Police stand guard as parents arrive to collect children at Loblaws on Moore Ave.

Dog employed to sniff out possible explosives at Bennington Public School

A suitcase left at Bennington Heights Elementary School Wednesday morning carried a note saying it contained a bomb. The piece of black luggage was blown up as was another suspicious package. Neither contained a bomb. It is someone’s idea of a joke, police guessed. Pupils were taken to the gym at Rolph Road School for pickup by parents. Children attending Bennington Heights Day Care at the school were taken to Loblaws at 321 Moore Ave. for pickup by parents. Police performed a controlled blast of a suitcase that did not contain explosives. A trained dog was used to see if items anywhere on the property needed investigation. TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird said that the students were escorted to Rolph Rd. on foot without incident.

Toronto Police are sounding an alert to residents and others in the Lawrence Park area about three hit and run type robberies in which people were approached by a man saying he had a gun. These crimes occurred on Tuesday 5:34 p.m. and 7 p.m. The man was driving a stolen black Mercedes-Benz  The man is described as black, 25-40, 5’10” to 6’2″, wearing a black baseball hat and dark-coloured clothing.  The vehicle was later recovered by police. The public is asked to remain vigilant and report any suspicious person(s) or activities.

Your parkway this weekend

The Don Valley Parkway will be closed this weekend, starting Friday at midnight until Monday at 5 a.m. for maintenance and improvements, the City says. It thanks you for your patience. Crews will work day and night on culvert inspection and pipe replacement, grinding and paving, crack sealing, guide rail repair, graffiti removal, debris removal, catch basin cleaning and flushing, culvert inspections and pipe replacement, pothole repairs, bridge inspections, line painting, overhead sign inspections and repairs.

Sneaks into driveway

To hide behind car

We see you

A homeowner has posted video of a man sneaking around properties at Soudan Ave. and Forman Rd. Monday evening. She writes: “My husband says he has a device in his hand to open the cars. This happened yesterday (Monday) when we were at fireworks at Leaside. Apparently, someone else also saw him wandering around yesterday as well.”

Here are some news videos to make you think of Darwin. We have young men firing rockets into a car near Jane St. and Sheppard Ave. last night. What could go wrong? Also remindful of our chancy future is video of people flirting with the unprotected edge of the Scarborough Bluffs. Mayor Tory says charge them for the cost of their rescue (if they live). Down below, two stories of streetcar folly. They’re digging up Leslie St again to fix the tracks (again) because the trackbed is falling apart. Meanwhile, on Queen St., the new longer, cumbersome and entirely inflexible Bombardier trams seem to be bunching up. Is that because they can’t drive around each other like buses?

Mayor Tory was trying to re-establish the reputation of the PC Party (still progressive) Tuesday as he attacked Premier Ford’s cuts to education and health care while spending huge sums on advertising. The ad campaign folly was one of the most disagreeable habits of the late Liberals. Mr. Ford spoke a little later about his 4-cents-on-the-dollar scheme to somehow address the provincial debt (bigger than California’s). Not to be unkind, but the Premier needs speaking lessons to sound more like a friend and less like a tedious preacher. It appears that the comments to both these clips from City News were written by Ford Nation warriors. Cynthia Mulligan with Premier’s plan to pay for an auditor to examine City books

Let’s try to keep up everyone. This City of Toronto release has news for you.

North America’s fastest-growing technology conference opened in Toronto Monday and is running until May 23 at the Enercare Centre at Exhibition Place. This is the first time that the conference is being held outside of the US.

The City of Toronto partnered with Tourism Toronto and Exhibition Place to bring this sought-after conference to Toronto and will host Collision for three consecutive years starting this year.

Collision brings together the people and companies that are redefining the global technology industry. More than 25,000 attendees, including 3,750 CEOs and 750 journalists, from 120 countries are anticipated to attend. The conference is part of a series of technology conferences that include Web Summit in Europe and RISE in Hong Kong.

The event includes 14 standalone conferences that focus on industry tracks including marketing, design, coding, robotics, SaaS, big data and more, curated roundtables and workshops, and networking events. More information about Collision is available at https://collisionconf.com/.

By hosting this conference Toronto aims to:
• Attract foreign direct investment to Canada in the form of company expansions and relocations
• Promote international trade and partnerships with Canadian companies
• Entice venture capitalist investment in Canadian companies
• Promote the Toronto and Canadian innovation ecosystems.

121 Bloor East at Park Rd.

Five floors in Toronto

What does it mean?

Uber says it will take the top five floors of 121 Bloor St East (at Park Rd.) to create a worldwide engineering hub in Canada. The purpose, as stated in a so-called “backgrounder” issued by Uber in San Francisco, will be the development of “the Uber Grocery business, product offerings and go-to-market strategy.” Staff will also “leverage artificial intelligence and big data to create tools that analyze risk and generate intelligence that will help Uber make smart investment decisions,” the spokesperson said. More than 200 staff will be relocated to the office for its opening but it will eventually grow to accommodate more than 400 employees in “the coming years.” Uber says that the engineering hub will feature 468 desks, 60 conference rooms, 13 phone booths, 2 exterior terraces and a library.

Depiction of a cafe at the new Uber hub at 121 Bloor St. East at Park Rd/Uber

A quickly growing thread of comment at the I am a Leslievillian Facebook account reveals deeply mixed opinions about the need for and conduct of police at the Ashbridges Bay fireworks show Monday night. The discussion meanders into things like race, carding and a shooting at the event some ten years ago.

Russ Sutherland captured early Oriole in his backyard

Gymnastic Oriole

Local bird-watcher and photographer Russ Sutherland has taken pictures that are the talk of Leaside Chit Chat this week. There are 19 comments so far. The Baltimore Oriole featured in Mr. Sutherland’s gallery is a newcomer to his cherry tree, he reports.

Captured over LHS field Monday, May 20, 2019/Dave Bryant

Dave Bryant, the local fireworks impresario, has posted a thank you to the many people who attended Monday’s show at Leaside High School field. The weather was chilly but everyone bundled up for the evening for colourful exploding rockets. See the message from Mr. Bryant and comments here.