The South Bayview Bulldog

This is an extraordinary sequence from WCBS in New York of a mean-minded drunk driver. The woman smashes her Honda CRV head on into a car with a mother and two daughters in it. Then she backs up and does it again. Wild stuff.

This was the scene in the basement of McDowell’s Valumart as children filled food bags for donation to the Daily Bread Food Bank. This annual good work is organized under the auspices of Sarah’s Food Drive in Leaside and area  Sarah Jordan and her sister Claire along with many friends gather food, collect donations and then prepare the bags with the help of parents and sponsors for pick up by Daily Bread. Watch as the kids carry first a frozen turkey, then get canned cranberry sauce, corn, grab a box of stuffing and jellied dessert before depositing the bag in a huge container. Realtor Patrick Rocca, seen in the video, is the sponsor of this event along with Chad McDowell. They both make a large donation to the cost. Of course Sarah and Claire’s parents, Mark Jordan and Linda DeBono were there as was Councillor Jon Burnside. There  are many local business helping the drive. There are 22 such public-spirited firms named here on the  Sarah’s website 

Adelaide, Sarah and Claire accept a donation outside McDowell’s Valumart

Sarah’s Food Drive on behalf of the Daily Bread Food Bank is underway at the parking lot just outside the front door of McDowell’s Valumart on Bayview Ave (Saturday, October 10, 2015). Shoppers can make a contribution and/or buy a can or two of food for delivery to Daily Bread. A barbecue will feed as many as ask beginning at noon and there will be cotton candy too from the well-known candy machine of Councillor Jon Burnside. Councillor Josh Matlow will be there too. Sounds good.

Jack Dorsey is planning is planning company-wide layoffs next week, sources say. It’s unclear how much of the staff will be let go from Twitter but some said the focus will be on engineers. It is believed the firings will fall across all departments.  Remarkably, Twitter has about 4,100 employees, more than double the roughly 2,000 employees it had in 2013 just before its IPO.

TWITTER TWERPS

Twitter’s user base has grown less than 50 percent in that time. The reorg also aligns with what Dorsey has been preaching for the last four months: That Twitter needs to be more focused — easier to use.  It would be nice if they could blow away the angry and abusive Twitter twerps too.  Just saying.

A tanker driver on the New Jersey Turnpike swerved to miss a mattress and box spring that flew off the top of a cargo van. It landed directly in front of the tanker and from a dash cam on a following truck we can see it all happen. Some lessons to be learned here.

While the Blue Jays fought a losing battle in the second game of their American League Championship playoffs with the Texas Rangers Friday, these men were clambering all over the little concrete-block home at 142 Rose Park Drive near Mt. Pleasant They are removing the second floor for a new upper level. At the back, according to plans, there will be an addition and decking. As we noted last year when the tree fencing went up, 142 is a true Moore Park relic, a curious anomaly to the neighborhood where it has stood since heaven knows when. They just don’t build houses out of concrete blocks anymore. Before the wrecking began this morning, the front of 142 was nicely stuccoed and the gardening in lovely condition. It will be interesting to see what the owners plan for this bit of neighborhood history.

As some may know there is a review of the City of Toronto ward boundaries underway. The linked series of maps reveals Options being considered which would create as many  as 57 wards or reduce them to as few as 37. At present, there are 44 wards. It might be useful to check the Team page as well to learn just who is  at work on your behalf. City Council will decide what is enacted.

A Kitchener neighborhood is said to be quite on edge following the killing of a man with an arrow. Michael Gibbons, 60, was found outside his home on Margaret Ave. Monday morning  with the arrow protruding from his chest. Investigation has led to the creation of the inset depiction of a man who police wish to talk to about the death. The ​Waterloo Regional Police Service said the man is being sought as a result of information gathered during a “mirror canvass” early Wednesday morning, when 250 vehicles and pedestrians were stopped while travelling on Margaret Avenue. “We’re just looking to identify him to assist us in the investigation,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Haffner. “It’s a concentrated effort to identify anyone that may have been in the area on the Monday. “A mirror canvass is an investigation tactic where police visit a crime scene on a later date at a time similar to the original incident, when daily street activity may mirror what was going on at the time of the crime.

The IKEA “Rally Spoon” will not be allowed inside Rogers Centre for Blue Jays games. A spokesperson for the Centre said that the spoons are being kept out of Friday’s Jays-Rangers game “due to a concern that they will be thrown.” It is a reasonable concern. The wooden spoons — 12,000 of them — are part of IKEA’s effort to get into the spirit of the American League playoffs. Spokesperson Elisa Wegenast issued a release in which she said: “Every time the Blue Jays get on base during a game, things get cooking, and that’s when the players ‘Stir It Up’” The wooden spoons will be distributed at 12:30 p.m. until game time (or until they run out) all around the Rogers Centre. They appear to be about a foot in length. Rogers Centre may have trouble keeping track of all those spoons. Hope no one starts a spoon fight.