Josh Matlow (Ward 22) is calling for a judicial inquiry into the Scarborough subway extension and, it seems, much other transit planning in Toronto. He calls the City’s efforts “dysfunctional.”  Mr. Matlow is a long-time critic of the one-stop subway to Scarborough, a project that is estimated will cost $3.35 billion.  Mayor Tory has blasted back at Matlow, calling his demand for an inquiry a publicity stunt. Opponents of the Scarborough scheme — and there are many — have alleged that it is a politically driven by the provincial government, whose funding was critical as a form of sustaining Liberal votes. Local supporters like Ward 38 Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker are  fiercely committed to a subway rather than a less expensive light rapid transit line. Some view this attachment as misplaced civic pride.

BLUE BIN BLUES

A video post in The South Bayview Bulldog done by Teresa Looey of the Green Action Committee has been discussed by readers. Some say the video is incorrect for Toronto. One says the best reference is the Waste Wizard online. She says both styrofoam containers and ziploc bags are recyclable here. Another says that styrofoam is not picked up at her home in Fergus. And so the Blue Bin Blues continue.

NAZI SCRIBBLING ON NSS POSTER

A poster for a meeting of Jewish students at Northern Secondary School has been defaced with Nazi-type references. “Northern is a place that promotes and celebrates diversity, inclusion, and respect for all in creating a caring and safe learning environment,” school principal Gillian Gibbons said in the letter

Well-attended meeting

Broadway and Bayview with Jersey barrier inset

A vote of residents in North Leaside to approve or reject a pilot project to block off all entries on the west will take place in May and June. The pilot would close three streets with concrete “jersey barriers” at Bayview. These are Glenvale Blvd, Broadway Ave and Craig Crescent. The scheme is known among proponents as the cul-de-sac pilot. At a well-attended meeting Wednesday convened by Councillor Burnside at Leaside Gardens, those present expressed a wide range of deeply-felt opinion. The meeting heard people in favor, several opposed and complaints from both Kilgour Estates to the north as well as residents of south of Eglinton that they should be permitted to vote. There was enormous opinion of all kinds about the seriousness of traffic both now and in coming years. The chairman of the North Leaside Traffic Committee John Gaitanakis spoke in detail of research done to support the pilot. He is a well-prepared and personally invested advocate of the plan.

VOTING TO OCCUR IN MAY AND JUNE

Among numbers produced was an estimate that the population of Leaside may grow from the present 18,000 to as many as 30,000 in a few years. One speaker spoke resentfully about the plan to “shut the gate” on newcomers yet to arrive in the community. But many others felt the need to plan now. Voting will occur online and at the door in an approximate period from May 1 to the end of June. Eligible voters will live in North Leaside households and be 18 or older. Some 3,000 people will be permitted to vote with at least half of those actually doing so for the vote to be valid. Of these, 60 percent would have to agree to the closures for the pilot to proceed. Further hurdles may await at Community Council with caveats about traffic obstruction which such closures might cause elsewhere. The pilot, if approved, would last nine to 12 months.

You don’t care for apartment buildings?

Bayview Pixies honoured

The Chief may wonder

Upper left, the Highrise Express is here to remind smug single-family homeowners that their intellectual betters at the Toronto dailies prefer much higher buildings. Alex Bozikovic (Globe) with Shawn Micallef (Star) chiming in are quite indignant about the conspiracy to prevent South Bayview from turning into Roehampton between Yonge and Mt. Pleasant. What IS the matter with you silly privileged rich. Upper right, the Bayview Pixies were among those honoured Tuesday by Premier Wynne at the 9th Annual Don Valley West Volunteer Awards. Left to right Janis Fertuck, Carol Smith, Kathleen Wynne, Debora Kuchme, Hannelore Mohring (who last week won a volunteer award from Sunnybrook Hospital where she also volunteers) Cate Gravely, Jo Ann Davis and Helen Godfrey. Below that is Chief Saunders. He may be pondering the long thread of comments at Leaside Community about why there were so many police cars in Leaside Tuesday. One post (extracted) seems to find the place a dark and worrisome thing. Below are some posters for imminent local events. And see the full bulletin board here.

Looking south

Looking north

The new electronic sign was being installed Wednesday at Leaside Memorial Community Gardens. The sign-wide commercial and public service messaging will be seen by those heading north into Leaside. The other side (above left) appears to have a small sign beside the arena name. The lighting protocol, of importance to residents of the still unfinished condos at the Upper House development, is not at hand but residents will not be looking at the full lighted side.

Shults in 1983 – Tammie Jo Shults during her time with the Navy in 1993. Supplied: Military Fly Moms

The pilot who landed her Southwest Boeing safely at Philadelphia Tuesday has been identified as former fighter pilot Tammie Jo Shults.

• She lands crippled jet by fire truck after scary mid-air crisis
• Before calmly landing the Southwest flight, she broke barriers as a fighter pilot

Melina Roberge and co-accused Isabelle Lagacé,

A terrible end to the carefree cocaine peddling lifestyle of Canadian citizen Melina Roberge has seen the woman sentenced to eight years in an Australian prison. She will be eligible for parole in 2022. The judge gave Roberge, 24, a lecture about her “vacuous” pursuit of online fame. Roberge had agreed to pose as a tourist on the cruise ship MS Sea Princess as part of a plot to smuggle 95kg (210lb) of cocaine into the land down under. The drugs had an estimated value of $16 million. Roberge’s cabin mate, 29-year-old Isabelle Lagacé, was jailed in November for seven-and-a-half years. Andre Tamine, 64, is still to face sentencing over his role in the operation. Authorities have described the drug seizure as the largest Australia has ever had on a commercial boat or plane.

Hazard: Yonge St/ Grenville St.. Ice falling from a building at the intersection. Yonge St is now closed in both directions from Grosvenor St to College St. Please avoid. #GO691458^adc

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) April 18, 2018

Police issued this alert about 10.45 a,m. There’s no idication of how long the closure will last.

Spicy Chicken blast off

Ha ha

Pret A Manger rapped

Ready cooked when you call Grilltime

Food advertising took a wild turn in Hong Kong this month as KFC released ads for its Spicy Chicken that show the deep fried poultry as flaming fuel exhaust. Still looks good. The agency was Ogilvie Mather HK. At the right, popular London and New York sandwich shop Pret A Manger has been told by the British Advertising Standards Agency to stop calling its food natural. Down below, Andy Elder’s Grilltime here at home is offering dinner ready-cooked when you call ahead.

These interesting videos were released late Tuesday. The first concerns the outrageous collapse of neighboring residential lots on either side of a home replacement project in Etobicoke. Appalling really. Next to that is the gripping story of a lucky escape by all involved as flying ice off a tractor-trailer wipes out the windshield of a tour bus en route to the Niagara casino. If they have the same happy outcome at the table, these people will come home rich. Below that, the crap shoot called charter getaways to the south. Sunwing does have a way of dropping the ball on communication. Finally, a touching story of a fundraising effort to replace the hot dog stand of a vendor who works St. George St. at the U of T.

The forecast indicates better days ahead, and soon, as the City waits for the freakish ice and snow of mid-April to melt. The unheard of conditions created by potentially lethal falling ice from the CN Tower prompted police to enforce closures and traffic and pedestrian restrictions in the vicinity of Rogers Centre. Bremner Boulevard was closed Tuesday between Lower Simcoe Street and Rees Street as was the CN Tower, Steamwhistle Brewery (now reopened) Ripley’s Aquarium and the Rec room. Gates 1 to 6 at Rogers Centre were closed for Tuesday’s games.  Some of these restrictions were relaxed later Tuesday.

Immunotherapy is adding a powerful new punch in the drive to beat lung cancer. Most interesting. Then, one person has died in the explosion of a jet engine while in flight. The Southwest Boeing landed safely at Philadelphia in this hair-raising incident. Below that, the very well-intentioned but rather perplexing expectation contained within the current Blue Bin Blues. The advice is to do with less. Fine, but what about this habit we have called procreation? Finally, it’s certainly okay to snicker at Donald Trump for his pompous language. Nonetheless, it looks like he is presiding over the end of the Korean War. And that may very well bring about the end of North Korea. The Kim family will not be able to maintain its Mafia-style fiefdom in an economically integrated peninsula.

Louise

Kendrick Lamar

Jessica Brown Findlay

The Faces feature for Tuesday begins with Louise (left) a British prostitute featured in a BBC video. Are you 18 or over? Then, Kendrick Lamar (centre) should be smiling. He’s won a Pultizer Prize for his hip hop music. It may be an acquired taste. At the right, Jessica Brown Findlay (and others) discuss a forthcoming romantic film called The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society.