The foundation is nearly finished at the long-delayed six home development that will replace Glebe Presbyterian Church at the corner of Belsize Drive and Thurloe Ave just west of Mt. Pleasant Rd. The project has been variously delayed for more than two years and is expected to see occupancy by the end of 2016. It calls for three buildings which each contain two semi-detached homes. They will sit on the large foundation which contains a common garage with 13 parking spaces. The video looks south to Belsize
Sometimes a girl can’t catch a break. Isis Redbanks has a name that is rooted in pleasant mythology. Isis was the Egyptian goddess of health, marriage and wisdom. Who knew that just a few years after this perfectly lovely daughter named Isis was born in Toronto that some wretched thing call the Islamic State would co-opt the name? More than that, Ferrero, makers of Nutella, have decided that it cannot give Isis Redbanks a personalized jar of the famous chocolate flavoured cocoa spread, as it has promised to do for millions of other children. It has caused a lot of hard feeling in the Redbanks home and worst of all Isis does not get to have her personalized Nutella container. When bad things happen to good names.
Former Penrose Fish and Chips to again sell neighbourhood favorite
After a long period vacant, the shop at 600 Mt. Pleasant which housed Penrose Fish and Chips is slated to once again sell the neighborhood favorite. Contractors on the scene say it will be about three months before a new fish and chip restaurant, The One That Got Away, will open there. Renovations carry on daily at the store, just down the street from namesake Penrose Rd. and much old equipment is still inside (inset). Penrose Fish and Chips closed after 64 years last year. Penrose Fish and Chips to close
A group of Leaside and area kids have banded together in a six-person choir to do something good. “I always wanted to do community service so I rounded up some friends who I knew could sing,” said organizer Emilie Chodat. “It was my Dad’s idea, but I really liked it,” she said. Between them, Emilie and father Steve, found a welcoming reception at three large local restaurants where the kids could sing their carols. “For the restaurants, it was all about community,” said Steve Chodat. They are Against the Grain, Leaside Pub and the Local. Thursday (December 17, 2015) the five girls and one boy, all between 11 and 13, sang their selection of carols and Christmas favorites to diners and bar patrons at the three restaurants and — as might be expected — they were greeted with applause, cheers and shouts of support.
TRACE MANES PROJECT
The children seemed to love it and parents who came along were both proud and appreciative of the friendly patrons. The idea was to draw attention and receive donations to the Trace Manes Park Playground Project in honour of Georgia Walsh. The singers collected $605. Georgia was killed by a car at the corner of Millwood Rd. and McRae Drive in July, 2014. Steve Chodat said his daughter Emilie is a voice performer at Musica music school on Laird Drive. She arranged for the newly-formed Leaside Carollers to take some coaching from a teacher there.
FUNDRAISING
Also present Thursday night was Jillian Walsh, Georgia’s mother and the mainspring of the plan to modernize the Trace Manes playground. Ms. Walsh spoke of the launch of a formal fund-raising which will take place early in 2016. The new playground is estimated to cost about a million dollars, a reasonable figure for a complete renewal including a super-safe rubberized field underfoot and the replacement of the wading pool with a modern splash pad. The new mechanics of a splash pad are estimated to cost half of the proposed budget. All monies are held by the City in trust prior to construction. Thanks to Steve Chodat for this video taken at the Leaside Pub.
Jillian Walsh has posted a Facebook reminder that Emilie Chodat & the Leaside Carollers may be seen tonight singing in support the Trace Manes Playground Rejuvenation project in honour of Georgia Walsh. The times are: 5:45 – Against The Grain, 6:30 – The Leaside Pub and 7:15 – The Local Eatery
Criminal charges were laid Thursday against two top aides to former premier Dalton McGuinty, the ultimate fallout of the decision to cancel gas-fired power plants hours before the 2011 general election. In the aftermath of this expensive political act, it was revealed that computer hard-drives in the Premier’s office had been wiped clean, apparently to cover up whatever they might have shown about who was responsible. Now the OPP says David Livingston, 63 (left) McGuinty’s last chief of staff, and Laura Miller, 36 (right) the deputy chief of staff, are facing charges of breach of trust, mischief in relation to data and misuse of a computer system. They will appear in court Jan. 27. CBCTorstar
Maurice Cody kids assembled outside Starbucks on Bayview Ave. Thursday morning for a reward after giving the second last morning concert of carols to coffee drinkers this Christmas season. The reward appears to have been a beverage of choice and a Madeleine cookie. These students, teachers and parents were among the lucky South Bayviewites who caught the sun as it moved in and out at mid-morning.
Shoppers at Loblaws, where the carts accumulated in the soft sunshine, said they hadn’t felt the sun on their faces in days. We are at midnight on the daylight clock. This day will be less than nine hours long (7.46 a.m. to 4.41 p.m.) December 21, 2015, will see the pattern reverse. By January 1, 2016, it will be easy to see the days getting longer.
At Childrens Garden School on Eglinton Ave.E. in Leaside there were enough smiles to brighten any day as the staff held their annual Christmas Party. That’s principal Marie Bates in the centre.
The Christmas wreath stolen a week ago off the door of a Summerhill area home has been found and returned to its owner on Macpherson Ave. The simple theft was given extraordinary interest when the homeowners video system recorded the brazen thief, a woman of perhaps 40, taking the wreath at 3 a.m. She has not been found. But the wreath was discovered by a window washer in a bag in the rear of his truck when he was working in the Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Inglewood Drive area. The Facebook video of the crime was viewed nearly 320,000 times.
A man in his 60s who was riding a bicycle on Leslie Street near Bannantyne Drive is in hospital in grave condition Wednesday. The noon-hour accident happened outside the Keg restaurant on Leslie when the cyclist collided with the front of a vehicle and was thrown into the windshield. Shortly after 4 p.m. TPS Ops tweeted that Leslie was open both north and southbound after reconstruction work.
