For the second year in a row Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Councilman Patrick Dowd gave up their parking spaces on 4th Ave Downtown so that they could be remade into parklets and on-street bike parking corrals. Activists and public-space advocates have taken over 19 parking spots all over Pittsburgh today to reclaim this valuable real estate for people, instead of parked cars. The day has its roots in San Francisco where in 2005 a grassroots art and design collective called Rebar temporarily transformed metered parking spots into “PARK(ing)” spaces: temporary public parks. Now Park(ing) Day is celebrated all over the country.

Councilman Dowd's space made into a bike parking corral

Mayor Ravenstahl stops by his Park(ing) Spot. Check out that pin!

If you want to read a bit more about Park(ing) Day from a local perspective, check out this article in this week’s Pop City. For a complete listing of all the Pittsburgh Park(ing) Day locations explore the map.