This is what happens when the bus driver falls asleep at fairly high speed. It happened in Michigan and it seems no one was injured. Amazing. Looks like the driver barreled into the preceding traffic which had slowed because of a cars turning left.
Pay-by-phone app now in trial period at some Green P lots
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The Toronto Parking Authority has introduced its Green P parking app. It is a staged arrival and may be used at only a limited number of parking lots for the time being. The program permits payment for parking at City lots with your cell phone. An important feature of pay-by-phone is that the user is alerted to the approaching end of his paid time and may top-up time from his phone with no penalty. A similar and in many ways more important app is under development by the parking authority to permit pay-by-phone on metered streets. As explained to The South Bayview Bulldog in January, the president of the parking authority Lorne Persiko, street parking is a more complicated process because it requires the involvement of the police. Parking enforcement officers will be trained to check the “time status” of vehicles before issuing a ticket. As reported here in January, pay-by-phone parking is popping up all over North America and has proven to be a major public service. It permits drivers to open a so-called “wallet” not too different from the accounts offered by retail businesses such as Starbucks. The convenience represented in paying for parking by phone however would seem to surpass anything now in use. With an account containing $20, for example, a motorist can park and by entering the car’s license plate and certain other information, pre-pay for as much parking as is needed. Critically, the system permits drivers who are delayed getting back to their vehicle to top-up the parking without penalty from wherever they are. It should be a boon to anyone delayed at the dentist or for old friends lingering over coffee. It will be hard to incur a ticket because the phone alerts drivers to the approaching end of their paid time. In addition, it will eliminate completely the abusive confiscation of money. At present, anyone wishing to top up time must go to the meter, buy a new ticket, forfeiting the amount left on the old one.
Rumsey bungalow proof of supply and demand, $1,051,000
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Evidence of those staggering prices for a detached home is seen in the price paid for 228 Rumsey Rd. That would be $1,051,000 in February. These prices of course are all about the City and the mud as much as the houses. As the old real estate man said, they aren’t duplicating places like mid-town Toronto no matter what developers may say. In related news, the linked CBC story on how brokers are being forced to take down online information about prices is of interest. CBCShania Twain’s one-more-no-more tour here June 24-25
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Little girl from Windsor and Timmins gives it one last whirl. See her at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto Sun Wikipedia
N. Ontario gets early playoff berth at Tim Hortons Brier
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First annual “meating” of friends at Grilltime on Laird Drive
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Happy gathering at Andy Elder’s Grilltime meat shop on Laird Dr Saturday
It was what the Caterer to Leaside Andy Elder calls his “first annual meating of this amazing group of friends” at Grilltime on Saturday February 28, 2015. Read about it at Andy’s Facebook page.
Wildcats claw 3-1 win from Missy Chiefs at Leaside arena
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Wildcats take action to Chief’s net in 3-1 PWHL playoff win
A fired up Leaside Wildcats squad staged a strong performance at Leaside arena Wednesday night to defeat arch rival Mississauga Chiefs 3-1 in their PWHL best of five playoff series. The Wildcats needed the win to stay in the hunt and they got it. Local fans and moms and dads got what they were looking for when Cynthia Cavanagh scored at 10.48 of the first period. Mississauga answered with a goal soon after when Lindsay Agnew broke through during a Leaside penalty. Then, with 26 seconds left in the first, Katie Strain gave Leaside the go-ahead. With the score two to one for Leaside heading into the the second, Leaside was full value for the money considering it had only 21 shots on goal to Mississauga’s 38 for the game. Even so Kaelyn Johnson fired one past Missy goaler Lin Han to give Leaside its third marker. There was no scoring in the third. The shots on goal are a testament to the skill of Leaside net minder Hailey Farrelly. At the end, the Leaside women may be proud of their performance but must know they have their work set out for them if they hope to eliminate Mississauga.
Wildcats face Mississauga Chiefs tonight at Leaside arena
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If time hangs a little heavy after dinner tonight, hike over to the Leaside arena and cheer on the Wildcats as they try to shut down the Mississuaga Chiefs in the third game of the PWHL champions. Puck drops at 8.40 p.m. but this time can move.
$1 million detached home humbles buyers, owners alike
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The lure of a home in a nice neighborhood of Toronto remains one of most potent motivators in the real estate marketplace. As temperatures hung around 15 degrees below this February, home buyers were out grabbing up single family dwellings like there was no tomorrow. Sales for these units were up a stunning 16.9 percent year over year. It is a humbling realization for those who can hardly imagine how to buy one — and for those who are sitting in one which was purchased at an almost embarrassingly low price 15 or 20 years ago, not to mention, say, 1985 The average price of a single family dwelling in Toronto is now over $1 million. Unrelenting high demand along with limited listings continue to fuel bidding wars which show no sign of abating. “The strong year-over-year price growth we experienced in February points to the robust demand for ownership housing in the GTA, coupled with a constrained supply of homes for sale in some market segments, especially where low-rise home types like singles, semis and townhouses are concerned,” said Jason Mercer, the real estate board’s director of analysis in a statement. In all, 6,338 houses and condos sold in February, up from 5,696 a year ago, according to Toronto Real Estate Board figures.
Woo hoo! Next week we crawl out of this 2015 freezer
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Here’s the Weather Network’s best guess. We’re going to climb out of the freezer oh so tentatively but those three and four degree days with sunshine look good.
The great Toronto Hydro salt-water utility pole fire event
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Fifty poles caught fire last night
The head of Toronto Hydro Anthony Haines says that last night’s little ice pellet event combined with salt-covered hydro poles to cause 50 utility standards to catch fire and burn to junk in Toronto. As explained by Mr Haines to CP24’s Stephen LeDrew it was “a bit of ice and a whole bunch of salt at the top of these poles” that caused arcing, an electrical phenomenon where electricity leaps through the air between two good conductors. Salt water is an excellent conductor. The poles were well-caked with salt from days of road salting Thousands of residents in and around the city remain without power this morning after a messy mix of precipitation caused widespread outages on Tuesday evening. As of 10 a.m. Toronto Hydro said that approximately 12,000 to 14,000 customers in Toronto were without power, with areas in North York and Etobicoke the hardest hit. Hydro is offering a educated guess that those still without power may have it by 6 p.m.
Plans revealed for Bloor-Bathurst, the site of Honest Ed’s
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Plans were unveiled last night at the Park Hyatt Hotel for the redevelopment of the Honest Ed’s site at Bloor and Bathurst. That what the developer, Westbank, has called it. Boor and Bathurst. Nice. The sketch at left shows how higher buildings will sit on Bloor St and Bathurst St with a downward slope of all development to the south. That’s Lennox Street shown in the depiction on the right as a low rise trendy walking street. Markham Street, which marks the westward boundary of the development, would be closed on weekends for walkers, shoppers and whomever. Remember link above to see more. Also here for a well done video story of the event.