Chelsea Café Fundraises $12,000 to Turn Parking Space Into Park

Here's a new, very 2016, word that could catch on very soon: "parklet."

One coffee shop in Chelsea called Underline Café at 511 W. 20th St. between 10th and 11th avenues raised over $12,000 through Kickstarter to transform a parking spot behind their café into a park, or what they're calling a "parklet."

The café received 113 donations for a total of $12,032 for their parklet. This is how the Kickstarter account describes the term "parklet":

Parklets are the transformation of a parking space into a small park. They are a growing movement across the country, around the world, and now finally in New York City, to make streets more human-centered, green, and vibrantly social again.

They're planning to install seats in the road along the curb line for "eating, reading, working, meeting a friend or taking a rest." The Kickstarter description describes parklets as a "community space that anyone can enjoy." The plan is to install the parklet beginning this month, with plants, seats, shade and "water features."

This is, in fact, not the first parklet in the city. There have already been eight others approved by the NYC Street Seat program.

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