Listen to the bystanders at a Markham house fire today chatter about when the fire department will arrive. A viewer sent this video to the CBC. Five were sent to hospital of whom three were kids. One man is at Sunnybrook in serious condition. The fire was on Douglas Haig Drive near McCowan Rd and Steeles Ave.
This lovely picture of the Leaside United Church nine-person team at Pearson airport was taken before they boarded a plane to Honduras today. The story of their mission is here as are the names of the members. Sorry we can’t match up the names with the faces. Any reader who cares to tell us, please do. These fine people will go to the El Hogar home which is aided by the church and assist in many tasks that need doing. El Hogar is The Home, a place where impoverished Horduran kids can find a future. Nice age range of this team with two of the members being teenagers. Great going guys.
Steven Spielberg will direct Harrison Ford in an untitled fifth installment of the Indiana Jones saga in a film that will be in theatres three years from now, it was announced today. Ford will be 77. No doubt there will be much inventiveness around his senior citizen character with lots of young blood to keep all ages groups interested. Hollywood Reporter
Did anybody check the floor? This CBC video shows a string of models at the Mikhael Kale fashion show stumbling at the same spot during Toronto Fashion week. The festival organizers said it was the floor and you have to think they are right. Sorry ladies.
There has been an accident at the often confusing corner of Bayview Avenue and Parkhurst Boulevard (Soudan Ave) Tuesday afternoon. The fire department was called to free a person trapped, according to Toronto Fire dispatch. Left turns onto Bayview can be misjudged. .
This year’s Laugh Out in Leaside (7) event has raised $33,000 for Community Food Centres Canada and Regent Park Community Food Centre. The remarkable fundraising charity delivered a cheque and sent a letter of thanks to the selfless volunteers who accomplished this success. The LOL fundraising committee said volunteers had made a tangible impact in the lives of men, women and children who are supported by Regent Park Community Food Centre. The letter was signed by committee members Charlene Kalia, Lara Neal, Mary Holmes and Selby Copeland.
There is no subway service between Union and Eglinton stations on the Yonge line Tuesday afternoon, the TTC says. A signal is malfunctioning at Bloor station causing the disruption.
In the U.S., the Federal Trade Commission has publicly rapped Lord & Taylor for failing to reveal that it paid high-profile Instagram accounts to secretly market clothing. The FTC said that Lord & Taylor sent out 50 free dresses to “select fashion influencers” who were then paid anywhere from $1,000 to $4,000 to post photos of themselves wearing the dress on Instagram during a two-day period in March 2015. Lord & Taylor is the oldest luxury department store in the U.S.and is owned by the oldest commercial corporation in North America, the Hudson Bay Company.
Police are investigating after a man was shot a number of times at 50 Thorncliffe Park Drive across the street from the Thorncliffe Park Library. The incident happened about midnight. He is said to be in serious condition in hospital. This picture was tweeted overnight by CBC photographer Tony Smythe.
Loblaws has backtracked on its plan to remove French’s ketchup from its shelves. The food retailer made the move a short time after the news hit Twitter and Facebook accounts and was published widely. Kevin Groh, the vice president of Corporate Affairs and Communications said the ketchup would be re-stocked and, in a sideways kick at the media, said that Loblaws hoped it would see the same enthusiasm shown by the media among shoppers for French’s ketchup. An important issue is the nationality of the tomatoes — French’s is using Leamington tomatoes, a long-famous crop in Ontario’s “sun parlor” counties near Windsor.
A large electronic sign which would display a different “static” ad every ten seconds has been proposed for Eglinton Ave. E. at the CP Rail corridor east of Leslie Street. The applicant is Outfront (formerly CBS) Media in cooperation with two other large sign companies, who are not applicants, Astral and Pattison. A community consultation meeting was held Monday night at Thorncliffe Park Library. It heard that the sign would be approximately 10 metres by 35 metres, a variance of more than 10 square metres high on the embankment beside the track facing west. It would be directed at drivers who are headed east. In total, the sign requires four variances in an area where no advertising is permitted whatsoever. Robert Bader, of the City’s sign bylaw unit said in answer to questions that such electronic signs were shown to be a “distraction” to drivers but there was “no conclusive evidence” that they caused accidents. He did not elaborate on this oddly vague conclusion.
OTHER VARIANCES?
Steve Wolowich of Outfront was eager to offer suggestions that the community would benefit from the insertion of local service messages into the sign’s ten-second “dwell-time” cycle. The sparsely-attended meeting saw opponents to the granting of any variance present. Among the perhaps 20 people was Geoff Kettel, of the Leaside Property Owners Association and Alex Wong, a resident of a condominium at 1105 Leslie Street. He made an eloquent statement against the proposal He was among perhaps seven residents at the meeting to oppose the sign. Mr. Wolowich indicated there are already two variances for smaller signs in favor of Astral and Pattison. He said they had signs on the corridor But these cannot be seen on Google Street recorded in September 2015.
METROLINX NOT A PARTY
He made a firm declaration that neither Metrolinx nor any other party, governmental or private, apart from the railway, has an interest in the proposed sign. He also hinted at a type of quid pro quo for approval of the sign in the possible removal of a long-standing Outlook billboard on Laird Drive at Parklea Drive. He suggested that the company might put benches and create a miniature park at the location. But the circumstances were unclear. Precedent would seem to be important for those wishing to stop the sign. A meeting at City Hall in the Sign Variance Committee Room at 9.30 a.m.on Tuersday March 22, 2016 will make a recommendation to City Council.
