Ithaca mayor Svante Myrick turns his parking spot into park

Ithaca, New York, mayor Svante Myrick walks to work.

With his reserved parking spot downtown going unused all week, the 25-year-old mayor decided to turn his “parking space into a park space,” he wrote on Facebook.

The city’s youngest mayor in history quickly made headlines for added benches, tree trunks and flowers to his parking space.

“I’ll be out here watering it on the weekends,” Myrick said.

The “Reserved for Mayor” sign now reads ”Reserved for Mayor — and friends.”

Myrick recently gave up his car to join the 15 percent of Ithaca’s residents who walk to work. He uses a local car-share program when he needs to drive to an event.

“I love to drive a car,” Myrick told Your News Now. “But most of the work I do is within a two mile radius. So I thought the least I could do was give up my car and I sold it about three years ago now.”

The mayor’s “mini oasis” is an example of Myrick practicing what he preaches.

“The answer to too many cars is not necessarily more parking spaces…We can change traffic patterns and parking behaviours by providing alternative methods of transportation which are more affordable, reliable and convenient,” he wrote on his campaign website.