Category: Uncategorized

The Heart and Stroke Foundation’s “Becel Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart” takes over the Gardiner Expressway and the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) for most of the day on Sunday. The Gardiner will be closed from Carlaw Avenue to the Humber Bridge, while the DVP will be closed from Highway 401 to the Gardiner from 2 a.m. to 2 p.m. South Bayview residents should note possible overflow onto street like Bayview Ave during the morning and early afternoon.  More than 14,000 cyclists are expected to take part in the 28th annual event, which starts and finishes at Exhibition Place. The foundation hopes to raise $6 million for heart and stroke research. “The ride is a really great example of an activity that we can participate in as a single person, as a family, at any level, and really reap the benefits and help us prevent these diseases,” Heart and Stroke Foundation spokesperson Teresa Roncon said. Good luck to all riders.

 

Much-needed rain arrived inconveniently Saturday afternoon for the ceremony to begin the PanAm Games Torch Relay. Organizers and athletes persevered however. On Manor Road near Mt Pleasant wires down caused a brief blackout.

The peacock was out all night and by mid-morning still uncaged, having spent the dark hours in a tree in the the Roncesvalles neighborhood. Pictures show a nice grab shot of the bird by Tom Podolec via Twitter and the growing body of trained peacock keepers who are trailing the bird. There is a feeling that it would like to rejoin fellow peacocks back at the High Park Zoo but bird homing systems are not as precise as we might like. Twitter     “Oh boy, wow” as Peacock thrills Roncesvalles residents

The young Leaside lawyer, Robert Ellis, who spearheaded the fight against 27 Fleming Crescent has forged a community group which is tackling other non-conforming homes in the vicinity of Bayview Ave. and Fleming. In recent days, Mr. Ellis and his friends have triumphed at Committee of Adjustment with respect to an oversize house at 73 Donegall. just around the corner from his home on Fleming Crescent. In the Donegall hearing as Mr. Ellis notes in mail copied to The South Bayview Bulldog the house was “framed up in January/February and is hugely over-sized between two bungalows.” Ellis reports the team did a lot of preparation and was able to show that the owner of the structure did not properly disclose the applicable variances. He tried to get a deferral, but we refused and forced the issue to proceed to a decision and victory. The tower house is history. A story published earlier about the illegal eyesore at 27 Fleming is found below.

First published May 2, 2015. The illegal home at 27 Fleming Crescent will be demolished, The South Bayview Bulldog has learned. The knock-down will be accomplished just as the many neighbors and Leaside residents who complained about the house had demanded. Robert Ellis, the lawyer who lives next door at 29 Fleming, received word that Hy Hirshberg, whose son Jonah is the owner of record, has agreed to knock down the building.

It was built by a previous owner in 2013-14 and has stood closed-in but unfinished since the City slapped a stop-work order on it last year. This word comes as opponents prepared for another round of battle at Committee of Adjustment (COA) on May 7 at 3:30 pm. Mr. Hirshberg wrote to Ellis and others revealing his decision last night (May 1, 2015). Demolition of the present structure however brings a new challenge for neighbors as the owner will be requesting permission to build a  two-story home with variances.

Mr. Ellis wrote to the many Leaside-area people who support him that he will ask COA to require detailed plans from the builder and a comprehensive zoning assessment by the City with opportunity for ratepayer comment. He will also ask for a community consultation meeting on a mutually agreed date not less than 15 days after such plans and zoning assessment are provided. Finally, he will ask that any Committee hearing date is scheduled with proper notice (ideally at a time and date as mutually agreed with the immediate neighbors).

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CNN report by Jake Tapper pulls no punches over working conditions in Qatar. It is an easy target in a number of contexts. Qatar is also said to have many wealthy supporters of ISIS.

Roncesvalles area resident Nick Moses has posted enjoyable amateur video of the escaped High Park peacock. Comments of Moses and his neighbors catch the excitement of the incident. Watch for quite long flight between roofs toward end of video. The bird is apparently still on the loose and authorities ask people merely to call police rather than try to catch it. Someone might get hurt. Thanks for the video Nick.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands are received by Ontario Lieutenant-Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell. Below, family from Port Weller excited to see royals. (Twitter photos by Kevin Misener, 680 News)

There is speculation by analysts of the retail drugstore business that Jurgen Schreiber, new chief executive of Rexall Pharma Plus, is a possible agent to a take over of the chain by a U.S. or European drug firm.  Mr. Schreiber was chief executive officer at Shoppers Drug Mart for four years until 2011. He was also previously head of A.S. Watson Group, a European chain of health and beauty stores, which is part of global conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

TO DROP PHARMA PLUS NAME

Mr. Schreiber will become CEO of the newly renamed Rexall Health in August, the company has announced. It is not clear what this means for store signage  Rexall has been without a CEO since Frank Scorpiniti resigned in October. A story in the Globe and Mail says Rexall has been “updating its store design in “pool-side” aqua and concentrating more on health items such as vitamins and alternative medicines and margin-friendly private labels.”  Perhaps the stores managers at South Bayview Rexalls on Moore Ave, Mt. Pleasant and in Sunnybrook Plaza can update customers on the nature of pool side aqua (fins?)  Wendy Evans, of retail analysts Evans & Co. Consultants told the Globe that Schreiber has a strong background in boosting sales of high-margin beauty and cosmetics merchandise. With gross margins of up to 50 per cent or more, beauty products can generate more than twice the margins of other goods, such as toothpaste.

TAKEOVER TALK

As to a possible takeover, Schreiber’s former associations might assist in a takeover by A.S. Watson or U.S. chain Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., she said.  A further quote from the Globe story has consultant Jeff Doucette saying that Mr. Schreiber could make Rexall a potential acquisition opportunity.