Category: Uncategorized

Black Friday zanies out in force across U.S.

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Here we see shoppers ducking under the security gate as it’s lifted to open business in Philedelphia. Whoa! Sure hope they survived. 

Originating in the US, Black Friday is also becoming a major shopping event IN THE UK!  BBC video footage shows energized crowds frantically grabbing for their deals. Click here to watch.

Are you braving the crowds today?

Tori and Cates to sell baking, sales equipment

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Part of auction circular

Tori and Cates Cupcakes will auction off baking, kitchen and sales equipment this Sunday, November 30, 2014. A printed circular from Michael Takis, restaurant auctioneer, has been dropped off at restaurants on South Bayview Ave. Although there has been no announcement to this effect, it would be certain that the cupcake shop is closed permanently. A $200 refundable deposit is required to bid and the items include such things as a Blodgett oven with legs, a 20 quart dough mixer, a sink, marble counter top, refrigerator and freezer plus an under counter refrigerator, a cash register and other items. There is a phone number for Mr Takis: 647-704-8113.    

Can new mayor fix TTC “dead zone” on Bayview?

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John Tory spoke Thursday (November 27, 2014) promising to restore service to certain bus lines which were reduced during the time of Rob Ford. Two of the lines to lose vehicles in 2011 were the 11 Bayview and the 81 Thorncliffe. The mayor-elect did not list the lines that will be restored. He was flanked at City Hall for “state-of-the-City” remarks by Andy Byford, chief general manager of the TTC and City Manager Joe Pennachetti. Mr Tory talked about how the city is coping under “severe fiscal pressures” and the challenges he faces as mayor in the next four years. He touched on growing poverty and unemployment, as well as rising demand for housing and shelter solutions. He mentioned the deteriorating infrastructure and how it’s leading to more basement flooding. “It’s a big problem affecting thousands of people,” Tory said. The new mayor seemed intent on casting the issues as crisis-like. As to transit,  Mr. Tory said the TTC is still “reeling” from the cuts made by the Ford administration. In South Bayview neighborhoods like South Leaside, Bennington Heights, Moore Park and Deer Park many may feel renewed hope from the remarks. They seek a bus service to provide access to the Bayview Ave. shopping neighborhood. The absence of service from residential areas south of the stores and businesses around Bayview and Millwood Rd. has been a long-time source of dissatisfatrion. Such a service would benefit merchants and seem to be an important matter for the as-yet unformed Business Improvement Association.  South Bayview bus routes hit by cuts  A fix for the TTC dead zone on Bayview Ave.

Work to go on all night to fix power at LHS

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The latest update from Ryan Bird the school board about the power outage at Leaside High came at 4 p.m. Thursday (November 27, 29014), Ryan says the work is still going on and will apparently take all night. The best he can say is that he will be tweeting early tomorrow on the situation.  There may not be classes Friday. Keep tuned to the TDSB Media Relations Twitter account 

Leaside Lions Club seeks charter members

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There will be meeting on Sunday November 30, 2014 to sign up Charter members to the Leaside 100 Lions Club. The club needs 20 charter members to form an official Lions Club with Lions Clubs International located in Oak Brook, Ill.  The meeting be will in the Common Room at 1387 Bayview Avenue, at 2 p.m. This is the residences building on the southeast corner of Bayview and McRae Drive. For more information please contact Raija Rosenthal at 416-932-3470.

9-storey “mixed use” bid for South Bayview Ave.

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A company known as the Brown Group has consolidated property on the west side of Bayview Ave. between Soudan Ave. and Hillsdale Ave and is proposing to build what it says would be a nine-storey mixed use structure there. A notice was circulated in the neighborhood in recent hours. It states that a meeting is scheduled to tell residents about “the rationale for the proposed design” of the building. It says the developer is looking for feedback. A building of nine storeys would require changes to the official plan and the residential nature of the block between the two side streets. The development would take out the properties between 1674 Bayview (the Hillsdale Apartments) and 1684 Bayview. As well, it would remove 720 Hillsdale and 701 to to 713 Soudan. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, December 3, 2015 at 7 p.m. in the Leaside Library on McRae Drive. A phone number and contact names are provided in the notice: Laura MacCormick or Sherman Brown at (416) 222-0344 extension 122. 

Unassuming Leaside father honoured at LPOA

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Roger Cattell was honoured by the Leaside Property Owners Association for his leadership and tireless work in creating and executing the “Slow Down” lawn sign campaign. This initiative was wrought out of the painful death of Georgia Walsh in July. At its meeting Tuesday night (November 25, 2014) the LPOA made the unassuming Leaside father an honorary member. Mr. Cattell spoke briefly to the meeting and recalled the late afternoon on which Georgia died. He did not know what had happened but he heard the sirens and knew there was trouble. Nor did he know that a death had occurred at the intersection he expressed concern about to the councillor a few months previously. When his own children got home, he recalled his relief.  After the accident there was an overwhelming sense of the need to do something. Mr. Cattell said the sign campaign, which he spearheaded and which has become a sort of city-wide movement, was intended to represent a pledge by each person who planted a sign on his property. “I was asked by a reporter why a sign? A sign changes nothing,” Mr Cattell recalled. “I told him that the sign changes me,” he replied.  It was his hope that it changed all those who took a sign and by their example made things better. It was, he said, a promise to ourselves to do better.   

Slavens finds tenant for double store on Bayview

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The large double store at 1685 Bayview Ave just north of Riz restaurant has apparently been leased. Paul Slavens is the agent. This interesting property seems to have set records over the years for long vacancy  It was most recently leased in 2013 by an ill-fated fine furnture store and the Danbury liquidiation sale which followed the store’s demise. The building also houses the offices of Dr. Dennis Bader, Optometrist.  

Burnside has candid remarks at LPOA meeting

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Ward 26 Councillor-elect Jon Burnside was the featured speaker at the Leaside Property Owners Association annual meeting Tuesday evening (November 25, 2014) in the William Lea Room. Mr. Burnside spoke candidly to perhaps 250 members telling them safer and less congested streets will require solutions that many people will not like. He said this was true whatever mechanism– “one-way streets or do-not-enter signs” — might finally be recommended in the forthcoming planned traffic study. He said the prospect of motorists behaving better was connected solely to the likelihood of their apprehension. He agreed with a questioner who asked if this meant things like red-light cameras. The former policeman said he strongly  favoured “technology-based” methods of improving driving habits. Mr. Burnside made it clear that he is strongly in favor of the construction of the Redway Road extension. He talked of the need for him to form alliances with councillors from Wards 27 and 29 for this purpose. He said he had met with mayor-elect Tory and Redway Road “was top of mind in our meeting.” The new councillor, who will be sworn in next Tuesday, December 2, 2014, also made it clear he leans toward approval of a Costco store on Overlea Boulevard.  He conceded that the project is “vexing” and acknowledged the traffic issue. Minutes earlier, he had heard members of the LPOA executive recount their concerns in this regard. Nonetheless, said Burnside, the poverty levels in Thorncliffe Park and the universal view — right or wrong — that Coscto would be good for the community could not be ignored. He said he had been asked by Thorncliffe Park residents what would happen if they opposed a project that Leasiders wanted. The rhetorical question was not lost on the meeting. Perhaps some even reflected on the affluence that abounds in Leaside — including multiple cars in the driveway — compared to apartment dwellers who have none. In the end, said Burnside, “Leaside is only one-quarter of the ward.”  The new councillor faced questions from residents who were clearly aggrieved by events in which it seemed to them that developers and their money (plus city staff in some cases) conspired to defeat ratepayers. This matter arose from a commitment Burnside made to create working groups which included developers. Former Councillor Jane Pitfield rose to urge Burnside to avoid having developers present in the early going. Burnside seemed to politely demur, saying  that in order to keep developers from going to the OMB it was necessary to negotiate as you go.  In closing, Burnside made a point of recognizing former opposing candidate Dave Sparrow, who was present as a property owner with his wife Lisa. The LPOA business meeting recognized the remarkable work of Brian Cattel in spearheading the “Slow Down” lawn sign campaign. Mr. Cattel’s remarks will be the subject of a separate post in The South Bayview Bulldog in coming hours. Regular business saw reading of the minutes, the treasurer’s report and a review by Carol Burtin-Fripp of the association’s  activities in the past year. She told The Bulldog that the $50,000 traffic study will be done by Michael Tedesco but that work has not yet begun in earnest.