Month: April 2017

ROBBERY:
Eglinton Av + Petman Av
-Convenience store robbed
-Suspect had knife
-Face covered
#715524
^dh

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) April 24, 2017

Aliza Kassam, MetCap tenant

May 1 Rent Strike

Large landlord

Pat Moore, Thorncliffe Park tenant

Some tenants of MetCap apartment buildings in Parkdale have hung up signs calling for a rent strike on May 1.  Their public expression of an intention not to pay the rent has led to eviction notices which would permit MetCap to commence eviction proceedings two weeks after the rent is due and remains unpaid. One of the leaders of the strike is tenant Aliza Kassam. She was interviewed by CityNews.  A rent strike was raised at a community meeting held with Thorncliffe Park tenants by Premier Wynne in January. At that time such action was advocated by tenant Pat Moore, a board member of the Thorncliffe Neighborhood Office (TNO).  So far as is known there is no action currently planned by Thorncliffe tenants.

ABOVE GUIDELINE RENT INCREASE

One issue in both neighborhoods is the so-called Above Guideline Increase (AGI). These are rent bumps for authorized improvements which permit a landlord to raise rents above the rent control guidelines in order to cover the cost. Many tenants see AGI applications as a pretext to raise rents. MetCap manages 19 apartment buildings in Parkdale and five are facing rent increases. Tenants are demanding MetCap withdraw all pending AGI applications in Parkdale, stop the practice of applying for AGIs in Parkdale and resolve all outstanding maintenance issues.

METCAP CEO

MetCap CEO Brent Merril says he is doing everything by the book and he intends to proceed with eviction if tenants do pay the rent. After the strike comes into effect, he will issue an N4 Notice of Termination as of May 2 giving tenants 14 days to pay their rent and if they do not the landlord can choose to take them to the Landlord and Tenant Board for an eviction hearing.

The Washington Capitals have stopped the Maple Leafs playoff drive and moved themselves into the second round of Stanley Cup playoffs with a seven-game series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The landmark series between Toronto and Washington will be recalled for intensely contested games with unimaginable goal-keeping. The six games featured four overtime periods, an indication of how evenly matched were these two teams. In the end, Marcus Johansson scored the overtime winner as the Caps eked out a 2-1 win. Leaf hearts soared when Auston Matthews broke the 0-0 tie to put Toronto ahead in the third (below). But it was not to be.

AUSTON MATTHEWS pic.twitter.com/N28CSJGeLT

— Flintor (@TheFlintor) April 24, 2017

A 61-year-old woman has suffered life-threatening injuries Sunday morning, including burns to a significant portion of her body, in an unexplained encounter with Toronto police at her home in a building on Saranac Blvd. northwest of Bathurst St and Lawrence Ave in North York. The incident appears to have started with a series of calls about a woman apparently causing a nuisance although again the information is vague. Police Emergency Task Force officers arrived at 3 a.m. and “interacted” with the woman inside one of the units, according to a statement from the police supervisory agency the Special Investigations Unit. During the interaction, the woman suffered the injuries and was taken to hospital. The SIU is urging anyone who may have information about this case to call 1-800-787-8529.

Centrist Emmanuel Macron and right-wing leader Marine Le Pen will face each other in a May 7 runoff for the French presidency after coming first and second in Sunday’s first round of voting, according to multiple projections. Macron, 39, is a comparative political novice who has never held elected office isa seen nonethless as an easy winner over Le Pen.

French people voting in Montreal
via@FranZeller pic.twitter.com/zMVUWWIoiw
— Denis Cosnard (@DenisCosnard)

— Idrees Zafar (@izafar84) April 23, 2017

The French Consulate in Montreal said that 57,000 French nationals had registered to vote in the Montreal area in the French presiential election. The video above shows a seemingly never-ending lineup which some say stretched two kilometres, There was one location with several polling stations inside. The election features political forces unlike those seen in other elections. Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron leading the race as polls open

Couple seen at Sobeys

Toddler’s Batman shirt

snowsuit

A woman and man are in custody in Edmonton after the discovery of the body of a 20-month old boy near a church on April 18. Police say the body was abandoned there. They has previously released pictures of the two who are said to be in custody seen pushing a stroller at a nearby Sobeys.

Teams of the Leaside Vollyball Club are battling it out at the provincial championships in Kitchener this weekend. Here was see the 12 and under girls striking their battle-action pose in preparation. LVC Facebook has more.

#ThenAndNow Millwood Rd, north to Laird, #Leaside
1928 pic thanks to @TorontoArchives
post office used to be where condo is going up pic.twitter.com/K3wZ5L8tj5

— Rudy Limeback (@rudydotca) April 22, 2017

Leasider Rudy Limeback has posted this interesting contrast between Millwood Road in 1928 and 2017. He mentions the site at Millwood and Malcolm Rd. where the Upper House is rising. The property was purchased in 1959 by the government for the Royal Mail to build Station R. Click here to groan at the price paid for the land.

This the last weekend to support the 132nd Leaside Scouts by buying garden supplies for delivery next weekend. Delivery day is Saturday, April 29.

A cyclist was gravely hurt Saturday morning after an incident whose origin is unclear. It happened on Kipling Ave. near Rathburn Road. Police say a driver and the cyclist were both heading north when they got into some sort of “interaction.”  The cyclist left the road and slammed into a pole at high speed. The driver kept on going. Police say it is unclear if there was contact or why the cyclist left the road.

Northbound Kipling Google

The doubtful pleasure of flying is seen in this Facebook video. It’s on a jammed American flight where everybody in the video is overwrought. A male attendant apparently grabbed a stroller away from a woman travelling with two children. We don’t know his story. But the stroller hits, or nearly hits, the woman and one infant in her arms. She is upset and weeping when the video begins. Then a man leaps up and starts to threaten the attendant. The attendant loses it and invites the passenger to fight. Now he’s suspended and American is apologizing (of course). We’re not sure what this proves except that when you jam dozens of men, women and children into a little airplane that has to take off in two seconds, you get a crisis.