It’s started. We mean the polls that tell us how voters say they would cast their ballots now for the election which takes place more than a year from now.  John Tory is shown as a big winner in a straight one-on-one contest against Doug Ford, according to a Mainstreet poll. A third well-known candidate like Ward 19 member Mike Layton would diminish Tory’s lead and possibly beat him — electing Ford. That may be a warning for Tory but it should be a don’t-go-there alarm for Layton whose constituency is pretty much South of Bloor.

Broadway Ave. between Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Redpath Ave is now open after Toronto Fire extinguished a smoky blaze at an apartment during the dinner hour. There were no injuries. Residents of the high-rise area tweeted their thoughts and one, Kathryn Laskaris, tweeted this picture.

Work goes on Monday

August 2016

Deep enough

Several hundred square feet of the parking lot at the SmartCentre on Laird Drive is being replaced in an apparent attempt to end chronic flooding in the lot when there is heavy rain.

New autumn foliage in the form of these delightful plants decorate the planter boxes on South Bayview. Debora Kuchme of the Bayview Pixies planters and protectors of the street says these are ornamental cabbages which will last right up until the switch to winter greens. She says they give Bayview an elegant country charm. Sweet.

Olde Yorke Fish and Chips

Yum

Olivia Feather of Olde Yorke Fish and Chips on Laird Drive is looking for a website designer to create an updated website for the popular restaurant. Olivia’s parents, Peter and Anne Feather established Olde Yorke 20 years ago and have never looked back. Members of their loyal customer base can often be seen standing in line to get a table. Olivia posted to Leaside Community and told The South Bayview Bulldog that the firm needs a fresh look but nothing complicated.

Empty Sky memorial

Sheltering from Irma

Pope’s shiner

Pope Francis is sporting a serious shiner as he makes his way among the faithful in Colombia. His Holiness lost his balance Sunday striking his face on the post of the Popemobile. Above left, it is September 11, and sixteen years after the wretched horror of 2001 a sombre monument known as Empty Sky sits near the site of the World Trade Centre. It carries the names of each soul lost that day. Below that, survivors of Hurricane Irma sit on the floor of a shelter in Miami waiting for the storm to blow over. As many as 34 have died across the region, ten in Cuba. In video, left, the Billie Jean King inspired movie Battle of the Sexes has debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival. And Cara Mund, 23, is Miss America. The Brown University graduate took home a $50,000 scholarship as part of her winnings at the pageant in Atlantic City Sunday night.

Caroline Mulroney was named Sunday as the Progressive Conservative nominee for the provincial riding of York-Simcoe. She is an investment executive and daughter of former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. In remarks, she criticized the Wynne government for its minimum wage plan set to jump hourly wages to $15 an hour by 2018. York-Simcoe has been held by Progressive Conservative Julia Munro since 1995.

The trial of former aides to Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty is likely to be adjourned Monday on a request by the lawyer for one accused that he has not had enough time to review documents. David Livingston and Laura Miller are charged with breach of trust, mischief and unlawful use of a computer during the investigation of the decision to cancel hydro plant projects on the eve of the 2010 general election. Livingston’s lawyer says he plans to seek an immediate adjournment so the defence can go over documents the prosecution handed over only recently. The case involves allegations of illicit email destruction in the office of former Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty. The emails were about the Liberals’ decision to cancel two gas plants just before the 2011 election, costing taxpayers about $1.1 billion.

Traffic lights at Bayview and Moore Aves. are back to normal Monday morning. The lights have been subject to on and off fits of flashing red for a few days. Let’s see how it goes. What’s wrong with the traffic lights at Moore and Bayview?

Memories of Hollywood at Bayview and Belsize

Morgan Passi high on Nashema Park

Off Chaplin Crescent

Saturday September 16 sees the Park and Bark event in the parking lot at 1930 Yonge

Revolution in Greektown? Why not

Kim McCullough with friends from Carleton Ravens

Upper left, Jessica Chastain is just able to get her head above the gaggle of media and autograph seekers at the Toronto Film International Festival where she will see the debut of her work in Molly’s Game, which filmed several scenes at Bayview Ave and Belsize Drive in January 2017 and November 2016. Upper right, Morgan Passi @cbcmorgsassi tweeted her four-year-old’s assessment of the state-of-the-art Nashemi Park on Chaplin Crescent. “What an awesome park,” she declared. Then, those woofers are here to remind all dog owners and lovers of the Park and Bark event next Saturday at the parking lot at 1930 Yonge St. north of Davisville Ave. Left down below, there will be a Revolution in Greektown come October. Count on it. And finally, Leaside Wildcats coach Kim McCullough posed with some pals from the Carleton Ravens team during Cats pre-season play.

Watch this

Ryan Yasin

Stretchy stretchy

An imaginative idea from a London design student, Ryan Yasin, is being both celebrated and criticized. He has created clothes which grow to fit the child. Yasin, a master’s student in the Royal College of Art’s Innovation Design Engineering program, was inspired by the challenge of getting something to fit his growing nephew. He started experimenting and realized that by pleating synthetic fabric in a particular pattern, it was possible for a piece of clothing to stretch in both directions. He sewed a prototype pair of tiny pants–and formed the pleats by heating up the fabric around a special mold in his oven at home. The prototype worked: It fit both his baby nephew and his two-year-old niece. The concept is called Petit Pli kids clothing. Among criticism is the concern that the fabric looks wrinkled.