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In an office meeting room at Yonge and Bloor streets, Cameron MacLeod welcomes the concerns of citizens and transit enthusiasts. “Have a Timbit,” he says to a newcomer. “There might be some printouts floating around as well.”

About 20 people are clustered in groups of four, brainstorming, scribbling on a whiteboard. A toddler unfolds a transit map in his mother’s lap. Aside from exchanging a few tweets, most of these people have never met.

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“Maybe flashmobs?” someone says.

John Krissilas, 27, suggests getting a celebrity to ride the TTC to draw attention to the cause.

“George, Jian — those kinds of celebrities?” Stephanie Guthrie says.

“Those are downtown guys though,” another young man answers. “That would be perceived as downtown elites dictating how it should be.”

These are the beginnings of Code Red, a campaign to derail Mayor Rob Ford’s plan to build a subway line in order to resurrect parts of Transit City, which called for three provincially funded surface light rail lines on Finch, Sheppard and Eglinton.