Thorncliffe Park Tenants Association will hold its yearly Back to School Fun Fair tomorrow (Sunday, August 31, 2014) on grounds at 71 Thorncliffe Park Drive. The event will run from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. There will be live music, clothing and food vendors on site and many activities like free face painting, free henna and a jumping castle for children. There will also be a free draw for 100 backpacks. Abbas Kolia of the tenants association says the fair gives kid an chance to have fun with family and pals before heading back to school. As many as 7000 residents could attend. Information may be had by calling Abbas Kolia at 647-960-9178.
Public comment on wingy ladies is illuminating
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The two woman charged with disrupting Thursday’s Sunwing flight to Cuba are now both out of jail on bail of $2,500 each. At such times, many people would echo Dr. Phil in asking: “What were you thinking?” Pubic opinion as represented by a review of comments to the CBC story is illuminating. One man thought the pilots were “air-heads” for turning back to Toronto when they were only about an hour out of Cuba. Yes sir, but it’s the captain’s job to make flying safe and you can see how he might have wanted these two right out of the system. They are not going to be buying a charter to sunny beaches again soon. Other readers wanted to see the two, 25 and 26, severely punished. “Drunk drivers don’t get a break,” one fumed. The judgemental tone of those demanding the two pay restitution was strict. Another reader said that mom and dad would ground them, and he enjoyed his pun greatly. On the other hand, are mom and dad even around? One of the women had to spend a second night in jail because no one would sign for her bond, which at $2,500 was not that much. Other suggestions ranged from equipping all airline attendants with a taser (yikes) to placing the two in strict plastic hand and ankle cuffs and stowing them like so much luggage. Maybe not. Was it necessary to call out a jet fighter at whatever cost because of these two? Who knows, but as a reader said in reply to that question, it’s part of the same kind of procedure that gets one arrested in an airport if he make a joke about a bomb. It doesn’t help to smile. Finally, a reader concluded the ladies had “no class” and wondered how they could behave that way. It’s a fair question but as those who travel much will know, it is fairly common for vacationers to go a little wingy when turned loose from the day-to-day duties and undefined stresses of their lives. Previous post
Garbage begets garbage on St. Clair right-of-way
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| Garbage begets garbage |
Hard-headed realists like to scratch out the term computer glitch where they see it and insert human error. It’s a truth that is older than the home computing revolution of the 1980s. The first recorded use of the term garbage-in-garbage-out was noted in April 1963. It describes the way humans make mistakes that computers can’t fix. And so it is that the St. Clair streetcar right-of-way, that multi-million dollar disaster imposed on Toronto by our transportation betters, is suffering from a massive case of garbage-in-garbage-out. Somewhere along the line, the system that regulates the transit traffic signals (the streetcars have their very own lights of course) was fouled up with garbage data. It was done by a human, or maybe several humans. As a result, it now takes eight minutes longer than it should for the 512 St. Clair streetcar to make the round trip from the west end to Yonge Street. As the scriptures might say, garbage begets garbage.
Shanghai e-car buyers win $10,000 license plates
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Reuters in-depth report above reports on a growing market for electric cars in China, where most of the e-cars are made these days. Among the incentives for drivers to switch from gasoline-engined cars is free license plates. In Shanghai that little emolument is priced at $10,000 US.
Pottery Rd across the valley closed this weekend
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Pottery Rd. across the Don Valley will close this evening at 8 p.m. for the weekend to permit critical GO Transit rail work The road will be shut from between Bayview and Broadview Aves. but there will be access to local businesses (Fantasy Farm, Todmorden Mills) from Broadview only. Pottery Rd. is expected to re-open September 2, 2014 at 5 a.m.
Things pretty much the same on South Bayview
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The Bulldog likes to believe that everyone does his best and so when the stylish but now soiled trash bins with the foot-pedal action become clogged with rubbish, hey, we assume someone will be along soon to remove it. Work is underway to grind down the stone and cement composition which sits between our trees. We have come to call it Terrazzo 2. Terrazzo 1 you will recall, turned to gravel with the first snow last winter. Let’s see how Terrazzo 2 manages. At the north end, merchants are bemused by the appearance of the plastic flower boxes, six of them, which now look like they are having a convention from the corner of Parkhurst Blvd. down to about Dolly Jewellers at 1699 Bayview. As we say, everyone does his best in this scribblers digest and thus Councillor Parker has produced these very nicely planted boxes on the street, however odd their clustering, and we thank him.
Cuban “Sunwingy” caper might cost $250,000
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This CBC television report is online and wraps up some information about when military fighter planes are summoned to accompany a jetliner home. Cost of the disruption, caused by drunken passengers, is said to be as high as $250,000 altogether. There is a further court appearance in Brampton set for Friday, August 29, 2014. Previous post
Horror and grief as two die in Missy bike accident
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Peel Police are suggesting a motorcycle was speeding in the moments before a terrible accident with a car at Burnhamthorpe Rd. and Westminister Place in Mississauga. A man and woman riding the bike are dead in the aftermath It happened about 8.30 p.m. according to local media The male rider was pronounced dead on scene, while his female rider was taken to Mississauga Hospital where she expired. The victims are believed to be in their 20s. CP24 reported the arrival of distraught relatives of the couple. One woman wailed “That’s my brother.”
Fine-rolled and premium night at Smokin’ Cigar
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Bayview Ave was jumping with Cuban music and dancers Thursday night as Smokin’ Cigar staged its annual thank you party for customers. Once again this mini-street festival embraced stores on either side of the fine cigar emporium at 1540 Bayview. On the north and south respectively The Flower Nook and Sport Clips barber shop let the gathering spill onto their space. Ladies from Sport Clips, the stylish hair cutting place, offered cigar smokers a voucher for a free haircut. Sport Clips seems to have discovered a law of nature that a man’s hair must be cut by a woman. Who knew? As usual, Smokin’ Cigar owner Trae Zammit had arranged for an ice cream truck to park at the curb. Nothing like some ice cream with your Cohiba and nice for kids and parents going by who were not going to be lighting up a cigar this night. Altogether, a premium and fine-rolled evening of gentlemen enjoying their cigars. Thursday, August 28, 2014No right turn on red in effect at Millwood-McRae
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Here is the work in progress on Thursday, August 28, 2014, at Millwood Rd. and McRae Drive as signs saying no right turn on red go up.
Holt Renfrew closes stores in Ottawa, Quebec City
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| 1910 ad for new Toronto store |
Holt Renfrew says it will close its stores in Ottawa and Quebec City at the end of January 2015. The decision is taken in the face of what is expected to be intense new competition across the country from Nordstrom and in Toronto from Saks. The company says the Ottawa store has 72 employees, while the Quebec City store has 85. But is the profound turning of the corner in Canada’s retail history that grips the attention as much as the job losses. Founded in 1837 as a superior fur shop in Quebec City, Holt Renfrew (or Holt’s) has been Canada’s premier clothing store for women for more than a century. Holt Renfrew is focusing expansion plans on its key markets in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal. Holts says it will expand and renovate its Bloor St. store in Toronto, including the addition of a new facade. Stores in Vancouver and Calgary will also be updated.
OMB okay for “outrageous” towers on Broadway
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Residents north of Eglinton East are venting a lot of steam these days with the decision to permit a twin-towered development at 95-99 Broadway Ave on the corner of Redpath Ave. That location is between Yonge St. and Mt. Pleasant Rd. The development rises to some 34 storeys with the towers located on a so-called podium, as is architecturally in vogue these days. It is owned by Sentinel (Broadway) Holdings Inc. The final approval was given in recent days by the Ontario Municipal Board, a body that is deeply disliked by municipal councillors. Josh Matlow (Ward 22) calls the approval “outrageous”. He says the proposal for “two 38-storey (sic) towers on a relatively small site (runs) counter to the tenets of the provincial growth plan, which states that the greatest heights and densities should occur at the intersection of Yonge and Eglinton and then decrease the further away a development is located from that junction. This project will have a density twice that of the Minto development. While there is nothing more that can reasonably be done to fight this development, the experience has furthered my resolve to free Toronto from the OMB.” Urban Toronto