You may wish to occupy your home instead but if you’re planning to go downtown be aware that Occupy Toronto will be planted there with whatever that may bring. All the best to you and to the City.
Month: October 2011
Sobeys splits up its grocery businesses
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Some analysts may wonder what Sobeys is doing as it announces that it will split the grocery chain into two business units, IGA Operations and Multi-Format Operations. Part of the speculation will flow from the brevity of the statement. The IGA Operations business unit includes the banners IGA and IGA Extra, Les Marches Tradition, Marche Bonichoix, and Rachelle-Bery in Quebec. They will continue to be led by Marc Poulin. The Multi-Format Operations business unit includes the banners Sobeys, Thrifty Foods, Sobeys Urban Fresh, Foodland, IGA stores in Western Canada, FreshCo, Needs, Fast Fuel and Sobeys’ liquor operations.
Nov 30 new date for Pottery Rd opening
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A brief news statement tonight says the City now expects that Pottery Rd. will be re-opened on Wednesday, November 30, 2011. Pottery Road has been closed since May 24 and was expected to open Sept. 5. But, as reported here, the opening was delayed because of what appears to have been a miscalculation in the construction of the expanded roadway. A retaining wall designed to hold up the earthen side of the ravine near Broadview Ave. wasn’t quite up to the job. A check of the calendar will show that repairing or re-building the wall will take six weeks. Previous story.
Segar is now Modern French Kitchen
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Segar, the restaurant one door south of Satay on the Road, has raised a new sign. This one replaces the name Segar with “Modern French Kitchen.” It is apparently felt that the new sign might give potential customers a little more on which to focus.
Yogurty’s comes to Sunnybrook Plaza
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The spot in the Sunnybrook Plaza previously occupied by Paws and Claws has been taken by a large chain of franchised frozen yogurt outlets named Yogurty’s. Yorgurty’s apparently started in Toronto in 1987 and in recent years has seen considerable expansion. There is a list of shops on its website both operating and planned almost entirely in Ontario. They number some 25. There are also shops, again both open and planned, in Mexico and Costa Rica. Clearly Yogurty’s is on a roll. The product is said to be rich and creamy frozen yogurt that tastes like ice cream. Meantime, Paws and Claws has moved to South Bayview in the block north of Fleming Cres. .
Meters back as sidewalk mystery rolls on
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Overnight has brought the return of the parking meters to the east side of Bayview Ave. They were taken away you may recall in August when the frenzy of sidewalk construction was at its peak. But then, nothing. The meters were gone and so were the hot-to-trot sidewalk fix-it boys. Read more.
RIM hits You Tube to apologize for outages
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In a video apology posted Thursday morning RIM co-CEO Mike Lazaridis apologized to customers, saying “We’ve let many of you down.” He said email and texting services are returning to normal, but cautioned it’s too soon to say whether the outage has been fully resolved. Later, the company announced that the service is now up but there is no full explanation yet of what went wrong.
Biker mowed down by African Hartabeest
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They are closing on six million plays of this truly fascinating video of a mountain biker, Evan van der Spuy of Team Jeep South Africa, as he gets taken out by a Red Hartebeest. This happened during the Time Freight Express MTB race at Albert Falls Dam in South Africa. Note with the video says it was taken by his teammate Travis. Did the animal think Evan was lunch or what?
Will Toronto really have a surplus this year?
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It’s hard to believe but it appears the City of Toronto will have a $140 million surplus this year. The surplus comes as a result of a number of things but is thanks in large part to greater than expected revenues from the land transfer tax. Much is being made of the fact that Mayor Ford wants to get ride of the tax. Does anybody really want to keep it? But never mind, there are a number of reasons apparently why we may have a surplus. They are in general: An intake of $79.5 million more than expected from the municipal land transfer tax, $22.5 million more than expected from supplementary taxes, $15 million in interest and investment earnings, Internal services that came $5.4 million under budget.
Charming story on Leaside’s Sarah Jordan
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Linked here is a charming story on Sarah Jordan, a nine-year-old who did outstanding work in the annual food drive. She set a goal of collecting one tonne of food and actually doubled her goal, collecting more than two tonnes of food (4664 pounds) and nearly $2,000 in donations. This was the Leaside students fourth year holding the food drive to collect donations for the Daily Bread Food Bank and this year she expanded it to every class at Northlea Elementary and Middle School and the community with a bin at Tremlett’s Valu Mart. There is a very nice picture by Dan Pearce of Sarah and her sister Claire in Inside.Toronto.com.
Poison runs between Air Canada and staff
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The linked story is an attempt to explain what the Air Canada flight attendants are hoping to accomplish. It isn’t very enlightening but it does give some feeling for the poison’that runs between the flight attendants and Air Canada, and apparently, the Government as well. If you believe the sources in the story the Government’s intention to legislate the employees back to work may somehow be responsible for the rejection. If so, it is a sad commentary on the maturity of the flight attendants. It’s a little reminiscent of the intense militancy of the British Airways flight attendants. Are the flight attendants in a state of war with their employer much like their B/A counterparts? It may be that the Air Canada staff is just that disgruntled. The media has not done a good job at getting at the heart of the flight attendants issue. No representative for example is quoted in this story. Story.
Heath Street E. asking $2,695,000
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Those keeping up with home prices in Bennington Heights will wish to note a current listing at 445 Heath Street East where the asking is $2,695,000. Readers of the South Bayview Bulldog will recall the March 15, 2011 post announcing that the house had been sold for $1,175,000.