Long tradition

Environment Day collection at Leaside Arena

A reminder to pull together your old electronics for safe disposal at Thursday’s Enviroment Day at Leaside Arena

You may be richer than you think, as the Scotiabank slogan goes, but please don’t park in their little lot at the corner of Eglinton Ave. and Laird Dr. It’s the talk of the evening on Facebook Monday night with many comments saying that parking tickets from a bank aren’t legal. That makes sense. This unusual action seems to be prompted by coffee drinkers slipping into the lot then scooting over to Starbucks. One woman writes that the battle has been going on since 1983 “when TD bank branch was where Starbucks is now. Scotiabank went so far as to plaster banners on your windshield which were almost impossible to remove.”

Scotiabank lot at Laird and Eglinton (across the road from Starbucks).

Jones Avenue Adult Centre burns/Global News

Fire crews battled a four-alarm roofing fire at the Jones Avenue Adult Centre at 540 Jones Ave Monday night. Seven roofers were apparently on top of the building when the flames broke out, but they were able to get out safely. The school was evacuated and no injuries have been reported. The school is an English as a Second Language learning centre for adults.

The weekend removal of some 300 cats from a single apartment unit in North York has once again highlighted the difficulty neighbours often have in getting action against such abuse. The issue for most is the putrid odour associated with such a large cat population. Neighbours in this City News report say they complained frequently but it is not said to whom. On Saturday it was Toronto Cat Rescue and Toronto Animal Services that executed an order.

2011 CASE ON MANOR ROAD

The issue of whom to call is critical, as those who lived through a similar case on Manor Rd. near Mt. Pleasant in 2011 know well. Neighbours in that case had complained endlessly to the City without action. Municipal bureaucrats apparently considered the matter a case of a homeowner’s rights. In the end, it was an election canvasser who got action. He called the fire department because the smell coming from the house made him fear there was a dead body inside. Fire personnel found 60 cats in the house.

The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales in April climbed nearly 17 per cent higher compared with a year ago. The board says 9,042 homes were sold last month compared with 7,744 in April 2018. The increase came as the average price rose to $820,148 for the month compared with $804,926 in the same month last year. New listings for April were up eight per cent compared with a year ago. On a preliminary seasonally adjusted basis, the board says April sales were up 11.3 per cent compared with March this year — Canadian Press

A meeting to discuss the proposed condominium on Bayview Ave. south of Balliol St. is set for Monday (tonight) at Greenwood College School, Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Davisville Ave. Here.

Colm is missing at DPS.

Soon to be Tim Hortons

Duplex conversion

Open House at Leaside Lawn Bowling Club

Cleaning the Belt Line Trail

High Tea

These are eventful times in South Bayview as (upper left) fellow students and staff at Davisville Public School tweet their regards to young Colm, one of their own. He’s in hospital battling Dysautonomia. This weekend he was raising money to continue the fight in a campaign called Get Loud for Sick Kids. Last year Colm raised $9,000. Upper right. the long-standing drive-in on the northeast corner of O’Connor Drive and Donlands Ave will soon be a Tim Hortons. Area residents may recall the long history of this spot as a Mac’s (with gas station) Hasty Market, Seven Eleven, cocktail lounge and others. Below that, Eurodale Developments is tweeting pictures of duplex conversions which have been approved at Committee of Adjustment but, it says, have also drawn objections from some residents. At the bottom, reminders of the Leaside Lawn Bowing Club Open House next weekend and St. Cuthbert’s High Tea set for Sunday May 26. The invitation calls for High Tea Attire, which will have many men without spats struggling. Sounds like fun. Finally, dozens of public-spirited citizens, all friends of the Belt Line Trail, were out Saturday to clean the scenic route. Hat’s off to you fine people from The Bulldog and a sincere thank you.

With her memoir set to become the bestselling autobiography of all-time, former first lady Michelle Obama spoke to a sellout crowd in Toronto Saturday night bringing her message of hope and love as part of her international book tour. The welcome was close to adulatory.

A long thread is growing longer at Leaside Community Facebook Sunday morning on the tendency of some Canada Post personnel to abandon any effort to deliver packages to the door. Instead, the package stays in the truck and a ticket is hung on the door. It’s a common complaint in this Amazon age. The originating post in the thread makes a serious charge against a North Leaside driver. It says that he stole things off her porch as a form of retaliation because the family complained about the no-delivery practice.

Tim Chapchuk slices Certified Angus Beef sirloin at Grilltime

Andy Elder of Grilltime

Dry aged for 42 days

Can’t wait

Saturday saw a delicious unwrapping and preparation of Certified Angus Beef at Andy Elder’s Grilltime shop at 62 Laird Drive. Upper left, Tim Chapchuk of Macgregors Meat and Seafood of Toronto cut the meat. The Ontario striploin is dry-aged for 42 days to concentrate flavour  Macgregors says no cooking method can generate the depth of flavor of a dry-aged high quality piece of meat. It’s a bit like aging fine cheese. Bon appetit.

No winning ticket was sold for the $7 million jackpot in Saturday night’s Lotto 649 draw. However, the guaranteed $1 million prize was claimed by a ticket holder in the Prairies. The jackpot for the next Lotto 649 draw on May 8 will be approximately $9 million.