What Does Your Next #BlackFridayParking Look Like?
If you have been following Strong Towns for a while, you probably know about Black Friday Parking. Black Friday Parking was one of the original Strong Towns “activations.” It was an easy thing that people across North America could do to demonstrate the impact (and the flaws) of the suburban development pattern.
If you are newer to the movement, I’ll get you caught up quickly:
Each year on Black Friday, we share these steps as an easy way for you to participate in the Strong Towns movement:
Get outside and take pictures of excessive or underused parking in your town.
Upload your photos to Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok with the hashtag #BlackFridayParking. (Tag us when you do!)
Check out other people’s photos from across the country. Comment, share, and spread the message about how unnecessary and wasteful all this parking is!
By the end of the day, the Strong Towns movement has collectively demonstrated that, even on one of the biggest shopping days of the year, we have way more parking than we need. Our communities' collective parking mandates have led to overbuilt and unnecessary lots.
Today, Black Friday Parking feels different to me than it did when I snapped my first photo — thanks to the work of early Strong Towns activists and partners like Parking Reform Network. Activities like Black Friday Parking and Parking Day have helped change the conversation about parking — and, more importantly, have changed actual policies.
A couple of years ago, Tony Jordan with Parking Reform Network published a piece for Black Friday Parking on our site about what comes next after we get rid of mandates. It’s a good piece to return to today, as we continue to make collective progress on this goal.
I’ll close with a less technical and (perhaps) less serious question: If your community has ended parking mandates, what is your next #BlackFridayParking? The policy change was just the first step. What’s the next smallest step to ensure that land in your community is put to productive use? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Perhaps together we can create another Strong Towns holiday that helps communities across North America take the next step.
Carlee Alm-LaBar is the Chief of Staff for Strong Towns. Carlee has become a champion for strong communities and civic engagement through her work in Lafayette, Louisiana. She has held senior leadership roles in local government and nonprofit organizations. When she’s not with her husband Will or dog Jozy, she spends her spare time volunteering with a variety of local organizations that build connections between people and empower local residents. Carlee graduated Magna Cum Laude from Northwestern University and holds a master’s degree in Public Administration from Louisiana State University.