They are right, come up with better idea's other than making peoples lives miserable...What the hell do you expect?

I've never understood things like this.

Let's take an issue which is already the bane of most people's existence, and exacerbate it even more, in order to make a statement that we want those people to embrace.

So completely counterproductive, you'd think only 15 year olds would think this was a valid approach.

Or, you could call this mildly sociopathic behavior: objectify the commuter thereby making it easy to do something which will specifically impact them in a very negative fashion.

Of course, a reasonable sentient adult understands that the system can be changed through the political process. Tell all those unhappy commuters that they can join in changing the status quo, therefore making their lives better.

Oh wait, rational approaches like that are, by default, never gonna happen in our perpetually adolescent society. Sigh..

I wondered about this too. They mean well, but they're chosen an extremely counterproductive way to make their point. They want people to drive less, but end up forcing people who've never heard of their holiday to drive around more looking for parking in crowded cities. They want to win people to their cause, but end up angering them and creating more waste and congestion.

How does this help anybody?

Thank God you're here to show us how to be mature.

"an issue which is already the bane of most people's existence"

What, you mean the fact that so much urban public space is taken up by storage for private property? Or the thought that cities haven't been ruined enough by cars?

Yes, finding a parking spot is insanely difficult in most cities (and even some big suburbs). But is that a problem we should have to deal with? Is this good an absolute necessity or can an individual change their habits so they do not rely on it? Having trouble finding a parking spot because they are all taken by cars leads to the idea that more spots should be made. But by transforming a few of these spots for a few hours of one day to green spaces, people might be able to see that the problem is not that there aren't enough parking spots, but that our lifestyles have become too reliant upon them.

Parking is an issue to be solved, but how do we want to solve it? Do we want to satisfy the demand and expand our concrete jungles, or do we want to change our habits so we do not have that need? Could we use our energy, urban space, and other resources in a better way than making more parking spots? Or have cities been mastered by our car culture to the point that we cannot break this addiction?

Tom, what planet are you from exactly? Certainly not this one.

In my understanding, PARK(ing) day is not as much about getting people to drive less as it is trying to make the point that:

there isn't enough open green space in urban areas, and there is disproportionately much space dedicated to non-people (a.k.a. cars).

I thought it was making a point about balance.

There are currently about three parking spaces in the United States for every vehicle. Seems like a lot to me.

Counterproductive? Park)ing) day was not Critical Mass. It was fun for christ's sake!!!

It was never about inconveniencing anyone. Taking a SINGLE parking place out of thousands is completely trivial in terms of any sort of inconvenience. The small-minded gophers have really come out of the woodwork here.

FACT - If you did not think park(ing) day was brilliant fun, then you have your head stuck so far up you &*$# that it's really too late for you. Get a clue, get a life, or go away!!!

Note to Jalopnik - who's more popular TH or You? Not that I care so much, but it's a more "base" metric you might understand. Being nice is much better than being hateful and stirring up the gophers. Fie gophers!!! Fie!!! I used to love Jalopnik because it had a funny sense of humor, and I like cars too! But what a load of morons you produced with this one!

"hard enough trying to find metered parking spots ... in New York" ???

And your point is??? That's hilarious. If you're dumb enough to take your car to Manhattan, you deserve what you get!

Tom, what planet are you from exactly? Certainly not this one.

You were saying something about being "perpetually adolescent"?

@kimjanne:

It was never about inconveniencing anyone. Taking a SINGLE parking place out of thousands is completely trivial in terms of any sort of inconvenience. The small-minded gophers have really come out of the woodwork here.

I think you'll find that nearly everyone you ask, treehugger or no, would agree that cities need more green space. (Although this is somewhat inconsistent with the belief that denser urbanization is greener than spread-out development with green space)

Which is why I don't understand what this movement is trying to achieve. People who have heard of it will already be supporters. People who haven't will be caught off guard when they try to park, and aren't likely to be receptive. They might even normally be folks who would support you, they may hate that they had to drive to wherever they are, but you're going to meet them when they're just trying to get through their day, and *you* will be the immediate obstacle they see.

For the record, I don't drive to work. I used to bike, and now I telecommute.

I definitely support having more green space in urban areas, but I can't support this idea. I find it extremely counterproductive and almost infuriating. One spot out of hundreds for a few hours may not be a large chunk of available parking, but to anyone trying to park, it FEELS like a lot.

As Willy Bio alluded to, pissing somebody off and having a negative impact is not a good way to garner support. People who'd support this type of thing are probably already supporters of the 'movement'. Not a net gain.

I'm really puzzled and disappointed by the negative energy here. How in the world is this counterproductive? How in the world is it inconvenient? Someone has stirred people up by giving the impression that there is some kind of "blockade" going on. That has never been the case.

It's one parking spot out of thousands. it's fun. It's cool. I am certain that in most cases there are dozens of empty spots nearby. Jalopnik has seriously gone up the wrong tree on this and opened some kind of hateful vortex that people are now falling into... stay out of the vortex my friends!!!

"There are currently about three parking spaces in the United States for every vehicle. Seems like a lot to me."
I don't know for sure but I would be willing to bet the great majority of those spots are in strip/mini/regular malls in the suburbs. Aside from Waukegan, (which is basicly part of the North Side of Chicago anyway in terms of denisty) how many of these protests took place in these places I wonder??

Tom, what planet are you from exactly? Certainly not this one.

The same planet in which some enlightened cities (e.g. Copenhagen) have gradually reduce the number of car parks in their cities, and replaced that with public pedestrian space. The same planet in which people do indeed find it irritating when so much potentially pleasant urban space is dominated by cars. The same planet that is being imperilled by people who think it's their inalienable right to drive right up to the door of wherever they're going, rather than walking or taking public transport.

Looks like the majority agrees with me.

Stop with the 3-1 statistic. This includes all parking spaces, public and private (malls, etc). Of course these goofballs did not do this on private spaces as they would have been arrested for trespass.

No, one space out of thousands is not much statistically (stop with the statistics), but that one space pisses off every driver who passes it and realizes what's going on. Pretty good return on your effort, especially in a big city. That is, if pissing off the maximum number of people by using the smallest amount of space is your aim.

Oh, and how exactly does taking up a parking space, on a city street which has probably existed for 1-2 centuries, going to make a point about the shortage of parks and green spaces? Wow! It won't! :D

Now, kiddies, when you decide to grow up and become involved in adult society, here's a suggestion: vote for city officials who are pro green roof. Hey, green roofs, yea, much more square footage available than there is in parking spaces, and nobody's already using it! Gee! Eureka!

"that one space pisses off every driver who passes it"

Willy - you're obviously not much of a thinker, or observer. Did you encounter any of these "parks"? If you did you would see that 99% of the people who passed them are pedestrians, not "cars looking for places to park", and the vast majority of those people were delighted and charmed.

Most people who bring cars into cities park them in garages anyway. I challenge you to find me a single driver who couldn't find a place to park and got "pissed off" because of it. Seriously - can you even find me a cent of bad press about this? The only negative story I've seen is the Jalopnik one, which, to use your words, epitomized "kiddie" levels of maturity.

Now go down to your park and cool off amigo!

Stay out of the vortex!!! Ignore the hatred, it's silly and inconsequential. I'm going to the park now!

Folks, Willy Bio is a "provocateur." There are less savory terms for his behavior, so I'll let you imagine a better word.

Pay him no mind. He's just here to provoke and stroke his ego. He gets off on putting other people down.

Anonymous posted number one - Was your life made miserable by this? Was anyones? Please find someone who suffered and I'll personally appologize.

I'm not here to spread any hatred or anything, I'd never even heard of Jalopnik. Why can't we promote more green and have fun without affecting other people in a bad way? (And as an aside, how about doing it without doing the ad-hominem thing or by labeling someone's points as 'hatred'?)

Great. You lot are worse than the RNC. Once you realize you're wrong, the majority thinks your wrong, and you've made a mistake, you'd rather call people Trolls and the like rather than analyze the actual situation. Or you make unrealistic demands: go find someone who drove by and was unhappy. Well, I know if I did, and got them to post, you'd just dismiss them as trolls too. Talk about sticking your heads in the sand.

Several posters on this thread expressed disdain for this event. You wanted to be presented with people who were unhappy about it, well there they are. How'd you miss them? Look at comments attached to articles on this event all over the web, not only Jalopnik. See any negative comments? Yea? Well there they are, kiddies, the people who were angered by this event.

Wake up. Take some personal responsibility, and consider the effect your actions have on other people. Better yet, figure out ways to actually accomplish your goal, rather than alienating the general public and getting nowhere. Any of you care to comment on my suggestion to put these energies towards green roofs instead? Anyone?

I have closed comments on this post as they are getting personal and off subject.