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.

“These spontaneous pieces of art that spring up in the city, this is what makes Toronto a great place, what makes it a vibrant culture, an interesting urban environment,” he said, adding that while he supports efforts to rid the city of spray painted tags and illegal posters, “there needs to be some discretion.”

Vaughan, who noticed the neon bike as he cycled past earlier this week, said there are abandoned bikes all over downtown. He said he saw one recently that had a two-year-old removal notice still stuck to it.

Macfarlane’s blog post about the orange bike’s removal notice went viral.

“(One) little boy told me I had a beautiful bike and that he wished he had an orange bike like mine. A woman shook my hand and thanked me for brightening the street,” she wrote. Two police officers came by on numerous occasions to see the transformation of the bike unfold. By the end of the day they were suggesting what types of flowers to plant in the basket and honking and waving as they rode by in their cruiser!”

“The funny thing is that this bike has been sitting in the same place for years, unnoticed by the city. However, once it is brightened and made beautiful, it’s got to go,” the blog post continues.

Macfarlane has received nearly 100 emails from across Canada and around the world.

“I'm really disappointed by your city’s actions,” wrote a supporter from Belgrade, Serbia.

“Art is not a crime,” wrote another from Portland, Ore. “It is the expression of beauty that makes life special and unique.”

The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment from the Toronto Star.

Earlier in the week, the city painted over a mural on Dupont St. that was still in progress; the artist insists he was originally commissioned by the Clean and Beautiful secretariat to create it.

Councillor Cesar Palacio, chair of the municipal licensing and standards committee, wrote in an email that “legitimate art that has gone through the proper process will continue to play an important role” in the city.

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Ultimately, the bike will have to go, the city says.

Macfarlane said she wanted the bike to brighten up a drab strip and act as a reminder of the presence of cyclists. Neither she nor Vaughan’s office have received complaints.

“I think it just makes people smile,” she said. “I’ll find a way to save it. If I have to hack the lock off and move the bike around, that’s what I’ll do.”

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