Mayor Ford met with the members of the Thorncliffe Park Tenants Association Friday afternoon. A release from the association says that Mr. Ford  listened to what appears to be long-standing complaints from the tenants including such things as extra payment for their conditioning, light bulbs, fuses and visitor parking. The buildings are privately owned. The association president Abbas Kolia calls the charges “cash grabs”. The release also says there are security issues and delays for what should be routine maintenance.  Storage lockers for tenants have been removed without consultation. “Tenants deserve better and we thank Mayor Ford for his time and support,” added Mr. Kolia. “We went to the mayor because we don’t think there is anyone else at city hall that can help us.”  This meeting, and others being held by the mayor, seem to go to his strategy of addressing his core supporters both as good government and an investment against the next election.  Today (Saturday, June 8) Thorncliffe tenants demonstrated outside buildings that they are poorly maintained and not clean. They are threatening a “rent boycott” in which rent is not paid to the landlord but into some type of trust. 

The Maurice Cody Spring Fair was mobbed today with kids, parents, bargain hunters and the plain curious. The flea market and ticket selling got underway at 10.30 and the Cleveland Street playground was still jumping by mid-afternoon. The event ended at 3.30 p.m. One of the most striking attractions was the climbing challenge in which harnessed kids got to clamber up the side of what appeared to a replica of an Easter Island statue, but maybe not. In the days to come, we hope to update the events of the Cody Spring Fair. 

Here are a few media musings we can let wander around our noodles over the summer. You may say the Bulldog is on North Etobicoke Gold  but think of this.  If we had told you last week that Rogers would  throttle City News Channel after just 20 months in business, you would have scoffed. Scoffed!  Let’s start with an easy one. It cannot be that Christine Bentley wishes to live in quiet seclusion forever. We really hope not and assume that her absence from the public eye is all about a so-called no-compete deal that accompanied her generous settlement from CTV last September. Non-competes usually forbid a talented person like Christine from taking another anchor job within a year of her dismissal. So let the guessing begin. Where will Christine Bentley show up this coming fall? Which raises speculative question number two. Can CTV News Toronto long resist the success of CP24? You can be sure that the railroad builders are Bell Media have fully analysed the economics of folding the Agincourt newsroom into its all news local channel on Queen Street. The argument for the status quo may outweigh that for a change, but we’re not betting. Of course the CRTC would have something to say about. And finally, with even the Ford brothers wondering about the future of Toronto’s rickety newspapers, we’ll take this moment to say that the most money-losing of the lot is the National Post. Pity. The Fords say one or more of the four dailies will be gone within five years and that seems possible. 

The excitement on the CBC tonight (Thursday, June 6, 2013) was the identification of a home in Etobicoke that is said to be the scene of the picture showing Mayor Ford allegedly doing crack cocaine. The home is owned by a family named Basso and the CBC says that the inset man, Fabio Basso, is a friend of the mayor. The house is on Windsor Road in northwest Toronto, near Kipling Avenue and Dixon Road. Reporters asked Ford about the house but he refused to respond. CBC said the beige brick bungalow appears to have exterior details that match those in the photo.