Friends of Bushnell Parking Lot General Meeting 
Minutes 
Board Members: Ben T. Lee, Mercedes Benns, J. Ford, Alpha Romero, Austin Heel, Keya Soulless, B. Lincoln, Bobby Moses
Visitors: Some interns from the Department of Tar; an anonymous visitor, here to harsh our idling mellow; a bunch who wouldn’t sign in because they wanted to sit in their cars and we respect their freedom to do that. 
The meeting was called to order on August 16, 2021 at 6:01 PM by Ben T. Lee.  
About 50 people introduced themselves from their cars. 
Ben T. Lee read the Friends of Bushnell Parking Lot mission statement and acknowledged that the lawn was being colonized by parkers. It may have once belonged to the Sukioag, but now, the decided best use is for cars. All the cars. Mercedes took this opportunity to remind visitors that there were still tree roots that had not yet been parked on, and they should move their pickup trucks ASAP. Thriving trees mean fewer parking spaces and who wants leaves and pollen on their sparkling cars anyway? Only good tree is a dead one! 

Keya Soulless is focusing her time on Strategic Planning for the Bushnell Parking Lot. The free-for-all has been real, but the time has come to paint lines, ensuring that everyone’s land yacht is surrounded by a magical safety bubble. This will also show who’s boss to the people trying to use the lawn to play Frisbee. They need to know that this is a Parking Lot and that if they want to sit on lawn or run around, they should use the acreage behind their house. 
Bobby Moses raised the issue that there were complaints during the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz regarding the Friends of Bushnell Parking Lot’s decision to install orange fencing across the East Coast Greenway and another path. The Bushnell Parking Lot detractors claimed this was an ADA violation and example of general foolishness. How do we, moving forward (from our parking spots, of course) silence the people who think walking, cycling, using wheelchairs, and scooters is an appropriate use of any land in the urban core? B. Lincoln agreed that those whiners should be ignored because if they were important they would be in cars, but that we should avoid screaming matches during event parking (i.e. the event is the parking) and that there should be a sign placed somewhere explaining that the area is now being used to store private property on public land. Bobby Moses agreed, but suggested the sign be on a box truck that either drives around the perimeter of Bushnell Park Lot or is parked somewhere, idling. Austin Heel thought the whiners might step in line if they could only understand the necessity of this.
Heel presented a map (below) showing the location of public parking lots and garages in downtown Hartford. Heel did not note public on-street parking because it’s utterly impossible to parallel park our vanity trucks in those spaces: 


There are many places not red, which means there is not literally parking everywhere. In some cases, a person may have to walk half a block to their destination. Like, they may have to even get out of a vehicle! It’s more important that the East Coast Greenway and access path between Union Station and the Frog Hollow neighborhood be used as free parking. If people want to get to the train station they can call an Uber. If they want to use a wheelchair in the park on an even surface…well, tough shit! This is a motorist’s world! 

Keya Soulless reported hearing a gripe from the DPW about the condition of the Bushnell Parking Lot lawn following the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz. The days of heavy rain caused ruts when people innocently drove their land yachts on the grass. Mercedes suggested the DPW guys be grateful they aren’t collecting trash and recycling barrels that went floating down Whitney Street during that mysterious flash flooding that we know was an act of God and has nothing to do with the presence of pavement everywhere. Lincoln tried to get the conversation back on track, as this is not the Friends of Elizabeth Parking Lot, but Friends of Bushnell Parking Lot. Soulless proposed an easy solution: pave the Bushnell Parking Lot! Asphalt from the train tracks all the way to Pulaski Circle!
J. Ford raised a question about legality. After acknowledging that anything motorists do is legal because they have done it and there are lawyers who will do acrobatics to exonerate them, there is something in the City of Hartford municipal code that some lady without a car was yelling at him about. (See below) 

Mercedes Benns proposed recommending that the City of Hartford remove or water down this policy even more, making it possible that private property can be driven across and parked on public land 24/7. Alpha Romero seconded the motion. Passed unanimously.


Bobby Moses suggested a car wash fundraiser for Friends of Bushnell Parking Lot. This would be in the portion of the Bushnell Parking Lot near the carousel. Keya Soulless asked why it’s called a carousel if it contains horses but no cars. Moses proposed that money from the car wash go to replacing the horses with cars. Passed unanimously. 
An anonymous visitor complained that Friends of Bushnell Parking Lot interfered with Friends of Bushnell Park, creating confusion and being a general nuisance. She was ushered out after being gently reminded about how everything revolves around cars now, and we have the headlines to prove it. 

The meeting was adjourned at 7 PM. 
The next meeting is scheduled for August 23, 2021 at 6:01 PM. If you show up early, you’ll have to pay for parking.