Ding-ding, it's the official World Car Free day today, and there are many ways you can show your support for green transportation this weekend, and have fun while doing so.

Today, it looks like Queen West will be the epicentre of fun, with parking meter parties all afternoon and a Carfree Parade starting at 6 p.m. at Trinity Bellwoods Park.

Tomorrow, Toronto Environmental Alliance and David Suzuki Foundation will be taking a Smog Hike. Starting at the Harbour Square Park at noon, the group will move north along Yonge, posting 1700 unique anti-smog messages on 1700 lamp posts. One for each of 1700 smog-related deaths that happen in Toronto each year on average. Even if you can't join the hike, you can contribute to the cause by sending a short anti-smog message to the organizers, who will hand-write it on your choice of poster (silhouettes 1-8 above) and post it on your behalf.

Spanning a short stretch of Spadina Rd. around Lonsdale Ave., Forest Hill Village is part of Forest Hill, the neighbourhood bordered roughly by the Cedarvale Ravine on the west, Avenue Rd. on the east, St. Clair Ave. on the south and Briar Hill Ave. on the north. One of the most affluent areas of the city, Forest Hill is famous mostly for its luxurious mansions, but there is a forest (well, perhaps merely a sizeable grove) of taller buildings around its edges, particularly in the south-west.

So what is Forest Hill Village like? Is it nothing more than a bunch of glitzy soulless boutiques, or is there a genuine community? Read more about Forest Hill Village in the Neighbourhood Profiles section to find out.

In February 2007, after many months of construction and horrendous traffic mess, the St. Clair Streetcar Right-of-Way was finally completed between St. Clair and St. Clair West subway stations... only to be shut down again yesterday! The reason? The tracks going into St. Clair West station need repairing. Which means good-bye streetcars and hello shuttle buses for the next six or so weeks.

Why weren't the tracks repaired when the ROW construction was going on? Good question! The TTC chair Adam Giambrone blames Save Our St. Clair, a local anti-ROW group, for messing up schedules by taking the city to court and delaying the ROW construction. Frankly, seems like a goofy excuse to me. Of course setbacks are a challenge, but surely there had to be a way to coordinate this in almost a year that passed between the final clearing of all legal hurdles and the end of construction on that stretch of St. Clair. It amazes me that a city as cash-strapped as ours could not be bothered to fix such inefficiencies. And even if it does not cost any more to break up projects like this, it's just so bloody inconsiderate of the users of the system.

Toronto cyclists gathered yesterday at the magnificent St. Lawrence Hall to voice their opinions on how to make Toronto a better city for cyclists. The public consultation held by the City of Toronto attracted around 100 participants who ranked the city's cycling-related proposals and came up with their own suggestions for improving cycling conditions in Toronto. A detailed report should appear at the City's cycling website at some point, but it was pretty obvious during the session what were the hot topics that generated the most response.

The list of issues identified by the group as top priority isn't particularly surprising: the dearth of bike lanes on roads that actually GO somewhere, atrocious road surface, bike lane parking and rampant bike theft have all been on the radar for a long, long time. Here is yet another confirmation that Toronto cyclists desperately want something done about it. I am all for public consultations (especially when they feature yummy refreshments and valet bike parking, as did this one), but gee, how much more evidence does anyone need that cyclists prefer to arrive at their destination in one piece? Or that cycling gets a little frustrating if you never know whether your ride is still waiting for you where you parked it? We've told the politicians what we wanted - time and time again. We told them again yesterday. We are waiting for a response...

What: a citizen rally
Why: to protest TTC service cutbacks and fare increases
When: Saturday, July 28th, 1:00 p.m.
Where: Nathan Phillips Square

A regular TTC rider, Vanessa Delsooz is fed up with the way the city and the TTC has been treating transit riders, and the news of the proposed drastic service cutbacks is the last straw. So she is organizing a guerilla citizen rally next Saturday, July 28th outside the City Hall (the exact time hasn't been settled yet, apparently). Several environmental organizations have been notified, but the rally is not associated with any of them. The rally has no permit since the bureaucratic procedure for obtaining one would take far too long to deliver an immediate response to the shocking news.

Alas, there is no way a rally can generate any revenue for the cash-strapped city, but at least it would show the politicians that Torontonians are damn pissed off. And while it's not clear what exactly should be done, it's abundantly clear that something should be done instead of just slashing services and hiking fares. So if you are pissed of - show up and let them know that you are!

Photo: by modowd

(Photo: Photosapience)

Ho-ly smokes! According to CBC News, after Mayor Miller's proposal to increase land transfer and vehicle registration taxes was put on hold by the City Council, the TTC has been told to cut its budget by $30 million this year and $100 million in 2008. This is likely to lead to unprecedented cutbacks of the TTC service which will include cancelling 20 bus routes and closing down the entire Sheppard subway line (which has only been in service since 2002 and required one billion dollars and eight years to construct).

It also means the fares will go up (AGAIN!) and any expansion projects will be suspended. So much for the new streetcars and the ambitious LRT network, not to mention high-speed ferries! An emergency meeting of the TTC board is scheduled for Friday to discuss and formalize the proposed cuts. Suddenly the land transfer tax isn't looking so bad....