The South Bayview Bulldog

Goodwill Industries will close stores across Toronto as the non-profit business deals with a  shortage of cash that has become a crisis, according to a statement by the firm. In all, 16 stores, 10 donation centres and 2 offices,  including the store at the corner of Overlea Blvd and Thorncliffe Park Drive, will shut immediately. Goodwill offered little explanation of what had caused the cash crisis referring only to “factors in the retail environment.”  The statement came from CEO Keiko Nakamura.  As many as 450 employees will be out of work. Many of them showed up for work Sunday morning and learned of the closure from a sign on the door. Locations in Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Newmarket, Barrie, Orillia and Brockville are closed until management can meet with representatives of the Canadian Airport Workers Union, which represents the employees.  Described by Wikipedia as an American nonprofit organization, Goodwill provides job training, employment placement services, and other community-based programs for people with disabilities. This work is funded by a large network of retail thrift stores operating as nonprofits as well. It has a huge network across the U.S. in Canada and in Latin America.

Toronto’s bid committee seems intent on buying new trucks. Will service east of Yonge be privatized? The decision is supposedly still to be made by City Council isn’t it?  Toronto Sun 

The unwelcome appearance of water bubbling up in front of his business Saturday was snapped by a citizen. It led very quickly to the closure of lower Jarvis Street between Front and The Esplanade as City crews work to replace the main. It’s cold and difficult work that makes it impossible to say just when it will be finished. Photo Twitter

The power outage widely reported by media Saturday was no doubt real enough for those caught up in it but for many people who were said to be inside the boundaries of this failure, it just didn’t happen. Individual residents of Merton St., Davisville Ave. and Millwood Rd near Bayview say there was no outage. A man carrying a child through the lighted parking lot of McDowell’s Valumart said: “What outage?” Several businesses on well-lit Bayview Ave where activity was brisk at 5.15 p.m. said there had been no power interruption. The boundaries stated by the CBC from Toronto Hydro were Yonge, St Clair, Eglinton and Bayview. It  seems the actual power failure may have been more to the west. St.Clair Ave in Moore Park kept power as did Bennington Heights.

MT. PLEASANT

Bulldog reader Helen Godfrey was in the Second Cup at 642 Mt. Pleasant when the power went out. She notes that back outside, the Sobey’s was dark too but the Pharma Plus had power. It seemed to her that outages were confined to the west side but they were spotty at that. She observes that the Mt. Pleasant and Regent (known to some as the Belsize) had power which she said was a good thing considering the Saturday matinees. Thanks Helen and all others who contributed to this report. If you have a blackout or non-blackout story, please write to The South Bayview Bulldog at news@bayview-news.com

Power has been restored to the areas east of Yonge Street over to Bayview Ave according to Hydro One. The utility asks that if you are still without power call (416) 542-8000 and press 1 to speak to one of their dispatchers. Earlier: Power was out Saturday afternoon in the St. Clair Ave. and Yonge Street area. Toronto Hydro said some 9,200 customers were in the dark. The area affected was bordered by Yonge Street to the west, Bayview Avenue to east, St Clair Avenue to the south and Eglinton Avenue in the north. Power remained on however in what appeared to be most of Moore Park. Hydro said on Twitter that crews were working to determine what may have caused the outage. Twitter 

The Salvation Army and other services held a homeless exhibit and one-on-one discussion at the Toronto Fire and EMS Training Academy on Knox Ave in Leslieville on Saturday. It offered residents a chance to learn about plans to open a 124-bed homeless shelter at 29 Leslie St. The location is a now vacant factory south of Queen Street. Several dozen people attended the meeting. The was no opportunity to speak publicly but concern took the form of one mother’s fear that her children might not be safe going to school, and anoher person who said seniors might be afraid to walk out at night. The shelter is needed says the Army because of the closure of its Hope Shelter on College Street at McCaul Street, which it was forced to close last April after the property’s owner sold the building. Andrew Burditt of the Salvation Army was present Saturday and said the Army has been working with the City to find a new location to replace the Hope Shelter.This vacant site in a commercial neighborhood seems to be a good fit.

CBC photo of taxi in broadside collision

Two women are in hospital with life threatening injuries after a taxi was broadsided by a truck outside Western Hospital on Bathurst Street.  Fire personnel sawed off a door to free the passengers.  The driver of the truck said the taxi “suddenly pulled out of the roundabout” at the hospital and the two vehicles crashed. It was subsequently said by police the taxi was making a U-turn.

Writer Terence Corcoran unwinds an interesting vision of driverless cars where the personal ownership of cars will be illegal. You will be required to rely on a government-owned driverless vehicle to take you more or less where you (or the government) want you to go.

CBC