The Mayor’s plan is to make central Paris car-empty as much as possible. Not surprisingly the population within the city centre, for the most part, agrees with this. The suburbs and rural districts however are objecting. Suburbanites need their cars, often daily, to get to work. Mayor Hidalgo is slapping on a speed limit in most parts of the city, dropping allowable speeds to 30-kilometres-per- hour. Already she’s planning to fill the streets with bicycle riders, and eliminate parking spots. Last year cars were banned from the Rue de Rivoli, which passes the Louvre and crosses the city centre. The Seine River has gone from a motorway to a waterside park  TORONTO motorists have been complaining lately about bikes, major streets under renovation, cones all over the place, traffic jams, and reckless driving. Mayor Hidalgo is working on a different platform, battering down the gates and getting on with it, wherever. <Excerpts from Eric Reguly, The Globe and Mail,  and below – JBAUTISSIER/PANORAMIC>