Butterflies on Broad Street!

The idea was whimsical and wholly unexpected: On a day in September (Friday, it turned out) café tables and exotic plants would replace traditional parking spaces on Broad Street -- and two urban designers would release live butterflies into the sky.  

To the delight of Bloomfield residents walking past, anyone could take part in the experiment.  People were invited to sit down at the small metal tables among the tall grasses and watch the butterflies, hold sunflowers, or just spend time spend in the miniature urban oasis.

“It’s pretty cool,” grinned Bloomfield High School sophomore Chuck McCloskey, who had been strolling down Broad Street with his friends when they happened upon the “parklet.”  Pal Ryan Garrigan carefully balanced a butterfly on his thumb as his friends watched and giggled.  

“This one refuses to fly!” marveled Garrigan, a moment before his butterfly decided to do just that.

Designer David Lustberg, who works with the Montclair-based company, “Arterial,” said he came to Bloomfield for the day with associate James Ribaudo to "demonstrate what’s possible."

He explained. 

“This is part of a national day called Parking Day,” he said.  “A group of community members and designers take a metered parking space and transform it into a park for a day.”

September 16th was the designated day for the transformation, and the chosen spot was 388 Broad Street in the north center of town, near Flic Spa and the Japanese restaurant, Momoya.  As the last of the butterflies fluttered away, Lustberg admitted the idea was part of a larger urban design project to revitalize the business district.

“We’re working with Yoshi Mandale, the Bloomfield township business administrator, and an engineer and the director of community affairs,” said Lustberg.  “We chose to do it here because we’re redesigning a part of Broad Street.”

Parklets, said Lustberg, had been discussed as a means of slowing down traffic on Broad Street and improving the experience of pedestrians. 

“We want to slow traffic a little bit.  One cost-effective solution is to build these to extend the sidewalk,” he said, gesturing toward the wooden slatted platform that extended into the street by about three feet.  “I have no idea how long [the whole project] will take.  The town is looking to make improvements but the process is only starting now.”

According to Lustberg, the township will be hosting a community workshop “sometime in October,” to address these ideas and the needs of local business owners in general.  “Basically a lot of the store owners want to revitalize their store fronts.  At the workshop, they'll be able to discuss their vision of Broad Street,” he said.

“This can’t be anything but good,” stated Glen Ridge resident Emily Kim, who had stopped with her children Avery, 6 and Eden, 2, to look at the butterflies.  She stayed to chat as Lustberg gave her daughter a sunflower. 

“I think [revitalization] will encourage more businesses to open up. People move here from the city and they want more fun things to do,” said Kim.  “I moved from Park Slope a year and a half ago.  I wish we had more here.  I don’t see any reason why it can’t be more interesting.”