Street by street, lane by lane, curb by curb, the war to take back the city is now being waged.

The odds are against those who would depose the mighty automobile, but time is on their side. Whether they’re on foot, a bike or sitting around eating and drinking, people now expect to be able to share the roads.

Bright and early Monday morning, work crews showed up on Church Street to install ten “parklets.” They will occupy east-side parking spots — some just one, some two — from now until the end of October. Half will be run by local bars and restaurants, others will there as places to sit, talk and take in the passing parade.

“We have to make the street more interesting,” local Councillor Kristyn Wong-Tam insists. “We want to bring people to the Gay and Lesbian Village and see the pride we have in our neighbourhood. But people love people; that’s what will make it successful.”

She’s right, of course. She’s also right when she points out that Gaytown looks tired, even shabby. But Wong-Tam understands, too, that the parklets, which will cost the city nothing, have wider implications for the city, and the way we inhabit it.

The program is radical, perhaps revolutionary. It suggests that taking away precious parking spots for other, non-vehicular, purposes is an appropriate use of public space. In some circles, that’s heresy. The merest whisper of eliminating parking spots can be relied on to set off every NIMBY and BIA alarm in Toronto. Residents and merchants alike would rather sell their first-born than lose a legal parking spot. Schools can close, highrise condos go up next door, but hands off the parking.

The Church St. parklets might not change Toronto; but they will alter our experience of it. They will provide space to spread out and survey the scene. They will allow pedestrians to move off the narrow concrete strips that line our roads, sidewalks, where they have been consigned since time immemorial.

No surprise, parklets or some variation thereof, can be found in many other cities including Montréal, Halifax and New York. Because the space they occupy is dedicated to parking, they don’t interfere with traffic. Indeed, they might improve its flow.

The temporary closure of several blocks of Yonge last summer didn’t bring the downtown economy to its knees, or cause terrible congestion. In fact, revenues in nearby businesses increased a very healthy 15 to 26 percent.

“Business went up because there were more pedestrians,” says Wong-Tam, who also spearheaded that effort.

“It’s urban improvement,” she explains. “People who live in densely populated cities crave public space. We need to program that space for people, not parked cars.”

Turned out that Wong-Tam got that right; Torontonians are so starved for public space, the parklets will be delivered and run at no expense to taxpayers. The Carpenters’ Union will build them of material donated by Home Depot. Many other volunteers are also involved.

And as Wong-Tam says, “There’s a need for this sort of program in Chinatown, Greektown, Little Italy, places where those communities still get together.”

To that list we could add dozens more; the city’s neighbourhoods, like its streets, are ripe for this sort of intervention. Regardless, official Toronto has traditionally been nervous about such moves. Lacking imagination and enlightenment, and facing local hostility, politicians and bureaucrats see only trouble. That’s why the most amazing thing about Wong-Tam’s parklets is that they’re actually going to appear.

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Slowly, the city turns. Step by step, inch by inch . . .