Could parklets be coming to Tampa in 2017?

If you happened to be in the Channel District earlier this month, you might have seen something unusual on the street that could soon become more popular.
 
Seven parklets, or extensions of the sidewalk built on street parking spaces, were displayed on 12th Street for four hours on Nov. 5 during a pop-up festival for the annual Tampa Bay Design Week.
 
"We had a really great turnout," says Rachel Radawec, executive administrative assistant with the Tampa Downtown Partnership and parklet enthusiast. "People came down, they loved it, they sat down and talked and ate and everything you're supposed to do in a parklet."
 
Parklets are a trend gaining popularity across the country. San Francisco, Seattle and Charlotte, NC, are a few cities that have them.
 
During the third year of Tampa Bay Design Week, an event meant to expose the public to the design world, "we decided it was time for Tampa to have one," Radawec explains.
 
Parklets aren't art installations. They provide space for people to sit, relax and enjoy the city on streets that would otherwise be used simply for traffic, according to the National Association of City Transportation Officials. They often combine seating, trees, flowers or shrubs, but they don't necessarily have to be green spaces.
 
"You essentially take an on-street parking spot and take it away from the car and give it back to the people," Radawec says.
 
As a Tampa resident, Radawec says she's a fan of anything that enhances the downtown area, which she considers her backyard.
 
"I'm really just interested in anything that makes Tampa an interesting place," she says.
 
So, she helped facilitate the Nov. 5 showcase, and she's helping to facilitate discussions about the future of parklets in Tampa.
 
Gensler, a Tampa design firm who created one of the seven parklets during the showcase, was so taken with concept that they set up their parklet for an extra week in front of Regions Bank at 100 N. Tampa St.
 
Now, they're one of the entities talking with Radawec about launching a parklet program in Tampa next year. TECO has provided $12,000 to cover the cost of two commercial-grade steel bases that parklets sit on. But details, including who will host the program, where the parklets will be located and for how long, and what they'll look like, are still up in the air.
 
"My hope right now is to launch a program next fall," Radawec says, adding that October is the time when the weather cools and people want to sit outside.
 
Radawec invites anyone interested in knowing more about parklets or joining the effort to email her by following this link.
 
"We're really excited about it," she says.