Category: Uncategorized

Guys Night Out ensures gifts for 2,500 kids

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More than 100 Leaside and area men attended the 11th Annual Leaside Guys Night Out and Christmas Toy Drive last week at the Leaside Pub on Laird Drive. They brought unwrapped toys and cash with all the proceeds going to the Thorncliffe Park Neighbourhood Office (TNO). TNO supports families and children in the Thorncliffe Park neighbourhood.  More than 200 toys and presents were collected at the Leaside Pub and more than 1,000 toys donated by an anonymous Leaside resident. The cash donations totalled $6,500. The best part of the story is that 2,500 children will be getting gifts this Christmas because of the toy drive.. Some  350 kids from needy families will enjoy an event at the East York Centre on December 13, 2014 organized by TNO. The entire enrolment of 700 kindergarten children at Fraser Mustard Early Learning Academy in Thorncliffe Park will receive educational toys and 1,450 children at Thorncliffe Park Public School will receive refillable water bottles  This kind and generous project was organized by  Daryn Everett, Edward Wong, Michael Zivot and Jeff Hohner.  Ahmed Hussein, the Executive Director of the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office and Ward 26 Councillor Jon Burnside were at the pub to help in this wonderful community event.

Cops warn of break-ins on Redpath, Roehampton

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Police at 53 Division have issued an  alert about a series of break ins at buildings on Redpath Avenue and Roehampton Avenue. Between late September and December of this year unknown suspect(s) have gained entry into apartment buildings mostly throughout the daytime hours. They forced open apartment doors. Once inside, they took personal belongings including jewellery and electronics. Police urge the public to be on the look-out for strangers in their community. Keep your doors locked when you’re away from home. If possible, have a monitored alarm system. Advise your neighbors to be aware when you may be away for an extended period of time. Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 416-808-5300, Crime Stoppers anonymously at 416-222-TIPS (8477), online at www.222tips.com, text TOR and your message to CRIMES (274637), or Leave A Tip on Facebook. Download the free Crime Stoppers Mobile App on iTunes, Google Play or Blackberry App World.

Baby left in car is found safe and well by police

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A baby which was taken as part of a car theft is apparently fine and back with his mother Wednesday. The vehicle, a Honda CRV, was taken while the woman was inside a Shell station at Rexwood and Derry Roads in Mississauga, having left her 9-month old son in the back seat. When she came out after paying, the car was seen leaving the lot. Police say it was abandoned a very short distance from the station. Presumably the car thief was surprised to find he had stolen someone’s child as well as the car. It is a cautionary tale for all people with children although many will say it passes all knowing why an infant would be left in an unlocked car. 

All-door boarding on 88 Leaside? Not so much

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The Globe and Mail writes this morning (Monday, December 8, 2014) that the TTC will soon introduce all-door boarding on the King street car line. See if you can work your way through the logic of how the TTC doesn’t go further into debt. We got a headache trying. Such policy is the city’s choice of course. It is predicted to save six or seven minutes from end to end. They may prove expensive minutes. It might seem to herald an era of free streetcar rides. You may be sure there will be no such largess on the handy little buses that move swiftly through South Bayview. Oliver Moore, Globe and Mail.

Sutherland-Bayview shelter “useless” says woman

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Old bus shelter 
South Bayview resident Shirley Bush was critical recently in a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star about the usefulness of the new bus shelters created by Bell Media’s Astral division. She says the new shelter at Sutherland Drive and Bayview Ave. simply leaves people out in the rain and snow. That apparently has to do with sidewalk accessibility for those requiring it. For this reason, it seems, the bus shelter was trimmed back to leave the sidewalk clear, says Ms Bush.  She calls for “a little common sense” in the application of accessibility rules. She says the old shelter (inset) was “suddenly gone” and an inadequate shallow replacement in its place. “I asked my councillor and city hall why?  The same absurd answer was given. The street is narrow. It would be quite simple to use the sidewalk on the other side and cross the street when past the shelter. As it is now, the darn thing is useless except as a giant advertising vehicle. Rigid observance of the law sometimes defeats the purpose the law was designed for and makes it difficult for everyone,” said Ms. Bush,   New shelter at Bayview and Millwood

Star article on Eglinton Ave. E. and Laird Drive

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The Toronto Star article here by Vicky Sanderson of the Home Section makes a thrust into the neighborhood game and offers a nice profile of Paul Oliver, principal of the Urban Nature chain of stores and long-time advertiser in The South Bayview Bulldog. It also takes note of a favorite Bulldog business, Wisey’s Pies and Bakehouse. The focus on Eglinton Ave. E and Laird Drive portends the growing importance of the corner over the next ten or so years.  Toronto Star  Urban Nature has new arrivals for the holidays    Urban Nature a haven for birders, nature lovers  Wisey’s Pies and Bakehouse opens  

A week later, Overlea is still the street from Hell

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It was a week ago that thousands of motorists were bottled up inside Thorncliffe Park Drive because of the re-paving strategy of the contractor on Overlea Blvd. Saturday night (December 6, 2014) things seem to be just about the same as northbound traffic is still being funneled into one of the southbound lanes. This is the intersection of Overlea and Millwood Drive where four police officers are necessary to get traffic where it is supposed to go. Top, that TTC bus was westbound on Millwood. The driver made a wide turn to position the vehicle so he can get inside that line of traffic cones marking the temporary northbound lane. Looks like he still might miss it. Bottom, traffic off eastbound Millwood makes its way into the same pileup on Overlea. Signs warn drivers to be ready for long waits or just forget it. (Actually, that’s our advice). 

Pancake breakfast big hit at Manor Road United

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The Santa Pancake Breakfast was a big success at Manor Road United Church Saturday morning (December 6, 2014). Top we see the many pancake families in the great hall to the east of the church. Below left. a lad has some quality time with Santa and right, a couple give Santa (and themselves) a good laugh by muscling in on the “What would you like for Christmas?” fun. 

Skating party to celebrate newly-renovated Hodgson rink

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Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has invited residents to a skating party to celebrate the completion of the newly finished Hodgson Senior Public School outdoor ice rink. The gathering will take place Sunday, December 14 between noon and 2 p.m. behind the school at 282 Davisville Avenue. Below are some pictures of the year-long work at this venerable outdoor rink during its resurrection. The old rink was built in 1980. Both the old and the new rinks mark Hodgson as one of only a few open-air artificial rinks in the city. It would be a worthy local task to record the history of hockey and pleasure-skating at the Hodgson rink. The school itself was built in 1915. The old rink had suffered many break-downs and engineers were worried that an ammonia leak might poison kids or others. There was a further delay in re-building the rink when the City was unable to get the school board (TDSB) to agree to a lease for public use that would make the cost of the work worthwhile. Finally, a ten year agreement was reached. The South Bayview Bulldog is indebted to Twitter picture poster Matthew Pelligrino, who appears to have had a personal role in the work seen below and called The Big Pour. Beneath it are photos supplied by CIMCO refrigeration, which installed the mean-looking blue refrigeration unit that keeps the ice in diamond-like condition.