Month: September 2013

Will Neiman-Marcus contribute to your CPP?

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Nieman-Marcus, the famous U.S. department store with the reputation for service, seems to be up for sale. If a deal is done, the Canadian  government’s arms-length board that administers the investments of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) will become one of the new owners. The deal, as reported by Bloomberg News, suggests that the pension board and a firm known as Ares Management LLC, are the favoured buyers. The present owners of Neiman-Marcus, TPG Capital, Warburg Pincus LLC and Leonard Green and Partners LP are said to be ready to sell the luxury retailer. The story says the deal could be announced as soon as Monday. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board was created by Ottawa in 1997 to administer the investments which fund the CPP. It is independent of the government but ultimately accountable to the Cabinet.  Bloomberg News 

Attending TIFF? It’s easier to crash the G20

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The Sun newspaper inspires this modest demurer to the non-stop media rave about the Toronto Film Festival. The Sun offers its own love-hate check list and it is worth a read. For our part, it is a gratifying thing to know that the city is the focus of so much of the world’s attention and, to be frank, the spending of a lot of money. In many ways the TIFF is a kind of peek-a-boo smorgasbord. You have to hope that you find the things you like. Otherwise, news coverage is frequently just four or five days of wall-to-wall noise. Star-gazing? Maybe, but it has always been true that most people are not interested in standing on a street hoping to see a film star. Those who possess them know in their brains that this is true. Our final flick-off is shared by the Sun. In the end, TIFF is not a public event. Oh sure, there are films to be seen even though the terms on which tickets are sold seem abusive. No. TIFF is an convention of people who write, finance, produce, direct and star in Hollywood movies. Important work. To attend TIFF as a simple outsider however is like trying to crash the G20. They don’t know you.  Toronto Sun

Glebe Manor Lawn Bowling pitches a straight sale

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Glebe Manor Lawn Bowling Club was raising a little money on Sunday with a lawn sale just outside the fence that encloses the pitches on Manor Road just east of Mount Pleasant Rd. Left we see Phil, a philosopher bowler of many entertaining stories and his bowler friend (centre right). Lady at the far right found some bargains. 

Motorcycle death on Rosedale Valley at Bayview

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Speed is said by police to have been a factor n the death of a 36-year-old man when his motorcycle slammed into a utility pole on Rosedale Valley Road early Saturday. The accident happened near Bayview Avenue at around 2:05 a.m. The man suffered major traumatic injuries and was rushed to hospital, but succumbed to his injuries a short time later. 

Glass skyscraper blisters paint across the street

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The developers behind a skyscraper blamed for starting fires and causing damage by reflecting the sun’s rays have said they will erect a temporary scaffold screen in a bid to stop the “phenomenon”. The half-finished 37-storey tower at 20 Fenchurch Street in central London, dubbed the “Walkie Talkie” due to its distinctive shape, is now being called the “Walkie Scorchie” because of its apparent ability to bounce heat from the sun on to buildings in the next street. Business owners in Eastcheap say the £200m project has blistered paintwork, caused tiles to smash and singed fabric. A motorist said the intense heat melted part of his Jaguar  — Guardian.

St. Cuthbert’s Women’s Dinner is Friday, Oct. 23

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Lorna Krawchuk has written to remind us of the 11th Annual Women’s Dinner at St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church, 1399 Bayview Ave. This is the one where the men of the parish serve dinner and are the wine stewards. They also clean up. It sounds like a nice evening and the tickets are very reasonable at $20 a person. This event will be held Friday, October 23,  2013. Come at 6.30 for dinner at 7.15 p.m. Tickets are available at the church office (416) 485-0329

Warm smiles at Valumart indoor barbecue

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Here are a couple of images of our rainy South Bayview day. It’s a shame we could not trade Friday’s weather for today’s, but it was ever thus. Top we see some welcoming smiles at Tremblett’s Valumart from the inside barbecue. It was scheduled to be outside but forget that. Staff was cooking up burgers and weenies on the  permanent stoves in the prepared foods area and these ladies were in charge of serving the fixings beside cash. Below, it really doesn’t matter if it is pouring rain when soccer is your passion. These three young guys in Moore Park were absolutely indifferent to the pelting water as they tried to outdo each other with moves on the net — or saves. They were not far from home and a dry change of clothes.  Around South Bayview there seemed to be evidence of  the adage that people go shopping when it rains.  Bayview Ave was busy and the parking lot at the Smart Centre was crowded.  Sunny tomorrow! 

Darkest transit tragedy was St. Clair right-of-way

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Marcus Gee writes in the Globe and Mail today (Saturday,September 7, 2013)  that Beijing  has managed to build as many as a dozen subway lines in the last 25 years whereas Toronto hasn’t added much if any capacity to its underground service  This is, as you will gather, a criticism of everything  transit in Toronto. Mr. Gee is a perceptive man and is seldom wrong in his commentary on the state of the municipality. His dismay at the performance of the present  transportation minister is fully understandable. Mr Murray seems to be trying to build a subway to Scarborough by having a temper tantrum a day. Our quibble with Mr. Gee is his comparison of Toronto and Beijing.  It’s a common device when we want to complain about Canadian underachievement.  The Bulldog would submit that China’s subways have been built  as much for reasons of nation-building and international status as for commuter convenience. Happily, Chinese subways aren’t finished up with laughable Greek columns like those in Stalinist Moscow and St. Petersburg.  But there’s a similar kind of nationalism at work. In a country with woeful public health, spotty pensions and a bumper crop of orphans, subways may or may not seem to have been a sensible first priority. Of course it is also quite cheap to build anything in China for all the reasons that every factory owner knows. It’s true, we have been neglectful of heavy transit in Toronto but for many years there has been little public outcry about that.  Even today transit is not  the thing that inspires lawn signs in Leaside, or perhaps even Scarborough.  The depth of our  dark night of transit tragedy occurred during the mayoralty of Mr. Miller and his youthful keeper of  the streetcars, Mr. Giambone. The construction of the St.Clair right-of way was an insanity by any way of measuring it and a shameful crushing of the will of the people of that street. 

Costco staff among the best paid in retail

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Well paid jobs for Thorncliffe Park?

We hope that North York Community Councillors will ask about the current hourly pay for employees at Costco stores in Ontario when the matter of  the old Coca Cola buildings on Overlea Blvd. comes before them next Tuesday, September 10, 2013. On council’s agenda is a proposal to demolish the 1965 Coke structures and put up a bustling Costco store plus a full up service station as well. Whatever else my be on the minds of Chair Maria Augimari and her colleagues, the members will be well served by a look at the excellent money that Costco has waiting for its new employees at this location. Earlier meetings have been told there may be as many as 100 full-time jobs. There would be few retail workers in Thorncliffe Park who would not gladly trade their present positions for a chance to see the $17 or $18 an hour that Costco is said to pay.  Research suggests that Costco rewards its employees with pay as much as double the going rate as places like Walmart, Target and others. The minimum wage in Ontario is $10.25 but under certain conditions some may be paid less. The 11-member council is in a position to approve the Toronto City Staff report on the proposed Costco and send it on with a recommendation to full council to do the same. Previously The Bulldog has reported on this and on the public spirited decision by Costco to maintain and find a place of pride for the Walter Yarwood sculpture that has adorned the Coke property for 50 years. Members of the the North York Community Council are Maria Augimeri, Chair,  John Parker, Vice-chair, Shelley Carroll, Josh Colle, John Filion, Denzil Minnan-Wong, James Pasternak, Anthony Perruzza, Jaye Robinson, David Shiner and  Karen Stintz   Plan for Overlea Costco   Yarwood’s sculpture 

Large extension added at 31 Sutherland Drive

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Here at 31 Sutherland Drive there is a full size extension being added at the back.  This man is shuttling concrete to the back of the property and we can only hope he doesn’t have to personally transfer all the cement for a poured foundation. The modest home has a nice if somewhat busy location. It sits on Sutherland facing north with a view of the more exalted section of Bessborough Drive. The 88 Leaside bus passes frequently which may be both a blessing and a curse. This is just one of a number of homes being renovated or demolished in South Leaside on these desirable streets.