Parklets

Fairy doors are appearing in San Francisco. In the interest of urban planning reciprocity, perhaps Ann Arbor could start building parklets. What are parkelts you ask? Parklets are small parks built on a sidewalk extension occupying one or two parking spaces. They are, to borrow some slang from the Yay, hella cool. Check it out:

Before

After

Sure, the automobile apologists will complain about the loss of street parking, but seriously folks, we have tons of parking in Ann Arbor. San Francisco Great Streets Project has a study of some of that city's pilot parklets and it paints a pretty convincing argument for creation of these mini-parks. The bottom line is that people like parklets, and businesses that sponsor them see increases in customers.

Hat tip to @mitten for informing us about fairy doors in the Yay.

Photos courtesy San Francisco Great Streets Project.