The Toronto Real Estate Board says there were 8,547 sales through its system in November, an increase of 16.5 per cent year to year. The average price of re-sale homes was up 22.7 percent, a figure that once would have astonished the City but which now seems to be more like the norm. The average selling price for all types of housing was $776,684.
Forensic police were at the TD Bank at Laird and Vanderhoof Thursday following a holdup earlier in the evening. Social media reports say the bank is in lockdown with clients and staff inside. The interesting comments of readers and patrons of the bank appear below from the Facebook account Leaside Community. TD Canada Trust renovated and moved into the historic Pease Foundry building in 2011. The structure was built in 1951 and stood vacant for 18 years before TD and others took an interest in it. It’s first occupant was the Pease Foundry Company, which manufactured plumbing and heating equipment there. As industrial conditions changed, it went into a sad period of decline sitting vacant for 18 years. That’s the condition in which most residents under 30 remember it. The building is said to be in the Art Modern style and is associated with the work of Toronto architect Earle Morgan. Morgan was also associated with the design of the O’Keefe Centre.
Drake was the most streamed act on the Spotify platform in 2016 with 4.7 billion streams. The rapper has the most streamed album and song — Views (2.45 billion) and “One Dance” (970 million). Justin Bieber, Rihanna, twenty one pilots and Kanye West round out the top five artists of the year. The top albums following Views are Bieber’s Purpose, Rihanna’s Anti, twenty one pilots’ Blurryface and The Weeknd’s Beauty Behind the Madness
Clickable posters in this montage tell of complimentary parking courtesy the Bayview Leaside BIA on Saturdays before Christmas and rides in a horse-drawn carriage. Fun.
Troubled promotional program tries to regain public confidence. CP24
Simon Andrew said his first impression of his new tenants was they “seemed very respectable, nice people.” Little did he know. CBC
Tenants made no secret of their awful lifestyle
The re-listed and re-priced home at 82 Divadale Dr. in north Leaside has sold for its most recent listed price, $2.8 million. The custom home has a built-in garage on a 33-by-135-foot lot. It was listed under $3-million for several months this year. As the Globe and Mail reports Monday, the home was re-listed with another agent, who gave it “a lower price and newer look, from a dark exterior paint job to a staged interior to match the modern architecture.” There were 17 private showings with some hit and miss bidding but it sold for asked price of $2.85-million.
82 Divadale Drive
An all-party committee of seven MPs has produced a report recommending a referendum to see if citizens want a Parliament that is elected by a proportional voting system. Such an electoral scheme would potentially elect dozens of MPs from one-issue or special interest parties. The outcome is frequently called a “pizza parliament” after Italy’s proportional legislature. The committee is recommending the government adopt a mixed system in which some MPs would be elected from electoral districts, as they are now, and some would gain office based on the proportion of the popular vote gained by their party.
LIBERALS NOT INTERESTED?
There is no reason to think the Trudeau government is ready for any of this. After campaigning on election reform last year, the prime minister and other cabinet members have talked down such change. Any referendum would inspire fierce division. Those who support proportional voting say it is more democratic. Those opposed say it tends to make the major parties less inclusive and can also produce a parliament in which there are so many voices that there is no accountability. In the extreme, it is possible for radical or nuisance parties to gain a seat in Parliament.
DEFINE DEMOCRACY
The issue is important for parties which typically lose. Their complaint raises the question of what responsibility the country has to see they win. Others reply that the idea everyone can win an election is irresponsible. For those who care to think about it, the matter requires a clear definition of what we mean by democracy. The conventional notion, reached without a lot of discussion, has concluded that democracy means a pizza parliament. But it need not. Canadian Press
The Ontario government spent nearly $50 in 2015 on what the auditor general, Bonnie Lysyk, calls self-congratulatory advertising and it continues to do so. In her annual report released Wednesday Lysyk also says there was $30 million similarly spent the previous year. As noted by CBC Legislature reporter Mike Crawley in the Liberals pushed through a bill in 2015 that changed the rules on government advertising, drastically watering down the auditor’s powers to reject ads that serve to promote the party in power. Also Canadian Press
The City has closed the Wilson West Parking Lot at the Wilson station with no additional alternative parking for subway commuters who need to take their cars to the station. Drivers found the lot at 75 Billy Bishop in North York barricaded this week as developers get ready build., Evidently the City thought that a parking lot at Yorkdale station would be open by now but it is more than a year away.
[1] EY Fire – Residential Bessborough Dr b/w Broadway Ave & Annesley Ave R321 P125 R134 P131 A321 C13 [321]
— Toronto Fire FIRE (@tofiref) November 30, 2016
Toronto Police are warning of a series of home break-ins in Midtown, including Rosedale and South Bayview by burglars who apparently use a ladder to enter by second storey windows. They occur during “evening hours”. One such recent break-in was Sunday, November 27, 2016, where two people broke into a home in Rosedale. The same suspects are also believed to have broken into several other homes in the midtown area throughout November
WATCH FOR VEHICLES AND PEOPLE
Residents are asked by 53 Division police to safeguard their homes by:keeping an exterior light on after dark, keeping windows secure and alarms functional and on. They are asking residents to report any suspicious vehicles or persons, and to check existing security camera video and report any suspicious behavior captured at their residence.
