A Park Instead of a Parking Lot

I went looking for a Banksy in my own city yesterday.

As a fourth-generation Los Angeles native, I thought I knew every corner of my hometown. But there it was, tucked in an alley off Broadway, hidden between buildings that weren’t there when the piece first appeared in 2010:
Swing Girl. 🎨

I wasn’t prepared for how it would hit me.

If you don’t know this piece, here’s what Banksy did. He painted the word “PARKING” on a wall, whitewashed out the “ING” so it read “PARK,” then stenciled a little girl swinging from the letter A.

Standing there, I felt something well up in my chest. Almost a physical sadness. A child on a swing, suspended above concrete, in a space that was never meant for play. 💔

This is what I took from it:
Too many parking lots, not enough parks. Too much concrete, not enough space for kids to play safely. He looked at what WAS and painted what COULD BE.

What I found next is what really got me.

In 2010, this mural faced an open parking lot. Today? I had to stick my hand through a gate to take the picture. The lot is now a high-end furniture store and luxury apartments. 😔

They could have built a park.

They didn’t.

I’ve always been a rebel. My whole life. And now here I am, building a corporation.

The irony isn’t lost on me. 🙃

Pistachio Pay is my way of bringing art to the world. 🌱

Not paint on a wall. But something I’m building with the same spirit: Look at what IS and create what COULD BE.

The financial system sees neurodivergent adults as problems to penalize.

Late fees. Overdraft charges. The “ADHD Tax” that costs us $500 to $2,000 every single month.

I see what needs to be whitewashed out.

The shaming. The punishing. The “ING” that turns something that should help us into something that harms us.

What’s left?

A park instead of a parking lot. 🌳

Banksy built his career critiquing corporations that profit from suffering.

I think about that a lot. Because I’m building a company.

The weight of that responsibility feels heavy.

Not the fundraising. What comes after.

The kind of corporation I build.

The kind of CEO I become. ⚖️

I don’t want to be what he’s critiquing.

I want to build a company that repurposes parking lots into parks. That makes choices rooted in people, not just profit. 🪴

I believe it’s possible to build a corporation that does more good than harm. I don’t know if that’s naive. But I’m going to try.

Some things are worth preserving exactly where they are.

Some things are worth building for the people who need them most.

I left that alley feeling more certain than ever about what I’m doing.💚