A filming notification has been delivered to homes on Bessborough Drive between McRae Dr and Millwood Rd regarding a commercial shoot this week. The street, arguably Leaside’s finest, is among the City’s most favorite places for such activity.

Protesting with trucks

Many news services are reporting Monday that Prime Minister Trudeau has told his caucus he will invoke the never-before-used Emergencies Act to give the federal government extra powers to handle the protests across the country. Exactly how such powers would be employed against truck blockades remains an open question. The country has witnessed the challenge of dispersing so-called protests when the protesters employ enormous trucks to block roads. Headlines

Premier Ford announced Monday that the province will drop its proof of vaccination requirements for all settings as of March 1, if public health and health system indicators continue to improve. Masking will remain in place, but a timeline for lifting that measure will be announced at a later date. He also announced the province would be lifting more measures first on Feb. 17, including increasing social gathering limits to 50 indoors and 100 outdoors, removing capacity limits where proof of vaccination is required on restaurants, bars, cinemas, casinos and other indoor venues. They will also expand capacity for sports arenas and concert venues to 50 percent. As Mr Ford spoke, Denmark entered its second week of absolutely no restrictions. As heard in the report above, it has to do with how the country understands the nature of Omicron.

Cheeseworth Cleaners and Ritewash Laundromat

Cheeseworth Cleaners at 645 Mt. Pleasant has closed abruptly taking with it Ritewash Laundromat. Both businesses were essential to the lives of many area residents, especially when the washer or dryer broke down. Cheeseworth’s has been on the street for as long as most people can remember. The phone has been transferred to Dove Cleaners raising the question of whether the location will rise again under a new name. Curiously, the unannounced closure late last week left laundry and dry cleaning stuck inside the closed stores. A sign on the door says it can be picked up at the Dove Cleaners at 1560 Yonge St at St Clair Ave.

Bus shelter at Bayview and Millwood

Apparent weekend vandalism

The TTC bus shelter at Bayview Ave and Millwood Rd has been vandalized. A person or persons smashed a glass wall. The time of the attack is not known precisely but the damage was discovered Sunday.

Toronto Police have issued an alert on a suspicious incident in which a man approached a young person near Donlands Avenue and Milverton Boulevard on Thursday. They say he asked personal questions and requested to take photographs of the young person. No age or gender is given for the potential victim. He/she “managed to get away without harm”.  The suspect is described as male, Asian, 5’6”. He was last seen wearing a black winter jacket and black pants.

Emergency Preparedness Minister and former Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair has laid the ongoing trucker occupation of downtown Ottawa squarely at the feet of the Ottawa Police. “[Police] now have new authorities and I think very effective tools,” Blair told the CBC’s Rosemary Barton on Sunday. “We just need the police to do their jobs and enforce and uphold the law, and to restore public safety in Ottawa.”

Happy lady directs traffic at Southvale and Hanna/Bulldog

Sweet and fat Sumo oranges made it through blockade/Bulldog

Toronto Star is worried/Bulldog

Shell of the Durant Building on Laird/Bulldog

Houses finally built on Rumsey/Bulldog

This good-natured lady was part of the snow clearing crew on Southvale Drive Saturday. She directed traffic away from heavy equipment blasting out those rock-hard piles of ice. Upper right we see some expensive but so sweet Sumo oranges at Longo’s. They made it through the blockade and arrived from California overnight. Sumos have a very short season. Below that is Sunday’s scary Toronto Star headline. Each to his own. At the bottom are shots of the historic Durant Building looking shell-like under redevelopment and four new homes under construction on Rumsey Rd. The lots have been sitting there since 2018.

The CBC is reporting Sunday that police have towed away all the trucks blocking the Ambassador Bridge and that only a handful of protesters remain at mid-morning. CBC

Toronto police are reported to have closed off traffic on streets in a large rectangle stretching from Church to Spadina and Dupont to Queen in response to concerns about further truck blockages. They have also narrowed the Don Valley Parkway to slow possible convoys. As well, the parkway south at Richmond St and Gardiner Expressway at Park Lawn Road are reported closed.

Big rigs gone but uncertainty at Windsor-Detroit

CBC reporter Thomas Daigle is reporting that police attempting to clear the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit crossing have not yet done so and his information leaves it unclear as to their strategy. Other CBC reporting says: “All the big rigs cleared out Saturday morning, with many laying on their horns as they left”.

6 hours after police moved in to clear the Ambassador Bridge blockade, 200 protesters are staying put. Officers are allowing them to come and go as they wish. pic.twitter.com/p25f0Zs49H

— Thomas Daigle (@thomasdaigle) February 12, 2022

Massed police from several departments are said to be moving in on truckers blocking the Ambassador Bridge at the Windsor-Detroit crossing. These reports were filed about noon Saturday by Global News and WXYZ News in Detroit.