The Canadian situation comedy Man Seeking Woman is being shot in Leaside at several locations in Leaside. Just Wednesday there was activity on Bayview north of Fleming, the parking lot of 321 Moore Ave and outside Leaside United Church where there is a huge collection of trucks and equipment. This was the scene Wednesday afternoon. Toronto Star
South Bayview veteran, Marie Pyzyna has passed away. The diminutive storekeeer presided over Globe Toy and Variety at 1538 Bayview Avenue for many decades. If you have been a South Bayview resident long enough, you will remember buying lottery tickets, chocolates, tobacco and greeting cards from Marie, and on occasion, her late husband Stan. She spent much of her spare time, walking up and down the street checking on the state of affairs, chatting with neighbours and picking the occasional weed from our tree boxes. Her death was announced by Humphrey Funeral Home in the Globe and Mail Wednesday, October 7, 2015. They are holding a private service in their facility. After Marie retired, she sold her business to a young family who continued to operate the variety store. When they moved on to pursue other careers, the variety store closed for good. It was converted to a money exchange for a short time. The fire that destroyed Leaside Cleaners in October 2011, caused enough smoke damage to the premises to prompt the money exchange business to move on as well. It is currently the happy home of Sport Clips hair cutting business.
The candidates debate was underway Wednesday night at the Lea Room of the Leaside Arena. It featured the incumbent, John Carmichael, Liberal Oliphant and NDP candidate Syeda Riaz. There will be further post on the debate Thursday.
Signs outside the Lea Room as candidates gather
Sam Tsemberis
This story is compelling reading even though it leaves some questions around the edges. Sam Tsemberis is being celebrated among municipal officials in the U.S. for bringing the level of this phenomenon to zero in many places. His system involves finding buildings, apparently suitable for flats, renovating them and then simply giving them to the homeless. There are certain rules which follow by way of medical treatment as needed and responsible conduct. But the magic element appears to be the ready access to housing without the execution of these conditions beforehand. One can see how the investment would pay off, even though there no accounting given of costs versus benefits. Most important, if this story tells the germane facts, it has accomplished the realisation of getting homeless people off the street regardless of their various mental and social baggage. Worth a read. Washington Post
Those interested in knowing how Councillors voted at North York Community Council (NYCC) yesterday may be able to find out Friday when an official record is issued. In the meantime, there is no information available except from the members as to how the vote result was composed. The 3-3 split in which sent the matter automatically to City Council was unofficially unrecorded. Councillor Burnside moved the motion on a show of hands. Those present were Carmichael Greb, Minnan-Wong, Augimeri, Filion, Robinson and Burnside. The other five members of members of North York Community Council were not present for this item although we don’t know if this means they were absent or simply not in the chamber. .
That would be to tell the truth. Lying was considered an abuse of the public trust (and dishonest too) back in Journalism 1a6 and it still is. This week a lot of reporters seemed to think that lying to the public was just a lark. That’s when the charity Raising the Roof decided to dupe unsuspecting people on Bayview Ave in order to obtain just the right kind of responses for their project. What was that? Carolann Barr, executive director of Raising the Roof, calls it dispelling the myths about homelessness. Apparently it’s only possible to know authoritatively how misguided people are by lying to them. And what better place to do your lying than in that utterly misguided and uncaring place called Leaside. It makes it easier when fat cat writers purr correct responses. One scribbler snickered about Sleepy South Bayview being thrown into a state of hyper local hyperbole. Is that so? If Mr. Sleepy South Bayview had done what Raising the Roof did he would most likely now be unemployed. At Global News they ventured that Bayview Ave has been the scene of an “elaborate trick”. Actually, it was the scene of rank dishonesty not a surprise party. The further theme running through these stories was that some people don’t think enough about homelessness. Of course comfortable television and newspaper reporters are constantly reviewing what they can do for the homeless. It was all catch phrases. Myths needed to be dispelled, conversations kick-started and similar blather. Dispelling myths. Pinocchio should have tried that one.
The parking will be a little rocky on Bayview today as a movie shoot has cleared out parking on the east side north of Fleming. Wouldn’t it be nice if the City made them pay the shopkeepers something? Also on South Bayview, a disabled vehicle. It was hidden in front of the police car.
Yesterday at North York Community Council the Costco application for 42-46 Overlea Blvd. was rejected on a tie vote (3-3). Although The City Planning Department had recommended its approval, the application will now go to the entire Toronto City Council for consideration “Without Recommendation” on November 10.
There were a number of deputations regarding the application and of those opposed, traffic was a major concern. I share this concern and have serious misgivings not only with the methodology and quality of the traffic report, but our own Transportation Department’s unreasonably high threshold for rejecting an application based on a projected increase in traffic volumes. This is somewhat of an unusual situation in that opinions were strongly divided with a majority of Thorncliffe residents in favour of the application.
As I have mentioned previously, I believe the perfect solution would be a Costco without the gas bar but City Staff did not make this recommendation and thus it was not something Costco would agree to. One of the biggest challenges we have in opposing developments based on traffic concerns is that the developer always has a favourable traffic study. While this situation has gone on for years, there seems to have been little effort to hold the traffic consultants accountable. This is exactly what I tried to do with one of the three amendments I proposed.
Recognizing that without our own City Staff’s support a fight at the OMB is extremely difficult to win, I recommend the following additions/changes to the report:
1) Reduce the number of gas pumps from 18 to 12.
2) Costco conduct a follow up traffic study one year after store opening and pay for any mitigation efforts if their study underestimated traffic volumes.
3) Specify number of Thorncliffe residents hired by Costco.
Additionally, Costco had agreed to a voluntary payment of $650,000 to be used for community benefits in Thorncliffe. I ultimately felt that this was the best deal possible under the circumstances and that the risk of losing these concessions by forcing the developer to the OMB was not the proper course of action — especially since Ward 26 residents’ opinions were mixed.
Please contact me if you have any questions or would like to voice your opinion.
John Burnside, Councillor, Ward 26
The new Create Your Taste McDonald’s at Victoria Park and St.Clair Ave. E is graced by a neat and attractive garden that would be the envy of any homeowner, much less restaurant operator. This is the first of the McDonald’s Create Your Taste “kiosk” style restaurants. There are two such large and colourful keyboards inside (as shown in the video below). But it will also be seen that the kiosks are not busy. Most people continue to use the counter. This is only a snapshot taken at about 4.30 p.m. of how things operate at this McDonald’s but so far the modest neighborhood does not seem to be flocking to Create Your Taste.
Work has begun inside the new West Coast Kids children’s clothing and general goods store at the corner of Bayview Ave and Manor Rd. The foreman in the store said the company hopes to be open in a week. That would have business underway by October 14, 2015. Let’s hope so.
The Globe and Mail says the Competition Bureau is continuing to investigate certain pricing practices employed by Loblaws with its suppliers. In one example of such a policy, says the Globe, Loblaws is able to apply a retroactive discount, meaning it gets the goods for less. All these little devices are built into the transaction when a supplier deals with a retailer as powerful as Loblaws. The practical effect of such a retroactive discount would be that Loblaws is in a position to sell the product for less than others. As any one who shops there will know, Loblaws is very calculated about what gets on the shelf and what doesn’t. In some cases, it doesn’t seem to care much whether popular products disappear. Of course, big suppliers have their tricks too. The Globe article is written by the retailing reporter Marina Strauss. She says that some suppliers, while pleased with Loblaw’s decision, were concerned that the bureau could wind down its inquiry following notice from Loblaws that it will end the discount device. They worry the bureau might close down on its probe without formulating guidelines on the matter.
