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Canadian Urbanism Uncovered

Carfreedom!

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The Sierra Club of Canada is hosting the City of Toronto’s 2007 Car Free Day celebration on Yonge Street and Yonge-Dundas Square on Thursday, September 20 from 10 am to 2:00 pm. World CarFree Day is this Saturday, September 22 in Toronto.

Host a Parking Metre Party along Queen St West from 1 p.m., then join the Carfree Parade at 6 p.m. (5 p.m. assembly at Trinity Bellwoods, to head east).

How to host a parking metre party:

• Scout out a parking spot where you’d like to spend the afternoon
• Park your non-motorized “vehicle” (bike, trike, roller-skates, dinky-car etc.) along Queen West
• Pay the meter: for $1.50 per hour the spot is yours! (Be sure to display your parking receipt on the “dash” of your “vehicle”)

The next day, Sunday, September 23, Bells on Bloor invites you to join their pedal powered parade. The ride stretches from from High Park to the ROM. Free bells will be distributed by Bell Captains. The start point is High Park at Bloor St West — the main gate to the park, at the traffic light. You can see the route map is here. Start time is 12 noon. If you are not riding but want to support the effort, please ring a bell at one of the following locations at 12:30 p.m. when the bike parade passes:

• Christie Pits (Christie and Bloor) Admiral Bellerophon in command.
• Manning and Bloor: Major Bellini
• Brunswick and Bloor: Lieutenant Belle Epoque

Albert Koehl, founding member of Bells on Bloor, recently wrote, “A bicycle-friendly city is environment-friendly, too” in the Star. Read it here.

And, on the same day the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) along with the David Suzuki Foundation present the Toronto Smog Hike. Every year, 1700 people die from smog-related illnesses in Toronto.

Here are three things TEA invites you to do:

• Join them for an exhibit of all 1,700 posters. Sunday September 23, 10am to noon. At the Harbour Square Park (foot of Bay Street, beside the Ferry Terminal)

• Walk! Join few blocks or a few days. Leave at noon, and keep hiking until 1,700 lamp posts are postered. Could take awhile….

• Send a message! Send a few words about smog and they will hand-write it on a silhouette and include it in the Smog Hike. It can be about a personal experience, a message to politicians, a fit of rage, a poem, a proposal or whatever you’d like to say.

Get all the details here.

Crossposted to I Bike TO


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3 comments

  1. Car-free day is a much, much bigger deal in Europe, than carrupt Caronto, Ontcario where we have our collective heads up the tailpipe when it comes to the climate carisis.

    Yeah, I’m biased (bikeased?)
    though I’ve thought of a slogan for the backs of all vehicles on the road:
    Don’t be a passhole
    (you two, ok?)

    what about starting out with the TTC vehicles instead of the car ads…

    However Viva the Velorution
    but people do notice some cyclists more than others.

  2. I have to say I was surprised when I heard it on the radio this morning – I thought there’d be more advance info. Is the promotional budget a victim of the city cuts or something?

  3. Parking “metre?” Not unless on-street parking is billed by length, these days.