Bid to put 7-storey condo on Postal Stn R site

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There has been an application filed to build a seven storey condominium on the site of the old Postal Station R at the address known as 2 Laird Drive. Members of the community are messaging as many people as they can to organize resistance to this development, one which they say is not at all in keeping with the neighborhood. An approval would change the zoning from Commercial to Residential, Multiple Dwellings. The permitted height would go from 12.2 metres (40 feet) to 26.4 metres (86.6 feet). The sense of emails zooming around Leaside tonight is that anyone who wishes to stop this development should contact the Councillor, Mr Parker, as soon as possible. The now vacant building which for nearly 50 years housed Postal Station R at 2 Laird Drive was sold for $3,050,000, according to land registry records. The new registered was KCAP Laird Inc  It is a statement on our history that the property in question was purchased by the government in 1959 for $115,000. All posts on this subject.

Fashion train rolls into facsimile station

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 Fashion has outgrown the catwalk show. Now that the industry is a worldwide entertainment business, with celebrity-packed audiences and global-reach livestreamed collections, beautiful women wearing beautiful clothes is simply no longer enough to satisfy the audience. Louis Vuitton once again raised the bar on the 21st-century phenomenon of the fashion spectacular. Guests arriving at the marquee erected in one of the larger courtyards of the Louvre found themselves in a lifesize facsimile of a train station, complete with ornately arching ironwork and a giant station clock. As the clock struck 10, steam began to emerge from behind the black gates at the far end of the catwalk, a false floor was pulled back to reveal train tracks, and the Louis Vuitton express – a handsome one-carriage train liveried in navy and gold, built especially for the show – pulled into the “station”. An elegant, all-female cast of travellers, who could be seen through the train windows, descended on to the station one by one, each accompanied by a uniformed, white-gloved porter carrying her handbag and luggage. The Guardian

Tim vs Starbucks: Battle of Main Street ahead?

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Tim Hortons and Starbucks are a tale of two coffee shop concepts. Tim’s is almost always in a service station or easy-park suburban lot. Starbucks is a street corner phenomenon  The question now that Tim’s has announced a large expansion program is where will those new shops go. Pretty nearly every service station worth going into already has a Tim’s. Around South Bayviewland the Tim Hortons are out numbered 10 or 15 to one by Starbucks. Why? Because Starbucks plunks its shops down on every street it can find. Forget the parking. The question was not asked at the news conference yesterday but it’s the one that overhangs the entire Tim’s expansion.  Are they about to launch the battle of main street against Starbucks?

Old theatres should be retail space

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Councillor Matlow (Ward 22) is quoted in InsideToronto.com expressing concern about the future of the Regent and Mt. Pleasant theatres on Mt Pleasant Rd. It won’t be surprising  to anyone that the theatres face a tough challenge to survive in the world of the Silver Screen multiplexes and wide-screen home movie downloads. The concern as expressed in the story is a that the theatres somehow be given a future which coincides with “community” preferences. It’s not entirely clear what this would be. As we see it, the dowdy old theatres of Mt Pleasant will have to face a future most likely as retail properties. The Bayview Playhouse has emerged as a Shoppers Drug Mart which is a credit to Bayview Ave.  It would be wise not to expect the Mt Pleasant and the Regent to be made into museums or art galleries. InsideToronto.com

Three cents is a lot at Bank of Nova Scotia

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Three cents might not seem like a lot but when it bulks up the dividend at Scotiabank, it is. Bank of Nova Scotia pleased investors today by jumping its dividend by six per cent (52 cents to 55 cents)  signalling confidence that its global diversification strategy will help it weather some of the headwinds the industry is facing. BNS is the most international of Canada’s banks and the third among its sisters to raise its payout to shareholders this earnings season, 

Wingsuit man barely survives crash landing

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Jeb Corliss, the daring wingsuit man whose exploits have entranced fans everywhere, has survived a terrible crash flying off Table Mountain in Capetown South Africa.. Corliss bounced off rocks as he rocketed along at 120 miles an hours. He broke both legs and had numerous other injuries. He is in stable condition following the January 16, 2012 crash. Undaunted, Corliss insists he will fly again. “That’s what I live for,” Corliss told  Dan Harris of ABC News from his hosptial room.  The daredevil has released  the video (may upset some) from his ill-fated ride. It shows Corliss taking off in one of his specially designed wing-suits and zipping down the mountain before misjudging the size of the mountain’s ledge, slamming his lower body into the rocks and then spiraling into the air and crashing into bushes. His successful run in China is seen in video (here). It’s a dramatic feat that has thrilled hundreds of readers of the South Bayview Bulldog. He  “threads the needle” of Tianmen Mountain in China. Picture above shows (top) Corliss through a helmet camera on a gooseneck as he speeds through the sky.  Lower right, the “needle’s eye” as Corliss barrels towards it. 

Break-in on Hanna among local incidents

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Toronto Police Service reports: The owner of Wiltshire Development, 11 Macnaughton Road reports that between February 18, 2012 and March 1, 2012 entry was gained to a premise on Hanna Road by forcing a door. Removed was a quantity of appliances and a television set.
Urban Outfitters 
Urban Outfitters, 20 Eglinton Street West, reports that between 1800 hours, March 2, 2012 and 0700 hours, March 3, 2012, entry was gained into the premises by forcing a door. Removed was a quantity of tools. (This is the construction site of UO new store in the Yonge-Eglinton Centre — Ed)
Muhamed Ali keepsakes stolen
A resident of Thorncliffe Park Drive reports that between 1900 hours, February 19, 2012 and 1000 hours, March 4, 2012, entry was gained into a storage locker by unknown means. Removed was a quantity of sport equipment, a Royal Doulton dinner set, electronic equipment, authentic boxing memorabilia signed by Muhamed Ali, a bicycle and a camera.

Service for Michael Gourley at Humphrey

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The family of Michael Gourley will receive friends at Humphrey Funeral Home on Bayview Ave. from 6-8 pm.  on Friday, March 30. Mr. Gourley died Friday, March 2 at age 65  at Toronto General Hospital. He was a former vice president of the University of Western Ontario.   A memorial service will be held in the chapel at 11 am. Saturday, March 31.  Obituary