Fiona Crean, the City Ombud, has produced a report saying that the City’s security staff acted more like personal security for the mayor during the tenure of Rob Ford. She says the City’s management was slow to react as Ford evidently directed guards to protect him from the media when he was drunk. Sure. It was crummy and a disgrace to the City. But Ford is gone and make no mistake, he was the problem. Few security guards would dare tell the elected mayor of Toronto to take his problems elsewhere. What’s the point of this report? Inside Baseball meet Inside City Hall.
TTC stick-up “hobby” is going to come to a bad end
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Someone has a hobby that is going to come to a bad end. He’s robbing TTC collector booths and has hit four times in the past few weeks. A TTC collector working at Donlands subway station was robbed at gunpoint early Tuesday. Robberies have occurred at Chester, Danforth and Rosedale stations as well.
“Weekend visitors” turn Calgary home into a sewer
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This story is so terrible and yet so compelling. There is an online space rental service called Airbnb. A Calgary couple rented their home to four people who “were just in town for the weekend.” Just like visitors. Not really. The home has been reduced to a sewer of filth and destruction. Watch this CBC report.
Spring Into Action Walk and Run is Saturday, May 2
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The 10th Annual Spring Into Action Walk and Run for diabetes will jump off from Sunnybrook Park Saturday, May, 2, 2015. There are several events — a 2k run for kids and 5 and 10k for grownups. It is a thoroughgoing workout. Registration is at 9 a.m. and Yoga between 9 and 10 a.m. The walks and runs begin at 9.50 a.m. There is a post-run BBQ beginning at 11 a.m. There are kids activities, stretch station, Spring Sunrise Yoga Wake-up, energizing warm-up, vendor marketplace, gift bags, Car Displays, BBQ, Popcorn Machine, Food & Refreshments, Vendor Market, Medals, Trophy, Photo Booth, Rest Area, Live Music, Entertainment, Henna, Face Painting, Kids Zone and Bouncy Castle. Also, Menchie Mascot, Fresh Juices, O Canada, Group Portrait Start Line. This year again organizers will be using Chip-Time technology. This technology records accurate race time.
Para Pan Am Games uniforms from The Bay revealed
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Tinto Bar Tapas on Bayview open at 3 p.m. Thurs to Sun.
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Otta Zapotocky, genial host of Tinto Bar de Tapas at 1581 Bayview Ave., says you can now catch the sun while savouring Tinto Tapas wine and goodies. The patio and restaurant will be open at 3 p.m. all through the summer from Thursday to Sunday.
Wynne cabinet to study what Ontario Pension will cost
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The Ontario Finance Ministry will conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the province’s proposed supplemental defined benefit plan as part of a bill approved Wednesday (April 29, 2015) by the Ontario Legislature. The bill forms the administrative foundation of the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, which is expected to begin in January 2017. ORPP would be a supplement to the C$238.8 billion ($194.9 billion) Canada Pension Plan, Ottawa. The cost-benefit analysis must be submitted to the provincial Legislature by December 31, 2015 according to the bill. The analysis will presumably inform the government and the public on just how much a plan will cost. The idea of an Ontario Pension is popular with some wage earners but feared by business as another slush fund for spending. The story is in Pensions and Investments, a publication of the U.S-based specialty publisher Crain.
Bennington Rolph Road soccer looking to Fall 2015 season
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Bennington Rolph Road Soccer Association is accepting registrations for September 2015. While the Fall may seem a long way off, the league needs the lead time to ensure it orders adequate uniforms and rent sufficient field space. BRRSA is a community-based volunteer-run soccer house league for girls and boys aged five to 13 years, a great league for those who aren’t available for summer soccer! The season runs for six weeks in the fall, starting the first week of school. A tournament is held for all but the youngest age group at the end of the regular season. Games are played on the school fields at Rolph Road and Bennington Heights. The league is run completely by volunteers and is not-for-profit. The deadline for registrations is June 19th. Visit the league’s website for more info and to register: www.benningtonrolphsoccer.ca
Stay tuned for just where spacecraft M-27M will land
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Orioles vs Sox in empty stadium as sirens wail in distance
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It was a perfect day for a baseball game today but there was nobody in the stands in Baltimore today when the Orioles played the Chicago White Sox. Why? The police effort required to secure fans in the stadium would have placed too great a stress on hard-pressed officers dealing with the downtown rioting. They say the atmosphere was eerie as the lonely crack of the bat contrasted silence in the park and emergency sirens in the distance. New York Times.
Exercise your right to a Spring rummage this weekend
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Manor Road United Rummage Sale — Saturday, May 2nd, 2015 — 10am – 1pm — Manor Road United Church, 240 Manor Road East, Corner of Manor Rd.E. & Forman
Catholic school girls hockey tourney sees 140 jills on ice
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Mary Baker, Kathy Banfield, Ellen Lowden
The Toronto District Catholic School Board girls hockey tournament has been completed at the two-pad Don Montgomery Recreation Centre in Scarborough with young players from all over the City on hand. There were many recognizable faces from Wildcats hockey. The all-day event enfolded 140 girls from 28 schools and we see the puck dropped (top) by Ellen Lowden, event chief and Kathy Baker, Canadian Olympic field hockey player and Pan Am torch carrier. Ellen Lowden reports that championship game was between the suitably-named Hayley Wickenheiser team (with a roster of 16 from Father Serra, All Saints, St. Benedict, St Elizabeth, Our Lady of Victory and St. John XXIII) and the Marie Phillip Poulin team made up of Our Lady of Sorrows squad with 19 players. Our Lady of Sorrows won 2-1. Good game. Medals were awarded and there was much bragging, it’s reported. Bulldog readers will have seen the earlier post about Mrs. Lowden and her interesting girl’s hockey clothes company called Goldiegear. Bottom picture shows organizing friends Mary Baker, Kathy Banfield, principal of Blessed Sacrament School, and Ellen Lowden.