The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) has reserved its decision on a parking pad at 67 Roxborough Street West. The packed hearing took place Friday, July 8, 2016 and the crowd of opponents and supporters was so large the OMB had to find a bigger room. The hearing officer said a decision will be released within four weeks.  The hearing was requested by the owners of 67 Roxborough after the City’s Committee of Adjustment turned down a request for a pad. The case is seen as a possible precedent permitting an open-season for those seeking parking pads if the OMB reverses the City’s decision.  Previous

Volunteers numbering 3,200 have stripped naked and been painted several shades of blue to establish the Humber River City of Hull in east-central Britain as a centre of artistic innovation. For sure guys. In separate civic artistic endeavor, Hull isn’t too far from Sheffield from which the muralist Phlegm originates. Phlegm is painting one of his quirky but complex murals to the west wall of the office tower on the southwest corner of Yonge and St. Clair.

A woman who was terrorized in her central Etobicoke home by an intruder she had never seen before now knows the name the prime suspect. He is identified as Brian Eric Rutherford, 38. Police have not said how they came up with a name but a photo lineup of likely perpetrators is a common method. In this case, the woman was sleeping in her Humber Heights home with her child when she awoke to see the man at the foot of her bed. That was some time just before 4 a.m. on Thursday, June 23, 2016.  Her screams sent the intruder running. Rutherford is wanted for break-and-enter and failure to comply with recognizance. Police warn that the suspect should not be approached if seen. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-2300 or Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477 (TIPS).

UK Home Secretary Theresa May is leading the pack to become head of the majority Conservative Party and ipso facto the next Prime Minister. She will be Britain’s second woman prime minister after Margaret Thatcher.

Alma Deutscher wrote her first opera at the age of seven, a violin concerto at nine and this year her full length opera of Cinderella will be premiered in Vienna. She is just 11. Alma told BBC Today program host Sarah Montague about how she writes music and the comparisons with Mozart — BBC

Facts are fragmentary in the accident that gravely injured a 33-year-old woman pedestrian at Eglinton Ave E. at Swift Drive (Credit Union Drive on the south side). What is clear is the width of Eglinton Ave. E at the east side where pedestrians are expected to cross. Pictures show it to be eight lanes (with turning lanes). The job of getting across the road in time plus watching for turning vehicles seems to make it especially perilous. And it was at night. The accident occurred about 11 p.m. Thursday. The driver of the SUV is 67. Police are asking for witnesses.

Police have issued an interim statement about the cycling accident at 740 Dupont Street last Tuesday. It says that a 63-year-old man was driving a 2012 Mercedes Sprinter van eastbound on Dupont Street while a 71-year-old man was riding a bicycle westbound on Dupont Street approaching #740. It says “the driver of the van was starting to make a left turn toward the driveway of 740 Dupont Street. For reasons not yet determined, the cyclist veered towards, and struck, a minivan which was parked on the north side of Dupont Street.”  The cyclist received life-threatening injuries even though he was wearing a helmet and died. It seems probable, notwithstanding the man’s helmet, that his injury was to the head, which is how cyclists are most frequently fatally hurt.

Leaside Ladies' Garage Sale Tomorrow! https://t.co/XSiqqKxrHf

— Bonnie Byford R.E. (@bonniebyford) July 8, 2016

Take a good look. This mural is going to grace (if that’s the word) the west side of the tower on the southwest corner of Yonge St. and St. Clair Ave. It seems to show a woman portrayed in abstract form revealing a complexion of bricks and mortar Toronto. Why this muse of St. Clair is rolled in a fetal ball will perhaps become clearer. It is the creation of a British muralist named Phlegm (not his real name) and like other modern street painters (Banksy for example) he does not go by his real name. So far as we know. It’s a mystery, you know. The work has been commissioned by Slate Asset Management which is said to own all four corners of the Y and St. C. The painting may grow on residents. Happily it seems to have avoided political statement.  The work is being streamed here.

This remarkable comeback story from the Canadian Olympic Team official website. Raonic reaches Wimbledon final by beating Federer.  Below is quite good edited radio account of Raonic’s the afternoon with Roger Federer.

RADIO: ICYMI – @milosraonic became the first Canadian to reach the Men's #Wimbledon Final! Here's how he did it: https://t.co/cVBgYnCQxa

— Wimbledon Radio Channel (@WimbledonChnl) July 8, 2016

Bus stops on Cleveland Street north of Davisville are about to be removed because of the discontinuation of the 11B rush hour short-turn service. The TTC decided the service, which had been in place for many decades as the 28A, has been superseded by the new daily 28 Bayview service. The removal of the stops at Millwood and Belsize (at Cleveland) may work a hardship on commuters in the winter. Some closer to Bayview may wish to walk to Bayview and Millwood to catch the 11 Bayview to Davisville subway station.

The architect of Sobeys disastrous purchase of Safeway Canada has paid the price. Marc Poulin, chief executive officer of Sobeys parent Empire Co. is gone, the company said Friday morning. The firm took a 1.3 billion impairment charge this week as Sobeys struggles with the integration of Safeway. Empire is replacing Poulin on an interim basis with chief financial officer François Vimard. Empire paid $5.8-billion to take over Safeway in 2013. Its stock has plunged 25.6 per so far this year, as of the close of trading Thursday. Last fall the firm admitted that the cost of lost and misplaced stock and confusion at the cash desk was costing it millions. All of this, it said, because Safeway employees had not been able to deal with Sobeys inventory and checkout software.