Reverend Gretta Vosper

The liberal orthodoxy of the United Church is about to face a rather critical test. The church’s Toronto Conference will review the fitness of Rev. Gretta Vosper to continue in her position as the pastor of West Hill United Church, or indeed as an ordained minister of the church.  The issue: Rev Vosper is an atheist who is advancing changes which essentially deconstruct the most fundamental Christian beliefs. Rev. Vosper has been uneasy for some time with even the most widely accepted of practices. In 2008 there was a revolt of about 100 congregants when Rev Vosper did away with the Lord’s Prayer. The West Hill congregation is said by some sources to be about 80 persons. This year Gretta Vosper wrote an open letter to the church’s spiritual leader pointing out that belief in God can motivate bad things — a reference to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. She is quoted by the Canadian Press as saying that “if we are going to continue to use language that suggests we get our moral authority from a supernatural source, any group that says that can trump any humanistic endeavor.” It is an interesting analysis of terrorism. The reverend is not quoted on how the denial of United Church beliefs would help it, or any civilized body, which is confronted by homicidal terrorists. Now the church has decided it must review the fitness of Rev. Vosper to continue in her role. Nora Sanders, general secretary of the church’s General Council issued a ruling in May laying out a review process that could ultimately lead to Rev. Vosper’s defrocking. Essentially, Sanders said, the review should determine whether Vosper was being faithful to her ordination vows, which included affirming a belief in “God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” In the past, other ministers have asked Rev. Vosper to “do the right thing” and take her campaign to a different platform by resigning from the church.

Loblaws will build a new store and condominium towers at the corner of Bathurst Street and Lakeshore Road retaining the facade of its original 1928 head office and warehouse. Choice Properties Real Estate Investment Trust will partner with Wittington Properties to do the job.  The new deveopment will be known as West Block. It is described as an urban community that will combine retail shops anchored by a Loblaws store with office space and two residential towers. The property is comprised of approximately 3.5 acres of land located on the northeast corner of Lake Shore Boulevard and Bathurst Street. It was last used by Loblaws in the 1970s. “In preserving the original façade of the building, we are honouring the proud heritage of this important piece of Toronto real estate,” said John Morrison, President and CEO of Choice Properties. “We’re very excited to share our modern vision for the future West Block using the building blocks of the past.”  Below, we see what Loblaws stores looked like when the warehouse was built.

It seems fairly elementary when you think about it. Engineers (or somebody) tried to lift parts of Juliana Bridge in Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands with the crane sitting on a barge in the canal. But wait, as the load moves it has the capacity to tip the barge. That would make the cranes slide. And so this spectacular accident played out Monday with two cranes falling across row houses in the town. As many as 20 were injured but it appears not too seriously. And the Dutch are supposed to be so smart.

Andy Elder, genial owner of Grilltime on Laird Drive, confesses on Twitter today that the traffic lights at McRae (Wicksteed) and Laird qualify for a City News contest to find the most infuriating lights in the GTA. Andy’s tweet was sent to Kevin Frankish who wanted to know more about the intersection. This corner is in and out of the news because of the hockey stick curve that happens when McRae meets Wicksteed. This has prompted an elaborate set of signals mainly to control the left hand turns north and south. The wait time is reminiscent of what Snowbirds call Florida traffic lights. They are forever. The north turn signal from McRae onto Laird is useful however because a driver can’t easily anticipate speeding vehicles westbound on Wicksteed. So those cars have to stop for the left turning traffic off McRae. It’s a bore.

Councillor Josh Matlow, his daughter Molly and SERRA president Geoffrey Jones behold the wonder of the locally produced board game SERR-OPOLY at the Farmer’s Market in Davisville Park on Tuesday afternoon (August 4, 2015)  For those from distant places, SERRA is the South Eglinton Residents and Ratepayers Association.  SERR-OPOLY.

Toronto Star