Pedestrian Advocacy Flash-Mob Style

Ever wanted to be part of a flash-mob? Or you just want to make a statement about that oldest of transportation choices, walking? Then check this out, courtesy of our friends at Great City:

Hello friends!

I invite all parties to join me for a FLASH MOB-style performance at 1
pm, Saturday August 22, at Seward Park. You will be participating in
my project “Barefoot in the Park” (more information at the bottom of
this message). Performance will last approximately 15 minutes.

Extra credit: meet for a REHEARSAL at the event location, Friday
August 21, from 3 pm to 3:30 pm. Note: rehearsal is NOT REQUIRED to take part in the flash mob performance – if you come to rehearsal you will have a special leadership role. Rehearsal will be FUN and I’ll bring snacks.

How to participate:

Email me to tell me you are coming to the 8/22 performance, and also
tell me if you are coming to the 8/21 rehearsal or not

Meet up at the flash mob location . . . arrive before 1 pm so you
don’t miss out! You’ll be finished by 1:15 pm.

When you hear the bell and see the barefoot walking people begin to
move through the park, KICK OFF YOUR SHOES AND JOIN IN!

All ages are welcome.

“Barefoot in the Park” is choreographer Alex Martin’s contribution to
the “aLIVe” exhibition event. aLIVe (“LIV” stands for Low Impact
Vehicle) is an amazing exhibition of designs for new vehicles taking
place on Saturday, August 22 in Seward Park, Seattle. The Low Impact Vehicle project rethinks our transportation system by focusing on the
human body. Right now, we design our street grid around 40 ton trucks,
but what if we designed around our bodies instead?
http://seattlegreatcitynetwork.ning.com/group/alive for more
information.

While you are in the park, you can also enjoy the other exhibits of
“aLIVe”, experience the concurrent “Healthy Parks, Healthy You” event
sponsored by the Parks Department (including live music for the whole
family), wander the trials through the old-growth forest, or take a
dip in Lake Washington.

“Barefoot in the Park” begins with a manifesto:

The ultimate low impact vehicle is the human foot, perfected through a
million-year design process to carry the human body across the surface
of the earth at slow speeds perfectly calibrated for work, play,
conversation, and the enjoyment of life. Walking while wearing the
footwear of your choice is a time-honored method of commuting,
exercising, and enjoying the outdoors, and pedestrian corridors are a
part of every smart urban plan for the future.

But “Barefoot in the Park” goes one step further, to explore a radical
and happily ridiculous proposal: the surfaces of our city should be re-
designed to provide, along every major thoroughfare, a Barefoot
Walking Lane of soft native ground covers adjacent to the traditional
impervious sidewalks, curbs, and bicycle lanes of the future. Living
barefoot outdoors is a quality-of-life enhancement that is an option
only for humans living in remote wilderness areas. How long will
urban dwellers wait before we rise up, throw off the concrete
shackles, and demand a re-design of the street to include a Barefoot
Walking Lane, allowing us to move through our city the way nature
intended, on our feet . . . our bare feet?

Join a flash mob of barefoot performers & pedestrians at 1 pm at
Seward Park in the “aLIVe” exhibition. This is a performance &
participatory walk, open to all ages, devised by choreographer Alex
Martin. Kick off your shoes and experience first-hand the joy of
barefoot walking and help us promote the bare foot, our most radical
low impact vehicle!

Exact location: from the main road entrance to Seward Park, take a
left and meet up on the lawn. The location is just East of Lake
Washington Blvd, North of the traffic circle at the main entrance, and
South of the swimming beach area & pottery studio. You will see the
“aLIVe” exhibition of invented vehicles, please make yourself at home
and listen for the bell at 1 pm!

I encourage you to use alternate means of transportation such as
walking, biking, taking the bus, or carpooling with your family,
friends or neighbors! I do not recommend walking barefoot from your
home to Seward Park, since the Barefoot Walking Paths have not
actually been constructed yet.

Alex Martin
(206) 355-8426 mobile
freyalex@msn.com