Park(ing) Day in downtown Toledo envisions creative spaces

TOLEDO – McAullae Baker, a Toledo native and current resident, is a graduate student majoring in urban planning at Wayne State University in Detroit.

“I went into urban planning after really reflecting on inner-city neighborhoods and the lack of investment in many of them,” said Baker, 37. “When neighborhoods lack amenities and experience blight and disinvestment, it can have a huge impact on residents’ quality of life.

“On the other hand, the right investments can greatly improve quality of life. My goal with the degree is to use planning to help create stronger communities and improve quality of life for the people who live in them.”

Baker said she is excited to participate in the fifth annual PARK(ing) Day on Sept. 18-19 in downtown Toledo. The event begins with a kickoff party on that Friday and continues Saturday from 12-6 p.m. on North Huron street.

“PARK(ing) Day combines so many things I’m interested in, including urban planning, history, creativity, storytelling and community engagement,” Baker said. “It also gives me an opportunity to take ideas I’m learning about in planning and turn them into something people can actually experience.”

PARK(ing) Day, which is organized and hosted by The Toledo Design Collective, turns parking spaces into creative, welcoming places for people. The 8×20-foot community-focused “parklets” explore ideas around planning and design, public transit, greening, arts and culture, activities, sports, advocacy or simply creating a space to relax, connect, and have conversations.

TDC, founded in 2001, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit urban planning and design organization based in Toledo. Its mission is to improve the aesthetic and functional quality of the Toledo region through low-cost community planning, conceptual design, and active public engagement.

“A ConnecToledo parking study found that nearly half of downtown parking spaces go unused during weekday afternoons,” said Cathy de Haan, outreach and development manager at TDC. “Taking advantage of these alternate options [parklets], the biggest thing is it activates the urban streetscape.”

“More of this kind of stuff that exists in downtowns, in cities, brings about a different level of involvement that otherwise might not be there. The premise is we take over parking spaces and show what it could be if it was designed for the community and not designed for cars.”

Each of the 27 PARK(ing) Day participants will receive one parking space as their parklet. This year’s theme is “ToD, transit-oriented development,” and TDC is working with TARTA on this year’s event.

“PARK(ing) Day fits with our mission,” de Haan said. “It’s really about designing our cities for people, not just cars. America has largely been built around car use, and that’s what we’re working to push back against. PARK(ing) Day is one way to show what’s possible when spaces are designed for people first; a parklet is just one example, but the same thinking applies to plazas, sidewalks, and streets across the whole city.”

TARTA participated in PARK(ing) Day last year and will do so again on Sept. 19.

Kwinlyn Tyler, community affairs manager at TARTA, said TARTA will design its own parklet in front of Fifth Third Field on Monroe Street.

“We will design of one of our parklets similar to what we have in Rossford, which is also transit-oriented,” Tyler said. “It will have a picnic table, activities and some information on how spaces like this can exist with transit and develop transit spaces and open up public spaces to be better gathering places for us.

“PARK(ing) Day highlights a few things, especially in public transit. It shows what cities look like with pedestrian design and less car activity. It brings a lot of community organizations together and gives people an opportunity to learn about these parklets in unique ways. This is a great event. It’s one of those things that helps make Toledo unique and something we want to see more of to develop our downtown as well.”

mADE, a company that started in 2022 and has offices in Perrysburg, will construct its third parklet in downtown Toledo on Sept. 19.

“We are primarily an architecture firm,” mADE Co-Founder Jake Miley said. “This will be our third year of involvement with PARK(ing) Day. We were involved in 2023, and we used some reclaimed material from our warehouse and had an A-frame structure and built a terrace and a bar counter.

“As a result of that in 2023, Mac Driscoll, who is now [an at-large] Toledo city councilman, reached out and asked if we wanted to design a parklet for the city. Two of our parklets are downtown now, one on Adams street and one on St. Clair, with some outdoor seating. This gives two businesses outdoor patio seating that they wouldn’t have otherwise. This opens that up for them.”

Miley said one of mADE’s architects, Jake “JT” Blasko, is working on a parklet design that uses “paper tubes and some connectors.”

“It’s kind of like a perimeter framework that will enclose a space,” Miley said. “This structure could never be a permanent structure, but it might create for us some additional thoughts on how to do something permanent. It could be the start of a bus stop shelter design, but it has more of an emphasis on design.”

Baker said her parklet is called “Can You See the Village?” and it will be an immersive walk-through experience centered on Toledo’s historic Polish Village.

“I grew up in North Toledo just off Lagrange street,” Baker said, “so I was naturally drawn to telling this neighborhood’s story. The structure of the neighborhood has always reminded me of a small city’s downtown, and I wanted to create an experience that allows people to see what was there before, what has changed, and what still remains.

“PARK(ing) Day allows people to be creative and share their ideas in a unique way. Events like this help keep the conversation going about Toledo and the future of our neighborhoods. I hope people come out and take the time to experience all of the different parklets.”