Streetfilms: Park(ing) Day NYC 2008

As Streetsblog staff and Flickr pool contributors were filing photos on Friday, the Streetfilms crew — Clarence Eckerson, Jr., Mark Read and Robin Urban Smith — fanned out across the boroughs to catch the Park(ing) Day action on video. Says Clarence:

This year my travels took me to four of the five boros: biked 43 miles,
filmed 22 spots, spent 11 hours outdoors and had one bike crash – while
I was walking my bike through Times Square. Go figure!

While there was much fun to be had, Park(ing) Day again demonstrated the value of streets as public spaces. And some spots, as shown in the video, were designed with specific community goals in mind. The "Green for Breathing Park" in the South Bronx was dedicated to the campaign to demolish the Sheridan Expressway, and the "Safer Skillman Corner" in Woodside, Queens demonstrated how the removal of a parking space could make a dangerous street safer.

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