We're told this event is a pyschogeographic stance against the curbside parking infrastructure, which activists say "results in increased traffic, wasted fuel and more pollution. The strategies that generated these conditions are not sustainable, nor do they promote a healthy, vibrant urban human habitat. PARK(ing) Day is about re-imagining the possibilities of the metropolitan landscape."

We are, first and foremost, a lover of all things cars, but curbside parking in the middle of downtown areas isn't really about cars. It's more about inefficiencies and creation of more traffic. Heck, unless you live on Alameda, it's not even good for car-watching because it's mostly Honda Accords and beat up Neons.

The problem is many of these anti-parking activists are nothing more than anti-car activists in disguise. They sneakily use terms like "parking" as a way of saying "cars." For these people we say — go to hell. But to those real infrastructure-obsessed members of this community — we tip our hats to them and wholeheartedly support their cause.

There are PARK(ing) Day sites around the world, as you can see from the pics, which you can check out here. HINT: there are a lot of them in San Francisco and Austin and other places like that, though we're also told they're in Salt Lake City and Tulsa.

If you plan on participating in one of these — or if you plan on breaking one of them up — drop a photo in the comments below and we'll throw it on the site.

Packaged and printed in a glossy, heavy card stock stack of 20, you'll have enough of these great little 'tell 'em offs' for at least month, unless you're horribly anal and in that case maybe you're the one with the problem and not everyone else as you'd like to think (Now go sit in the corner and think about what you've done!). [via ShineBox]

One would have to be a better approximator of wheel diamaters than I to precisely state the size of its multi-dubs, but let’s just call them boop boop a doobs for the time being.

The Navigator is parked on Clapton Road in the London borough of Hackney, which became famous in the early 00’s as the most crime-ridden street in the United Kingdom. Taking the baton of Murder Mile from Ledra Street in Cyprus, the locale is described in an Observer article from April 2001:

Many of the Clapton Road shootings have stood out because of the levels of ruthlessness and brutality involved. Gunmen have pursued their victims in broad daylight, finishing them off at point blank range in front of streets packed with witnesses.

‘The bodies were still in the car up until midday,’ said one shopkeeper who asked not to be named.

There hulks the big Linc, menacing in the harsh light of a flash fired off at night. And nope, it did not have a handicapped permit on display.

Photo Credit: Máté Petrány

5. Perpendicular Parking

Who needs a Smart Fortwo for easy metropolitan parking when you've got the highly tuned parking genius that this numb nut driver portrays.

4. Get Out of My Spot, B****!

See, truTV may call this one of the five worst parking jobs, but this seems more to us like one of the best. This woman takes no prisoners in her attempt to get the parking spot. We have to admire that level of can-do attitude.

3. Neutral State

Heading to the gas station to get a few gallons for his summer landscaping job, Mr. Shortland is just your typical, hard working college student. Drunk, high and/or just absentminded. Look out below!

2. Come Back Here!

We typically support our local law enforcement, but this cop deserves to be the butt of all jokes until... well, forever. We bet if he had double chocolate frosted donuts in the car he would run just a wee bit faster.

1. Just a Little Joke

This little joke turns out to be an awesome comedic performance featuring one blown up beer; one goofy yellow car; one super rare, real life double take; and a little ass-dragging behind said goofy yellow car.
[via truTV]

Now, this may not be a concern in the majority of the United States, but in cramped European downtowns, where swirling masses of pedestrians, bikers, cars, Range Rovers and buses vie for tiny amounts of space inherited from medieval times, a car you can park perpendicularly suddenly makes a lot of sense. Doesn't matter whether it's a G-Wiz or a Smart. Additionally, they're also usually more fuel efficient.

On the other hand, I did see a G-Wiz take a corner the other day. It was frightening to watch. The suspension provides insight into just what happens to all the discarded chopsticks produced by the city’s countless noodle bars.

A famous moment in the thawing of relations between the USA and the Soviet Union happened on a summer night in 1974. This was when, during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, spaceships from the two countries docked in orbit to allow American and Soviet astro/cosmonauts to reach across the hatch and say hello/здравствуйте. On board the Apollo was Deke Slayton, the last of the Mercury Seven—announced to the world fifty years ago yesterday—to fly to outer space.

Further collaboration between American and Soviet technology could be employed to combat reckless parking in cities. The Soviets used to make tough, low-maintenance sedans, engineered for the harsh climate—both meteorological and economic—of their country, able to run on bad roads and inferior fuel. A Lada, for instance.

American engineering will be represented by a GAU-8 Avenger seven-barrel Gatling-type rotary cannon, commonly found in A-10 warplanes. The Avenger fires 3,900 depleted uranium slugs every minutes, which should be more than enough to nudge every practicioner of bad parking toward the white parallel lines.

An Avenger mounted on a Lada’s roofrack would be the perfect inner city transporation/weapon system. The cars are inexpensive enough to ease owner’s worries about possible retaliation: you can trade two for an iPhone. And as for the Avenger, let’s just say it will definitely cut it.

Image Credit: XKCD, NASA

We learned how to avoid the world of parking regulations at the University of Texas at Austin, which has a population of approximately 70,000 students, faculty and staff and a parking inventory of around 7,000 spaces. With only 1 space per 10 people it isn't surprising the University gives out more than 75,000 parking violations per year, or one parking ticket every seven minutes.

With no money for a garage parking pass and a need to park our Ford Escort somewhere, we learned the ancient art of parking wherever you want without getting towed or ticketed. As a public service, we're sharing these tricks with you. Some of these techniques require a special car, all run the risk of getting booted and some of them may not apply depending on your local parking rules, regulations and enforcement policies, so use them wisely.

1.) Use Your Hazard Lights

It seems obvious, but most people will avoid calling a tow truck if they see emergency lights blinking on a car. The assumption is you're just running in to grab something or drop something off and they'll usually just pass the vehicle. If you're feeling extra brave, open the trunk or hatch and leave it open.

This trick usually doesn't work with parking enforcement officer, though, as they "chalk" your car's tires every 15 minutes either with real chalk or digitally on a PDA (as a side note, if you see chalk on your tires erase it immediately). Also, if your battery isn't fully charged you could end up with a dead battery and a parking ticket.
Photo Credit: Flickr

2.) Make Your Car Look Like A Service Vehicle

Locksmiths, plumbers and delivery vehicles can park just about wherever they want because, it's assumed, they belong there. If you drive a truck or a panel van, making your vehicle look like a service truck could be as easy as applying a vinyl sign proclaiming "Vick's Plumbing Service" or "M&H Delivery" or what-have-you. Make sure to put your real phone number on any fake graphics so you can move the vehicle if someone calls or, more importantly, so the police don't get suspicious and call the bomb squad.

If you drive a car this is even easier to pull off. Having delivered pizzas for a living we can honestly say we never worked with anyone who received a parking ticket while delivering food. Making your car look like a pizza delivery vehicle is as easy as getting one of those light-up magnetic pizza signs off of eBay, where they currently sell for less than $50 before shipping.
Photo Credit: Flickr

3.) Recognize Unenforceable Regulations

There are many parking spots reserved or groups or individuals as an unenforceable courtesy. For instance, many grocery stores and department stores have "expectant moms parking" for pregnant women. Though a few of these stores require you to register your license plate and make/model, most people won't tow a car if they think it belongs to a pregnant mom. If you plan on doing this frequently you may want to throw in a car seat and a copy of What To Expect When You're Expecting just for kicks.

If someone sees you're not a pregnant mother they may get angry and key your car, but it's the risk you take for the best parking at Safeway. If you live in California, you can put a fake hybrid badge on your vehicle and park in special hybrid parking.
Photo Credit: Flickr

4.) Identify And Subvert Authority

Most security or parking enforcement apparatuses are extremely hierarchical; privates report to sergeants, sergeants to lieutenants, lieutenants to captains and so on. The key to subverting this authority is to recognize the lowest level member of an organization and getting them on your side. As you move up the chain of command there's more authority and more knowledge and you don't want to have to BS someone who actually knows something.

For example, if you want to pick something up from Target but don't want to fight over a space in another zipcode, just deputize the shopping cart collector to watch your car. Park your car right in front and wait for the overworked and underpaid employee to pass by with a train of carts. Hop out of your car and, as you're walking the other direction, yell "Hey, I've gotta pick up the thing from Tony. Make sure no one screws with it" and walk away before anyone can stop you.

The employee, fearful of losing their crappy job, is then forced to make sure no one messes with the car. You've created a stakeholder. If the security guard strolls by on a Segway the employee will vouch for your car even though they don't know who you are or why you need to park there.

5.) Get Elected To Local Office

Gangs watch out for their own members and there ain't no better gang than the government. Most public officials have magical parking passes that say "official city business" they can throw in any vehicle they want. A city cop isn't going to give a city councilman a parking ticket.

In college we were elected president of the student union and were given the coveted F (for faculty) permit and a garage parking pass. We could park almost wherever we wanted. It was awesome. Most counties have dozens, if not hundreds, of elected positions. Many of these positions are nonpartisan and unopposed, which means you can win just by showing up.
Photo Credit: Flickr

6.) Make Fake Credentials

Too many tax problems to get elected to public office? Try creating a fake, all-purpose credential. We don't recommend creating a fake government credential as, in most places, this is probably illegal. Instead, create a fake VIP parking pass. We did this numerous times in college and it worked every time.

The key to a good fake credential is detail and production value. A crappy piece of paper printed out on your dot matrix printer won't cut it. Laminate the same piece of paper and all of a sudden it looks official. If you feel really adventurous, buy a pack of baseball cards and take the holograms off of the cards and glue them to your pass. No one messes with a hologram. A less adventurous option is a fake barcode.

In addition to making your fake credential look legitimate with nice printing and fake holograms, you should provide an extreme amount of detail. Leave spaces to hand write in your license plate, make/model, a space for a signature and warnings like "NOT TO BE USED ON WEEKENDS" or "PASS VALID ONLY BETWEEN 12:00 AND 20:00" convenient for your needs. To go the extra mile add this line: For More Information Call Tony @ PSFD: 555-2203. This way, someone can call your cellphone if they have a question about your car and you can either BS or know you need to run back.
Photo Credit: Flickr

7.) Fake A Disability

How easy is it to get a disability parking permit? In most states, such as Florida, a Nurse Practitioner or a Chiropractor can get you a disabled one for $15 or a permanent one for free. There's paper work to fill out so either you have to be a great actor or have a totally sketchy health provider. Also, this makes you a schmuck.
Photo Credit: Flickr

8.) Accept Parking Tickets

What's the best way to avoid a parking ticket? Already have one on your car. As long as you aren't in a tow-away zone, handicap parking spot or anywhere blocking traffic you're more likely to get a ticket than towed or booted.

We once received a ticket in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin for $10. It was probably cheaper and easier to take a ticket than trying to find or pay for parking all day. Plus, once you get the first ticket most municipalities won't ticket you again until 24 hours later. It's like an almost free day of parking.
Photo Credit: Flickr

Conclusion

Taking on the complicated web of parking rules and laws isn't easy and carries considerable risks. We don't suggest undertaking any of these tasks and, if you do, prepare to face the consequences. That being said, if you have any other, even better strategies, include them in the comments below.

Top Photo Credit: Flickr

It may be a sweet deal for those wanting to avoid getting a ticket for parking wherever they want but Mark over at Autophiles.ca sees what the Local 415 is up to. Without the parking authority towing cars or writing tickets there could be anarchy in the streets. This is especially true in the days before Christmas as people rush to the stores for last-minute gifts. We're looking forward to seeing the streets littered with parked cars.

[Source: Autophiles.ca, Photo: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images]

The story is pretty simple: The traffic warden saw an illegally parked police car and slapped a ticket on it. Conveniently, a Daily Mail photographer was there to snap shots of the entire brief ordeal. Damn the man, fight the empire — unless, of course, the police officer was parked illegally to rescue children from a burning orphanage. [Daily Mail]

Epstein attempted to cut the boot off with a pair of bolt cutters, which Dane found threatening. Dane put his hand over his holstered pistol, which Epstein found threatening. Instead of talking it over like adults, they drew their Tasers and fired. Neither were seriously injured, though the restauranteur was charged with felony menacing and using a stun gun. Said police, "It was just kind of a bonehead deal."

[Photo: Mansfield PD, MSNBC]

It includes a remote control. With this you can get out of the vehicle, activate the Park Assist Vision and it will park itself and lock the doors. With that time saved you could get into the mall a whole 30 seconds sooner than without the system. [WCF]

Stensgaard said, "If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?"

While obviously, we'd rather have law enforcement officers be able to park in front of our house, unless Officer Stensgaard's food happened to also be a burglar, there's a significant discrepancy between the example given and the actual situation. Bryant then acted not as an attorney, but as a private citizen by filing several complaints against the police officer.

In a happy ending for citizens maddened by power-hungry police officers, Officer Stensgaard was issued a summons to appear in traffic court and could face parking fines upwards of $540. The Law: 1, Abuse of Power: 0. [AP]

The top of the parking garage has solar panels that not only power the building, but provide shade for cars packed on the top deck. The entire building was built with green paints and finishes and a low-e glazing system helps maintain the garages temperature a little more efficiently that other parking garages, therefore leaving you with a potentially cooler (or warmer) car after it has sat for eight hours or more. It includes a water treatment run-off system, as well.

One of the bigger points of the building is that it has 14 spaces primarily devoted to electric vehicles. Not only that, but each parking spot includes electrical outlets to juice up the ride while it sits parked. The building has 900 spaces total, so the 14 is less than 2 percent of the overall capacity, but still, a building catering to electric vehicles is a sign of the future, man. [Inhabitat]

"I have to go feed the meter," is one of the ultimate excuses to get out of a long-winded conversation. If you're relying on an automatic timer, then you could get into some hot water. It's available for $10 from one of those generic gift stores. [Spoon Sisters via Geeksugar]

We always thought it was pretty obvious when a car was parked in a street sweeping zone. You know that line of trash that perfectly outlines the car from the sweeper going around—yeah, that's a pretty obvious clue. Regardless, keep track of the signs and times in D.C., or you will soon be busted by a tractor sized broom vehicle. [Washington Times] (Image)