Allan Appel Photo
Arturo Franco Camacho brainstorms
If he can design and operate two major restaurants in New Haven, Arturo Franco Camacho figured, he can come up with the perfect picnic table for patrons of the food trucks at Long Wharf. All he needed was a bright new idea; he came up with one.
The brainstorm occurred near the corner of York and Elm, when Camacho stepped away from his popular Tijuana Taco Company food cart to check out a pitch for a design competition run by the New Haven chapter of Architecture for Humanity. The challenge: Design a table, trash can, and bicycle rack for Long Wharf.
The display was behind a traffic-calming bale of straw that Architecture for Humanity’s Britton Rogers had thrown down across two parking spots.
Camacho — who had operated Bespoke and Roomba restaurants in downtown New Haven before moving to set up Tacuba Taco in Branford — was intrigued. He stood thinking before the display, uttering the words, “something practical, beautiful, clean.”
Rogers was making the pitch to Camacho and all passers-by this past Friday with the blessing of the city authorities on the occasion of PARK(ing) Day. That’s the annual event when all across the country auto-centric activists turn vehicular rest stops into play areas, or in the case of Rogers, converting two coveted slots into a showroom for his design competition.
Click here for the guidelines and to register for the competition whose hallmarks must be sturdiness, durability, and inexpensive materials.
Long Wharf was chosen as the pilot spot because, well, it’s pretty much of a mess of litter with no place for eaters to sit down. Also, according to Rogers, “It’s the only place that addresses the water. Why not encourage others than I‑95” visitors to lunch there?
Anybody can enter the competition, no pedigrees required. The deadline is Oct. 8.
Rogers said one of the judges is to be City Plan Director Karyn Gilvarg. If the winner is truly a winner, the table, bike rack, and trash bin may become prototypes for new furniture in parks throughout the Elm City.
“Maybe I’ll design a table for a whole family from a baby to an elderly, handicapped person,” Camacho said. He continued to think as he returned to set up his food cart for lunch.
It was Roomba, not Rhumba.