Park(ing) Day

On Friday, September 20, an international group behind PARK(ing) Day, described as "an annual worldwide event where artists, designers and citizens transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks," encouraged city residents to take over a parking space in their neighborhood and turn it into a mini-park. On the Upper East Side, a group of locals commandeered a space on East 70th Street between Lexington and 3rd Avenues.

"So it was our first year doing this, and we had a group of about 7 or 8 students from the School of Interior Design; both undergraduate and graduate - a teacher's assistant, one faculty member, and then myself on the administrative staff," said participant Joe Minieri.

"The idea for this project was to kind of combine their knowledge for interior design with creating a public space. The idea is to look out in the intersection here, and imagine if this was a whole pond or a lake. And you know if this was all real green space, what it would be like if wasn't a cross street and parking spots."