Striking a Chord

Web developer Victor Pontis has had enough of cars in San Francisco — parking spaces, he says, just take up too much space.

His idea: turn the prime real estate of parking spots into coworking spaces, complete with desks and chairs, that he called WePark — and charge only the price of a parking meter, which is a fraction of the price of other local coworking spaces.

I have set up at 16th and Market and paid the meter a reasonable $2.75 for one hour.

Stop by and say hi! pic.twitter.com/qJCJudEWsh

— Victor Pontis (@VictorPontis) April 25, 2019

The experiment struck a nerve — especially considering the skyrocketing rent in the Californian metropolis — and picked up widespread press coverage.

“Car parking squanders space that can be used for the public good — bike lanes, larger sidewalks, retail, cafes, more housing,” Pontis told Vice. “Let’s use city streets for people, not cars.”

Great first official day of WePark!

We had 3 events across the world today:

– @valdecarpentrie in France
– @graybright in Santa Monica
– @VictorPontis + 30 others in San Francisco. (Recap coming soon.)

And we hear more are coming soon to a city near you! pic.twitter.com/cGnea3G9VQ

— wepark (@weparkweparty) April 30, 2019

Pontis got the idea from a tweet by developer Devon Zuegel, who posted a picture of a specialized bike carrier vehicle that can fit eight bikes in a single parking spot.

This mobile parklet fits 8 bikes. With a license plate, it can be legally parked anywhere for the price of parking 1 car. Genius. https://t.co/cFshYA4C1N pic.twitter.com/p6xTfLd5CA

— Devon (@devonzuegel) March 29, 2019

Everybody Park Now

WePark has quickly garnered the attention from freelancers across the globe. Its operations have expanded to Santa Monica — and a related event even took place in France.

The question remains: is WePark more than a publicity stunt that takes a clear stance against San Francisco’s — perhaps even an American — obsession with cars? That’s hard to tell. But momentum is growing behind the idea regardless.

READ MORE: A Rogue Coder Turned a Parking Spot into a Coworking Space and People Loved It [Vice]

More on the sharing economy: People Love Living in Pods So Much They’re Getting Neck Tattoos About It

The post SF Is so Expensive That People Are Using Parking Spots as Offices appeared first on Futurism.

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SF Is so Expensive That People Are Using Parking Spots as Offices