When I joined the Parking Reform Network as Communications Coordinator back in 2023, a little seed of an idea was planted in my mind: I absolutely had to be the one to organize Ottawa’s first-ever Parking Day. After all, what better way to preach the gospel of parking reform than by showing people, firsthand, that I too can be an Anarcho-Urbanist 😛
Unfortunately, life had other plans. My partner and I decided to spend 2023 and 2024 living in Berlin, putting my Ottawa Parking Day dreams on hold. But that just made it clearer: 2025 was the year. It was finally time to bring Parking Day to Canada’s capital city.
Working for PRN meant I felt well-equipped for the task. This year I even helped host and organize Parking Day workshops with my colleague Paula for our Parking Day collaboration with Strong Towns. I knew the theory, and so now it was time to put it into practice.
The Organizing Grind: Starting in July
As a board member of Strong Towns Ottawa, I pitched the idea of hosting Ottawa’s first Parking Day and got to work. The first order of business was to create a central hub of information. I built a simple webpage on the Strong Towns Ottawa website: It was modeled on great examples from other chapters, like Strong SacTown’s webpage. The page explained what Parking Day is, why we were doing it, and most importantly, how other local organizations could participate and create their own installations.
Next came outreach. I drafted an invitation email and sent it to a list of local advocacy groups and community associations that I thought would be interested in participating. To keep track of the responses–and the inevitable radio silence–I used Strong Town Sacramento’s Event Planning Master Spreadsheet. I highly recommend it! Not only does it have an “Outreach” tab to keep track of external communications, but it also has five other sections that helped us delegate tasks and stay organized.
A quick note for other first-time Parking Day organizers: despite significant interest from other groups, only one other organization ultimately joined us on Parking Day. And that’s okay! It’s a common experience. Cities with massive, well-attended Parking Day events have usually been doing it for years. The first year is about planting the flag and laying down some precedent.
By early September, momentum was building. On September 9th, we hosted a “materials work party” at a new downtown outdoor space that can be reserved for community groups. Three members attended, and we were able to put together our main Parking Day prop (image below) and brainstorm a few other ideas for engaging people walking by! Frankly, getting out the glue sticks and markers was a nice reprieve from my usual time at the computer screen.
Location, Location, Location!
The street we decided to host our Parking Day event on wasn’t chosen at random. At Strong Towns Ottawa, we were–and still are–in the middle of a campaign to remove on-street parking on Bank Street and replace it with dedicated bus lanes. Hosting Parking Day right on Bank Street was the perfect opportunity to use our parklet as a tabling station to engage directly with people, explain the benefits of dedicated bus lanes, and show them how our city could be made better for everyone.
The Day Of: When Best-Laid Plans Meet By-Law Officers
When I woke up the morning of September 19th, I was buzzing with excitement. A quick call to my dad confirmed he was on his way with his pickup truck. We loaded her up with potted plants, chairs, area rugs, and tables, and headed off to Bank Street!
Once we arrived, it took us at least 15 minutes to secure three consecutive on-street parking spots to take over for our event. More members started arriving as we unloaded the props. By 11am, we dutifully paid for our spots at the parking meters and finished setting up a cozy, inviting mock living room right atop that on-street parking. People started sitting down, we were engaging with folks on the sidewalk, and the conversations about Strong Towns, bus lanes, and the weirdness of Parking Day were flowing.
And then, an hour in, we saw them: a pair of by-law officers–also known as parking cops–walking purposefully in our direction.
They informed us that a complaint had been filed. Someone had called, arguing that we were preventing cars from parking. We were polite and confident, explaining that we were following the rules and had paid for the spots. They still insisted that we couldn’t stay here, mentioning that we were likely violating a statute in the Ontario Highway Act. We asked them to cite the specific section. They couldn’t on the spot, so they said they needed to check with their supervisor, who was on their way.
About 30 tense minutes later, the supervisor arrived and delivered the verdict. She cited a section of the act stipulating that only “vehicles” are permitted to park on a street. She cited the very broad definition of a “vehicle” in the act, but our sofa, rug, and potted plants definitely didn’t qualify. She explained, almost apologetically, that if our setup had been on a trailer platform—even one pulled by a bike—it would have been permitted….
We were told that if we stayed, we would face a fine of over $500 and they would forcefully confiscate all of our furniture and props.
We weren’t going to let this crash our party. The officer gave us some time to come up with a Plan B. After a quick, frantic discussion, we approached the owner of a local bike shop a few blocks up. He was incredibly sympathetic and generously allowed us to relocate our entire parklet to his private parking lot. We packed up, moved our parklet three blocks, and salvaged the day. The conversations continued, the trivia game was played, and we still managed to have a fantastic Parking Day.
Why This Experience Proves Parking Day is More Important Than Ever
Getting kicked off the street for inconveniencing cars by by-law officers is, from what I understand, a very rare experience for Parking Day. But in a way, it was the most powerful lesson we could have received. It perfectly illustrated the entire point of the event.
This intervention highlighted how deeply car-centric thinking is embedded in our laws and our public space. The provincial law, designed for the movement and storage of cars, had no room to accommodate our temporary, people-centric parklet. The system was so rigidly car-centric that it legally justified shutting down a welcoming, community-building space in favor of using public space to store privately owned sofas on wheels.
So, was it worth it? Absolutely. We created a space for conversation, forged new partnerships, and learned a hard but invaluable lesson about the system we’re trying to change. Now, the real question is: what’s next? Do we return to Bank Street next year, ready to pay the fine and challenge the law in court as an act of civil disobedience? Or do we “cave to the man,” navigate the event permit process, and try to work within the system? This is the strategic tension every parking reform advocate must face 😛 Personally, I’m leaning towards showing up next year with a parklet set up on a large flatbed trailer pulled along with an old Dutch bike.
