[URBAN NOTE] A Good Bike on Dupont Street, Toronto

[rfmcdonald]

What is this bike spray-painted neon orange doing at Dupont and Gladstone?



It's public art. The genesis of the "Good Bike Project" was detailed by the Toronto Star's Nikki Thomas back in June.

Imagine if Toronto’s orphaned bikes were adopted by artists and transformed from rusting metal shells into eye-popping sidewalk sculptures.

That’s what Caroline Macfarlane envisioned last week when she reclaimed an old Raleigh that had been locked up and abandoned outside the OCADU Student Gallery on a grey stretch of Dundas St. W. for years.

“It would be great to make it a city-wide art project,” said Macfarlane, who helps runs the gallery.

The City of Toronto doesn’t agree.

Two days after Macfarlane, 25, finished sanding, priming and spray painting the bike a glowing shade of neon orange — carefully taping the bike ring first to avoid damaging public property — the city slapped it with a removal notice. She was on her way to plant flowers in the bike’s basket when she found it.

Transportation Services says they need to keep the bike rings clear for use by other cyclists. But the area’s councillor, Adam Vaughan, thinks it’s a matter of clearing away something else.

“It’s this war on creativity that’s underway,” said Vaughan, referring to Mayor Rob Ford’s campaign against graffiti.

Somewhat surprisingly to many, the City of Toronto relented, the mayor--known for what can be described as a skepticism about biking--going so far as to launch the Good Bike Project city-wide.

The Dupont/Gladstone bike appeared a couple of weeks ago. I love it: neon is so rare on my street.