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Background

Solano Avenue bridges two beautiful cities, Berkeley and Albany, California. Spanning 26 blocks (one mile), Solano Avenue hosts over 400 businesses, including 65 restaurants, 30 retail shops, one movie theater, three pocket parks, two grocery stores and two elementary schools. Most of the Solano Avenue businesses are independent and locally owned.

Since 1974, Solano Avenue Merchants Association and the cities of Albany and Berkeley have hosted the Solano Avenue Stroll — the East Bay’s largest street festival. The event has numerous corporate sponsors and includes many community volunteers. The festival is held on the second Sunday in September.

The event includes over five hundred vendors, non-profit organizations, food booths and entertainers. It attracts participants and visitors from throughout California as well as from neighboring states. The fun begins with the opening of Solano Avenue businesses and Stroll booths, and the kick-off theme parade of about 100 groups. After the parade, participants can see and hear 75 entertainers, and visit food booths and juried arts and crafters, play games, see wacky art cars, and learn about almost 200 community non-profit and government organizations. A special children’s entertainment area is provided with giant slides, carnival games, clowns, jugglers, stilt walkers, face painters, and magicians. In the “Green Zone”, participants can learn tips on how they can reduce global warming and get advice from environmental experts.

The Solano Avenue Merchants Association is dedicated to promoting and improving the Solano Avenue business district and to building community spirit and identity through events, marketing, and aesthetic enhancement. Founded in 1974, the nonprofit organization is governed by a volunteer board of directors.

Lessons Learned

Potential Benefits:

• Celebrate community pride and encourage social cohesion.
• Raise money for charities.
• Provide entertainment and social activities for residents.
• Provide a venue for local vendors to sell products, services etc.
• Provide a venue to advertise community and social services.
• Educate people about cultural traditions, special topics etc.
• Stimulate economic activity in a particular neighborhood.
• Increase neighborhood visibility and visitation.

Potential Issues:

• 

  Keep It Interesting: Since the event has been going on from 1974, there is continuous need to make the event interesting, especially for the local long term East Bay residents. Sometimes these events have become generic – offering the same experience regardless of the theme or neighborhood. Maintaining a high quality event that provides unique experiences each year has become a challenge.
• Inconvenience: Solano Avenue Business Association coordinates with local business owners and residents to ensure that any inconvenience caused by street closures and loss of on-street parking is minimized.
• Economic Impacts: The economic impacts (in terms of bringing in outside dollars and generating jobs) may be overstated given the costs associated with hosting the event. It is estimated that it takes about 600 staff hours to produce the event, plus hundreds of additional hours of volunteer time. The event expenses usually exceed $50,000. However, there is considerable positive community development impacts that does not have a traditional monetary value.

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Background

PARK(ing) Day provides temporary public open space—one parking spot at a time. During this annual global event, citizens, artists and activists collaborate to temporarily transform metered parking spaces into temporary public places. The project began in 2005 when Rebar, a San Francisco art and design studio, converted a single metered parking space into a temporary public park in downtown San Francisco. Since 2005, PARK(ing) Day has evolved into a global movement. PARK(ing) Day is a noncommercial project, promoting creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, social interactions, generosity and play.

PARK(ing) Day calls attention to the need for more urban open space, generates critical debate around how public space is created and allocated, and improves the quality of urban human habitat. In our urban environments, the great majority of downtown outdoor space is dedicated to movement and storage of private vehicles while only a fraction of that space is allocated to serve a broader range of public needs. Paying the meter of a parking space enables one to lease precious urban real estate on a short-term basis. The PARK(ing) project explores the range of possible activities for this short-term lease and provokes a critical examination of the values that generate the urban form.

PARK(ing) Day has since been adapted and remixed to address a variety of social issues in diverse urban contexts and places. The project continues to expand to include interventions and experiments well beyond the first basic “tree-bench-sod” park typology. Participants have built free health clinics, planted temporary urban farms, produced ecology demonstrations, held political seminars, built art installations, opened free bike repair shops and even held a wedding ceremony — all within a metered parking space! Organizers also have used the event to draw attention to issues that are important to their local public — everything from experimentation and play to acts of generosity and kindness, to political issues such as water rights, labor equity, and health care and marriage equality.

In 2011, the event included over 850 PARKs in more than 180 cities across the world. Just in Philadelphia, there were more than 30 spots in 2011. Participants are asked to map their PARK(ing) space on the PARK(ing) Day website, www.parkingday.org. The website also serves as a link to others in local communities who are interested in hosting a Park(ing) Day and provides resources for organizing a local event. The event is typically held on a Friday to attract the greatest public attention.

The legality of PARK(ing) Day varies from community to community. Although, no one has been arrested for participating in PARK(ing) Day, some PARKS have been shut down by authorities. Maintaining an attitude of community service, generosity and inclusion has been shown to help assuage the concerns of local authorities. It also helps to inform law enforcement of intentions to leave the parking spot in a better/cleaner condition than when it was found.

Lessons Learned
Potential Benefits:

• Promote creativity, civic engagement, critical thinking, social interactions, and play.
• Call attention to the need for more urban open space.
• Provide a temporary place for free health clinics, temporary urban farms, ecology demonstrations, political seminars, art installations, free bike repair shops, and even a wedding ceremony.
• Draw attention to issues that are important to the local public, such as water rights, labor equity, health care and marriage equality.
• Help transition to more affective use of street ROW for pedestrians and non-private automobile users of the street.

Potential Issues:

• Legal and Liability Concerns: The legal and liability specifics depend on the local legal codes and it becomes the responsibility of the Park(ing) day participant to check and obey the law. For example, in San Francisco it appears to be legal to do other things in a parking spot besides park a vehicle, but in some municipalities (New York City, for example) alternate activities are expressly prohibited. It’s up to you to be informed and flexible when it comes to obeying your local law.
• Maintenance: Part of the legal and liability concerns is the intention of the Park(ing) day participant to leave the parking spot in a better/cleaner condition. Usually, this has been addressed by past participants maintaining an attitude of community service, generosity and inclusion has helped assuage the concerns of local authorities. Participants also try to inform any law enforcement official about their intention to leave the parking spot in a better/cleaner condition than before. Some participants have been known to not just clean up after themselves, but also sweep the whole block!

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Background

The Vancouver Farmers Market developed as part of a downtown revitalization effort centered around Esther Short Park. This revitalization effort has attracted millions of dollars of reinvestment in Downtown Vancouver. The market is Southwest Washington’s #1 visitor attraction and home to over 250 vendors. The market is located on the west side of Esther Short Park at Sixth and Esther streets.

The outdoor market operates from March to October on Saturday and Sunday. A unique feature is that the market also has indoor space that makes it suitable for year-round sales. A “garage door”-type building front allows the market to open to and flow onto the street during the warmer seasons. The indoor space is part of a mixed use development that includes low income apartments above, increasing these residents’ access to healthy, local foods.

The market is pet-friendly and offers fresh and local agriculture products, quality prepared foods, and original fine artisan products. Music, weekly food-related programs, and play and relaxation in the adjacent park make this market a “can’t be missed” attraction that builds community.

The Market has expanded to a second site at a local elementary school on the eastside of Vancouver. A holiday market is also offered. Governed by a board of directors, the market currently has five paid staff which are supplemented by many community volunteers. The market uses an eNewsletter to publicize events, and provides information about farmers and artisans on its website.

In 2011, the Vancouver Farmers Market plans to offer a total of $5,000 in scholarship funding to postsecondary students for the September 2011-June 2012 academic year. This funding is intended to support the education of students wishing to specialize in agriculture, agricultural marketing, and related topics, and to encourage small-scale farming in the Pacific Northwest and the sale of farm products.

Lessons Learned
Potential Benefits:

• Provide a venue for farmers and other vendors to sell their products directly to consumers.
• Increase entertainment opportunities and social cohesion in neighborhoods.
• Revitalize neighborhoods by encouraging economic activity.
• Increase the availability of nutritious foods.
• Educate consumers about regional sustainable agriculture.

Potential Issues and Challenges:

• Sustainable Vision & Management Structure: A clear vision and management structure is required to establish and regularly maintain a farmer market. This has involved the following:
  • Have adequate rules and regulations for the types of vendors who will be allowed to participate in the market.
  • Require a well-organized management structure to maintain quality and ensure consumer safety.
  • Ensure the market is profitable in order for farmers to participate.
• Local Compliance: Vendors must comply with local licensing and health requirements and carry insurance.
• Coordinate with Local Businesses: Vancouver Farmers Market Staff coordinate with local neighboring businesses about a wide range of issues that range from unfair competition or traffic congestion.
• Size and Location: The location of the farmers market took into account the following:
  • Ester Park is a visible and identifiable, convenient, easy to find, accessible by transit, reliable, clean and attractive.
  • Well accessed by nearby major roadways
  • Convenient access for farmers’ vehicles
  • Shade and protection from severe weather (natural or manmade).
  • Overall size easily allows for typical tent size which is standard 10x10 pop up with 25’ aisle (list from Lakins, 2007).
• Complimentary Amenities: For the farmer’s market to be successful, a number of complimentary amenities need to be accommodated. These include:
  • Solid waste disposal
  • Restrooms for the public
  • Sufficient seating