking lot space, and various posterboards gave a quantitiative indication of what can be purchased for that price (i.e. one park bench, seven basketballs, 174 tennis balls, etc.).

The Militant continued on to the Financial District where he was promised a bunch of parks. Unfortunately he wasn't able to see squat. One site (Melendrez) was supposed to be near Pershing Square (which is an actual, permanent park - aren't we supposed to be putting these things up where there is no park space?) but apparently they decided to shut down early, and no trace of it was found.

The Militant did get to see the Torti Gallas and Partners Park, on 6th and Grand, who cordoned off their area with a picket fencing and adorned the space with a realtor's sign. Their theme was a similar cost-analysis of space, this time treating the parking space as though it were real estate property (valued at $77,000) and "selling" a parking space-sized residential structure for that price.

The rest of the Militant's search wasn't very fruitful. Either these sites never sprang up or they shut down early, mostly due to parking lane traffic flow restrictions inherent in Downtown (booo...). The one park by the Central Library was gone, for example.

The Militant also made his was a little west to Pico-Union where a park site was to go up on Hoover and Alvarado, but the Militant found no trace of it whatsoever.

So that was one complaint of the day, either many sites only set up for a short amount of time, or not at all. That was pretty much it for the Militant's tour, though Damien Newton from Streetsblog seemed to have more luck than the Militant in his report.

At one of the sites the Militant visited, he did run into a couple ladies who told him they set up their own site in Little Tokyo, which subsequently got shut down at around 2:30 p.m. by the cops. BREAKIN' DA LAW! They also explained that earlier in the day, other officers would drive past and even wave, though they theorized one of the businesses in the area called to complain. But they shrugged it off as no big deal, as 2:30 was past their original time limit anyway.

Still, Park(ing) Day 2008 didn't seem to have the splash it had last year, when it generated some mainstream media attention. This time, it was strictly a blogging event, it seems.

The Militant also didn't go to the Miracle Mile afterparty, though it probably had better music than the parking garage festivities of last year.

Oh well, maybe we'll have a better impact next year.

AND NOW...HERE'S YOUR LOS ANGELES DODGERS...uh...Bike Parking

The Militant rode his bike up to Chavez Ravine on Friday afternoon to pick up his Opening Day tickets, and what a fine opportunity to check out this new bike parking facility that's been talked about lately.

So behold: standing some 50 feet west of the main ticket office outside of the Stadium's Top Of The Park souvenir shop is your Dodger Stadium bicycle parking facility -- all eight feet of it in its shining aluminum splendor.

On the awesome side, the Militant (who has definitely done this kind of thing before) may or may not have been the first cyclist evar to lock up his bike in the new Dodger Stadium bicycle parking facility (pictured above). The Militant Makes History!

But on the foul side, designed for 20 bicycles (perhaps more if you're creative enough), this bike rack, known in cycling circles as a "wheelbender" is normally frowned upon by more experienced bicyclists, as not only, as its moniker suggests, do they allow thinner-wheeled bikes to get bent more than a Bart Simpsonesque insult, but if you don't park your bike correctly, they can leave you with 2/3rds of your bicycle missing.

Truly, with this being the Dodgers' Golden Anniversary season, and with owner Frank McCourt having more money in his pocket than the Militant probably has in his entire bank account and credit spending limit combined, the organization could have put up a bunch of horseshoe racks, wonderfully painted in Dodger Blue, in Lot P, but nooooo.

It's like getting underwear for Christmas from Santa Claus. Certainly functional, but not quite the Nintendo 64 that Wii we asked for.

Well, that's strike one. Maybe the Dodgers can go yard in the future if they heed cyclists' advice and implement better bike parking design.

Thinkin' Of A Master Plan...

In the last episode of Militant Angeleno, the Militant found his way though the streets of Chinatown, watching a parade, lion dances and hundreds of tubes creating confetti explosions. But that was one whole week ago.

What exactly is going on here? (dramatic horn blast)

Has the Militant gone lazy? (another dramatic horn blast)

Has the Militant Angeleno scaled back his operations to weekly posts? (yet another dramatic horn blast)

Does this mean the end of the Militant? (okay, real long dramatic horn blast)

Stay tuned, Angelenos!

The Militant got up early for a change on a Saturday morning, yet not early enough that he needed the aid of Metro Rapid 754 to take him and his two-wheeled chariot down to Exposition Park for yet another community workshop meeting junta confab-type event. This time, it was for the Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan regional meeting for the Central and South Los Angeles areas (the first in a series of four), which took place at the historic Los Angeles Swim Stadium 1932 Olympic Venue, now adaptively re-used as a recreational center for the local community.

Around 40 concerned cyclists were in attendance, making their presence known not only in the second-floor community room but in the overflowing bicycle racks (pictured right) that stood outside the building where the attendees parked.

The meeting was largely a primer session from Mia Birk of the Portland-based consulting group Alta Planning, who was contracted by the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to spearhead the community meetings and to help update the plan itself, which currently consists of a system of 300 miles of (mostly non-connecting) bikeways out of 7300 miles of City thoroughfares. Birk talked largely about methods and facilities employed in other cities in the U.S. (especially in Portland) and in other countries that adapt existing road structures into to a more bicycle-friendly infrastructure.

At one point, four profiles of people's attitudes towards bicycle riding which ranged from the "Strong & Fearless" hardcore down to those who wouldn't touch a bicycle with a ten foot pole. One attendee did point out that another demographic - the working poor who can't afford cars or even transit - were left out of the picture (The Militant already had his work cut out for him at this point), and it was pointed out that it was them who are the everyday bicycle commuters (even though they generally ride on the sidewalk). The consultants tried to shoehorn them into an existing group, which was a stretch, but it was apparent that there was some sort of socioeconomic disconnect on the part of the Portland-based group (though the Militant has seen working poor in Portland as well). Their presence was absent from the meeting, despite the fact that there were printed materials and live translators in Spanish.

Normally at these kind of community workshop meeting junta confab-type events, there's the requisite, interactive break-out sessions, which were planned towards the end of the meeting, as the consultants and City staff were ready with their maps and Sharpie markers. But the maps - which depicted the entire city - and not specific regions - were way too small to be of any practical use (like your fist would cover all of Downtown - that small). So attendees just used the time to chat amongst each other.

Participants were encouraged though to post their routes online via the bikely.com website, an international bike route resource, and save their routes with "LA BMP" in the title. The Militant will surely add his Los Feliz to Koreatown Vermont Bypass Bicycle Corridor route all up in there.

The Bicycle Master Plan Meetings continue in other regions over the next few weeks. The Militant orders you to be there, and hopefully ask for some larger maps:

The Westside: Wednesday, February 20 (that's like, this Wednesday)
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Felicia Mahood Multipurpose Center
11338 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Los Angeles

The Valley: Wednesday, February 27
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Marvin Braude Constituent Services Center
6262 Van Nuys Blvd. (Van New York Blvd?!?)
Van Noise

The Real Southside (aka Pedro, The Harbor area): Saturday, March 1
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Banning's Landing Community Center
100 E. Water St.
Wilmington (okay, it's not quite Pedro)

The Eastside: Sorry, guess that means that they just don't care about you.

After this round of community workshop meeting junta confab-type events, the City and the consultants plan follow-up gatherings in November.

Following the meeting, around 20 cyclists went on a ride to the Watts Towers, organized by Strong & Fearless-category velocommuter and blogger extraordinaire Will Campbell. The Militant may or may not have joined the group, but operative reports indicated that it was a very fun and educational excursion into South Los Angeles on a beautiful day.

Happy Super Fat Tuesday, California!

Make no excuses. Get out and vote today.

You Can Has Freeway Park!

Pssst...readers! Wanna be more Militant? Wanna be more involved in the community? Wanna play an active role in our City's future?

The proponents of the Hollywood Freeway Central Park are having a community-wide meeting on Saturday morning, January 26 at Selma Ave. Elementary School in Hollywood to discuss the proposal with members of the community and initiate community's thoughts and input on the park. Wanna see it happen? Militant Angeleno says, "Be There!"

The Militant may or may not be there, of course. But a number of his operatives definitely will be, as well as councilmen Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge, two local officials who the Militant is known to hang out with.

For those of you just catching up, the Hollywood Freeway Central Park is a proposal to build a structural cap over the below-street level section of the Hollywood Freeway between Bronson Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. and create a 34-acre greenway and recreation space on it (Yeah, it's gonna cost a lot of dough...).

One of the Militant's first posts talked about the park plan as he attended a meeting of involved community members back in June of last year (and wrote about it in the first person, no less). Our City is extremely parkspace-deficient, especially in the Hollywood area, and though it won't even bring the area up to acceptable parkspace-per-resident levels, any addition of parkspace in the Hollywood area will be beneficial.

Sounds like a crazy idea? Other freeway cap parks exist in the country in places like Boston and Seattle. More closer to home, the half-mile long Margaret T. Hance Park in Phoenix, AZ sits over the 10 Freeway and is home to that city's Central Library and a Japanese Garden. Even closer, there are short freeway cap parks in San Diego (over the 15) and Memorial Park in La Cañada Flintridge (over the 210).

Though already some have come out in opposition. Aside from those who naturally have issues with the possible structural integrity (see Boston's Big Dig), terrorism or those asshats who would rather see the freeway widened and double-decked, there are some ultra-paranoid tinfoil hat-wearing conspiracy theorist freakos in the community who believe the City is supporting a park that will "never get built" and is just fronting it as a ploy to re-zone the area for superdensity and use eminent domain to kick out all the existing residents (Um, if the park never gets built, what incentive is there for developers to build a large parkside condo if there's no park in the first place?).

Of course, if you like to believe that stuff, kindly go to the nearest gun store, purchase a pistol, load it with bullets, point it to your own head, and pull the trigger, since anyone who's that cynical might as well not continue living anyway.

The proposed park over the Hollywood Freeway would be another jewel in Hollywood to benefit locals and tourists alike. Most of all it would provide a means for people, especially children, in the community to have somewhere to play (as opposed to the streets or private parking lots, like they do now), and it would ultimately re-unite neighborhoods that were divided when the freeway was built.

Militant Update: DWP Light Festival Invasion - Miracle or Meh?

The Militant joined over 50 bicyclists who gathered at the Kool-Aid Fountain and headed down Crystal Springs Drive to the bikes-not-allowed DWP Holiday Light Festival and invade it as a show of protest against velo-oppression and utter disregard for vehicle codes.

We rode through the park, pedaling past the long, red-light-stringed queue of cars, with one of the members of the pack pumping out heavy metal Christmas carols from his portable sound system, ready to Stick It To The Man. Grrrrrr!

And when we went in...

...well, "the man" just pretty much stood there, and didn't really care. The pack weaved in between and to the left of traffic. The organizers encouraged us to adorn ourselves - and our bikes - with lights, preferably of bright, colorful and flashing variety, and we also whooped, hollered and chanted, "Ho Ho Ho!" at the motorists, who honked at us - not out of scorn, but out of admiration - they too whooped and hollered along with us.

That didn't work out the way it was planned. So at the Los Angeles Zoo parking lot, the pack regrouped and took a break (which the Militant welcomed as it allowed his nearly-frostbitten fingers to regain sensation and bloodflow), then rode back the opposite way. We're riding against the flow of traffic! That oughtta get us into trouble, no question!

Uh, maybe not. There was even a traffic officer at the Zoo parking lot (pictured left) who just stood there and even chatted with other cyclists. And when we did ride against the flow of traffic, that just gave the motorists a better view of us - and us of them - and their visual and audible demonstrations of Holiday cheer.

Obviously the bike ban was not enforced at all (not that the Militant is complaining), but perhaps the real test is whether or not the velo-prohibition (on paper, at least) will still be in effect for next year's festival.

We regrouped again, just outside the Festival's entrance, and the group dispersed, most of them joining the Sins and Sprockets ride to Chinatown, and the rest headed home...in the fros-ty air!

So take your pick, this act of defiance was either a dud, or the Christmas spirit in everyone filled the place with peace and joy where everyone had a good time, no matter what mode of transportation they used to get to the Festival.

Fight For Your Right To Bike To The Lights!

Bicyclists, who have been prohibited from visiting the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Holiday Light Festival (no not that Festival of Lights - that already ended the other week...) in Griffith Park, will converge at the Kool-Aid Fountain (a.k.a. the William Mulholland Memorial Fountain) on the corner of Los Feliz Blvd. and Riverside Drive at 7:30 p.m. tonight to ride en masse to the Festival in solidarity to show that bikerzz can has Light Festival.

Aside from a token preview a few weeks ago, bikes, along with buses and RVs, have been banned from the Festival. But obviously unlike buses and RVs, bicycles do not pose a threat to the Festival's height clearance, much less pollute the air, so there must be some other conspiracy at play here.

The organizers encourage participants to dress up illuminated (anyone know where to find some glowsticks?) in order to become the light festival.

These folks are down. So are these folks.

The Militant may or not be there of course, but damnit, he probably will.

Mr. Mulholland himself once said, upon the opening of the great Aqueduct, "There it is, take it!"

And damnit, we probably will.

CAN I HAS SUM MOR PARKZ????

The Militant is back to his community-oriented bizzizzle again, this time having attended the City of Los Angeles Dept. of Recreation and Parks Citywide Community Needs Assessment workshop on Wednesday night at the City-owned Friendship Auditorium, situated at the extreme southeast corner of Griffith Park.

The purpose of the workshop, which was the first in a series of 15 currently being conducted in each of Los Angeles' city council districts, is to gauge the community's feedback regarding the current quality of facilities and programs at its system of 390 recreational sites around Los Angeles, as well as any issues regarding expansion of the park system. You just know the Militant, as well as two of his community-activist operatives, were there to make their voices heard regarding the last part.

The gathering had an attendance of at most 50 and the attendees were predominantly white and at least 50. Years old, that is (So either way, the typical reader of this blog, or any blog, for that matter, was most likely not represented there - though the one cool thing about attending meetings with a bunch of old-timers there is that the Militant's identity is in no danger of being revealed). A classic moment also happened when one of the presenters asked - in English - if anyone needed any Spanish translation. Heh heh. He did use the words "Español" and "necesita" eventually, but even by then it was fairly evident that no one there was in need of translation headsets. Later on the consultants did admit they didn't do enough outreach (the Militant only heard about this second-hand) and to their credit, it's awfully hard to get people to any sort of community meeting between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day.

The meeting was formatted just like nearly all community workshops the Militant has attended: A droll, monotone introduction by a city official you've never heard of, the introduction of the consulting team, the introduction of an elected city official many people have heard of (in this case, a dude the Militant has not only heard of, but even biked with - Mr. "Los Anga-les" himself, Tom LaBonge), followed by a set of PowerPoint slides (to this meeting's credit, they were kept to a necessary minimum) and finally the "Look at your nametags, there's a colored dot on it, it's time to split up into groups!" section.

So we were split up into three groups (pictured above) where we were asked about our impressions of the City's Recreation and Parks system, which parks we use, issues regarding accessibility, the possibility and need for expansion and short-term and long-term goals and priorities.

Profiles In Taxpayer Spending: This dude was just doing his job at the parks workshop, but for a community meeting attended by some 50 people where they only used one microphone to hear just a couple people speak for half of the meeting, did they really need an audio tech with enough equipment to run sound for a Rolling Stones concert?

At the Militant's group, there was much talk about Griffith Park. In fact, most of the conversation dealt with the park, though strangely enough hardly anything was mentioned regarding last May's char-broiling. The park itself encompasses more than a quarter of the City's 15,600 acres of parkland and is located right in the 4th council district where this meeting was intended.

One of the other people in the group, a Silver_Lake resident, actually said he lived in a park-rich area, being in close proximity to the Silver Lake rec center, Griffith Park, Elysian Park, Echo Park and Bellevue Rec Center, as each of those places were a quick drive for him. But one lady, an accent-intact NY transplant (though one who has probably lived in Los Angeles much longer than the Militant has been alive) who reminisced about going to Central Park as a girl, did call for the need for more parks within walking distance of families, as well as better access by transit.

The Militant agreed with her, told the group he lives in a park-deficient hood and even was the first to declare "More parks in park-poor areas!" as the City's #1 short-term priority for the Rec and Parks system. He even talked about the proposed Hollywood Freeway Central Park (which he raved about here back in his first-person days).

Even after the workshop concluded, the Militant had a conversation about methods to attain more park space, including land-swapping, especially with Caltrans, and partnerships with the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, which helped to build one of the new parks that has been featured in this here blog.

So you want more parks in Los Angeles? One Militant and his operatives can only do so much. Get your voices heard! Go to some of these workshops and demand that more parks and open space be a priority for the department and the City's budget. The workshops continue until February of next year. And if you can't make it, THE MILITANT WILL KILL YOU!

Okay, just kidding. But you can still participate by downloading this Petey Yeff file, completing it and faxing or postaling it in.

Either way, help make the decisions before others make them for you.

Park(ing) Day:The Epilogue

The first Park(ing) Day in Los Angeles is now history -- but what an effort. Over 40 sites were made in various communities, with the majority in the dense center of the city, which is likely a sign that Los Angeles has more of a center than most people give it credit for. Most of the sites were built or designed by artists, urban planning students/academics or architects. But a noticeable amount of plain old community folk got involved, including one neighborhood council, which was the only one in the city forward- thinking (and dare the Militant say, "militant") enough to create not one but two parking sites.

The Militant was involved in an unspecified number of "park"s on Friday, and though he cannot divulge which one(s), he can describe, via his network of operatives, which ones he knew of. One park in Larchmont Village was composed of sod and borrowed plants from a local nursery strategically placed in front of the City-owned parking lot which drew lunchtime visitors and children into its sketchbook. Another located near Wilshire and Western consisted of balloons on a patch of astroturf. A Thai Town "park" had a trailer and a makeshift astroturf campground while one not so far away in front of Los Angeles City College had a canopy, potted plants, a swinging bench and a kiddie pool. Some of the more ambitious sites were in Downtown, with one on Main Street comprised of native tall grasses and a bench made of bales of hay. The granddaddy of them all was one on Traction Avenue in the Arts District which took over an entire traffic island with sod and wooden pallets and invited kids from a Little Tokyo preschool to come play.

The problem the Militant found with the parks, including his own, was that though many passers-by supported the idea, they didn't quite get it. They didn't hang out in the parks, instead viewing it as something more akin to performance art or some sort of protest.

The day ended with an after-party at Public Counsel's parking structure (originally planned in the lot but moved to the structure due to the impending rain) in the Mid-Wilshire/Koreatown area. The party wasn't very happening, but the Militant was able to chat with fellow "park"-makers and see about three other "parks" re-located there (pictured left). A number of the partygoers decided to live out the childhoods they never really had by scrawling chalk drawings on the parking structure floor. Um, yeah. So unlike the Earth, Wind and Fire song, this 21st night of September wasn't that memorable.

Park(ing) Day was observed in over 40 cities across the United States, with Frisco boasting the largest number of parks (over 50), Los Angeles in an impressive second place with over 40 and NYC taking the bronze medal with over 20. In Seattle, the local press has already opened up the issue of funding for more parks in that city.

Today's Los Angeles Times Article on Park(ing) Day made much ado on the journalistic angle of conflict: white activists invading on predominantly Latino neighborhoods (which was largely true, but definitely not in the case of the Militant's park(s)); people in automobiles at odds with "park"-builders, etc.

But the media never reported the other stories: That the City of Los Angeles' Parking Enforcement did not cite any of the "park"-builders and in fact were keenly aware of the day's activities. Furthermore, according to an operative, one of the Parking Enforcement officers even said, "You oughtta do this twice a year!"

Movements usually start out small, awkwardly and with much criticism and derision. Park(ing) Day was no exception. But in the inevitably denser, more urban Los Angeles of tomorrow, planners and local governments will have to be more creative in re-defining the paradigm of public space. Granted, it probably won't come in the form of a parking space, but you just might be surprised.

Was it worth it? Hellyeah. And the Militant already has some plans for Park(ing) Day LA 2008.

Top photo courtesy of Militia member Blackbird.

Doin' It In The Park...

Over 40 street parking spaces - from Van Nuys to Long Beach, Westwood to Pasadena - will be converted into temporary parkspaces on Friday as part of Park(ing) Day L.A., an event described as a "grassroots effort reclaiming public space in our streets." Numerous operatives of the Militant informed him that the purpose of the event, which started a couple years ago in Frisco, was to create a dialogue on the use of urban public space, being that more space in our cities have been devoted to automobiles than to people. The Militant was so sold on this when he first heard about it from community-minded operatives that he attended some meetings held in very secret Militant-style quarters to gain more information and insight on this event. The Militant has been quite active in the creation of an unspecified number of these 42+ parks and has been devoting some of his time recently to some Militant-style strategic confabs regarding this very Militant operation.

Public space is important to Los Angeles as any potential open space is being (or has already been) gobbled up by developers and even the Los Angeles Unified School District (who in their infinite bureaucratic wisdom, claim their school sites can be potential open spaces for surrounding communities - shyyyeahfuggingright - like a kid who spends 35 hours a week on the school grounds would really want to spend their weekend there). The Militant doesn't mind the densification of Los Angeles, though blind densification without any regard to creating or improving infrastructure -- be it utilities, transportation or recreation -- doesn't make for good planning, nor happy urban inhabitants. Even for the developers' sake: They're not gonna make much money if people ultimately don't find these developments desirable places to live or shop.

Though affluent NIMBYS and members of the cranky, rotting GHP clamor for more parking lots and facilities (specifically so people won't park in their streets), they neglect to realize that cities were meant for humans, not cars (though they might have a point, as the Militant doesn't consider affluent NIMBYs nor GHP-types to be full-fledged human beings anyway). One of the Militant's operatives said it best: "We have homeless people, but there are no homeless cars."

The Park(ing) Day L.A. website has some interesting (and thought-provoking) statistics and factoids on ticker-tape scroll at the top of its page, pointing out some very stark socioeconomic disparities with regard to various demographic groups and their access to open space. No, Hollywood can't become a bunch of farms and ranches anymore, but we can has sum parkz.

So check out the map on the Park(ing) Day L.A. site and drop by the park (or parks) nearest to you (the majority of them are (M)etro-accessible). Maybe even spend your lunch hour there if you can. Support these guerrilla urban planners who are doin' it , not just here in Los Angeles, but in places like Frisco, NYC, Washington D.C., Seattle, Portland, Chicago, Miami and others - and worldwide in places like London, Berlin, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, Melbourne and more.