FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts
Join DDOT in its 10th Celebration of PARK(ing) Day on Friday, September 15
(Washington, DC) — Today, the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) announced that PARK(ing) Day 2023 will be Friday, September 15, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. DDOT is celebrating its 10th anniversary of participating in this popular event, which allows residents, businesses, and community organizations to temporarily convert on-street parking spaces into pop-up parks.
“As we head into our 10th anniversary of Park(ing) Day, we are proud to have so many participants that support our moveDC goal of being the greenest, healthiest, and most livable city in the nation,” said DDOT Director Everett Lott. “We encourage all residents, businesses, and community organizations to visit all of the temporary park installations to visualize how we can re-think the use of on-street public parking space into areas for fun activities.”
The international event started as a form of protest in San Francisco in 2005, with DDOT participation beginning 10 years ago, in 2013. The goal of Park(ing) Day is to use the temporary transformation of public space to help people visualize how much space cities dedicate to cars and allow cities such as the District to creatively explore other uses of our curb space.
Due to the success of past PARK(ing) Day efforts in the District, many community organizations and businesses have created permanent parklet installations, such as the parklets newly installed on the 1800 Block of M Street NW by the Golden Triangle BID and the creation of DDOT’s temporary Streatery Program.
For 2023, nine pop-up parklets are planned throughout Wards 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8. Participating groups include District agencies, Business Improvement Districts, main streets, and local businesses. The full list of locations is in the table below and also in this interactive map, which includes a suggested bike route for people interested in exploring the pop-up parklets by bike.
|
Address |
Ward |
Applicant |
|
800 V Street NW |
1 |
DDOT - Neighborhood Planning & 930 Club |
|
1361 U Street NW |
1 |
Public Service Commission |
|
500 I Street NW |
2 |
Downtown BID |
|
850 11th Street NW |
2 |
DDOT - TESD |
|
713 Kennedy Street NW |
4 |
Uptown Main Street |
|
507 8th Street SE |
6 |
Oehme Van Sweden Landscape Architecture |
|
1442 Pennsylvania Avenue SE |
6 |
The Public Defender Service for DC |
|
1231 Good Hope Road SE |
8 |
goDCgo |
|
2027 MLK Jr Avenue SE |
8 |
mksk Studios |
Starting at 9:00 a.m., DDOT’s Public Space Activation Coordinator will host a social media takeover on DDOT’s Instagram (@ddotdc) showcasing the activations at each location, which range from live music to lawn games to art displays to temporary safety demonstrations. Follow along or visit the installations in person!
For more information about the District’s 2023 PARK(ing) Day, event guidelines, the permitting process, and a map of locations, please visit DDOT's Park(ing) Day website.
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The District Department of Transportation’s mission is to equitably deliver a safe, sustainable, and reliable multimodal transportation network for all residents and visitors of the District of Columbia. Follow DDOT on Twitter (X), like us on Facebook and Instagram, and visit the website at www.ddot.dc.gov. Visit goDCgo.com for more information on transportation options in the District.