During "Park"ing Day LA, I observed varied reactions to our "park" including anger, gratitude, and enthusiasm. Although the negative reactions were unexpected and unfortunate, they still accomplished the goal of creating a dialogue about the use of public space in Los Angeles. The most brazen and aggressive reaction I observed was from senior citizens attending a salon that our "park" was located in front of. One man told us, "For college students, you're pretty dumb, pretty dumb." Despite the explanations Prof. Vallianatos and I gave to him, he went back into the salon and undoubtedly riled up more senior citizens because a lady with her hair still in curlers and half of it dyed red staggered out to berate us, "You think people are going to drive by and say whoopee for green!? I don't think so....Where are all the customers going to park?...I'm calling Huizar. I worked for the city council for 23 years!...Do you think you're representing Occidental? Oh, yes you are! Oh, yes you are!" From this I learned that sometimes old people are stubborn, they fear change because they don't understand change. I understand that it may be difficult to watch your neighborhood grow from a sleepy suburban community to a progressive urban environment, but I think that educating senior citizens about why change is happening and why it's important would be beneficial for both young and old.
Ultimately, it was really fun to argue with these ignorant people. The whole time I was explaining our project to them I couldn't help but laugh in their faces. Fortunately, Prof. Vallianatos was more composed than me. I should finish by mentioning that the majority of the reactions I observed were positive. Dave from Dave's Chillin and Grillin loaned us chairs for the day and offered discounts on sandwiches (I took him up on one of the incredible meatball/sausage combos). One woman thanked us and said she had chills. We were also successful in handing out the fresh and local food pamphlets that UEPI printed. In conclusion, I had a lot of fun participating in Parking Day LA and think that it was successful because it forced people to reevaluate the use of public space in LA.
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The salon crowd also dislikes farmers markets, street festivals and anything that potentially takes parking from customers. It's a kinda sad example of how car-only development becomes a trap. You need parking and lanes so every new activity or development has to have additional dedicated parking, and the system spirals out of control.
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