Beloved O’Connor Bowl to close for good this week

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Marguerite Klyne, marks 80th birthday at O’Connor Bowl last year

O’Connor Bowl at 1401 O’Connor Drive will close this week after some 64 years in business. The end has been haunting O’Connor Bowl since the death in 2010 of  owner John Martin. Stafford Homes purchased the property in 2011 and a seven-storey mixed-use commercial and residential development was approved for the site at O’Connor Drive near Bermondsey Road in 2013. The bowing alley has been run on a year-to-year basis since the purchase. It is a life’s work ended for manager Mike Gorman, who has been at the alley for 27 years.  He was told Monday  that the last day would be Friday, June 5, 2015  The East York Mirror  quotes Ward 31 Councillor Janet Davis as saying:  “O’Connor Bowl served people of all ages across the province who came to bowl. It will be sadly missed,”  Stafford Developments, a division of Goldman Group, applied for a rebuilding application to construct the mixed commercial and residential structure and were approved for a site plan. Councillor Davis told  the Mirror that Stafford Developments has sold the property but company officials were unavailable to comment with regards to the new ownership of the property. Mirror story also records stories of elderly league members like Myrk Seyler, 90, head of the Tuesday Ladies League.  East York Mirror 

 

$1000 fine for distracted driving now Ontario law

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The minimum fine for distracted driving has doubled under changes to the Ontario Traffic Act. Fines go from between $60 and $500 to between $300 and $1,000. Add a further penalty of three demerit points on conviction. Distracted driving has long since passed drinking as the single most serious cause of traffic deaths. Third reading was given today (Tuesday, June 2, 2015) to these and other changes.

WATCH YOUR DOOR

The government has chosen to create a new offense known as dooring. This is an occurrence which will be entirely accidental (unlike distracted driving) but which will prevent cars doors from hitting cyclists who are beside the vehicle. This offense, and the time-honoured hippie offense of driving while doped up on marijuana or other drugs will bring a $1,000 fine on conviction.

COUNTER FLOW BICYCLES?

The revised HTA also allows cities to build more types of bike lanes and it imposes new fines on cyclists who refuse to light up their rides. The new legislation will give cities permission to build counter flow (or contraflow) bikes lane. Let’s hope these lanes, which would run counter to one-way vehicular traffic, don’t kill too many bike riders. The consensus seems to be traffic has to be very slow to allow these lanes to work. The offense of towing a skate boarder behind a car is now illegal. It is an offense which seems too dangerous to be true The HTA already forbids the towing of everything from toboggans to skaters.

 

Hamilton man blocks mailbox construction by camping out

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A Hamilton man, Henry Evans-Tenbrinke, is sitting in a lawn chair at the spot near his Brucedale Ave. home where Canada Post intends to install more of its widely hated community mailboxes. The retired health-care worker has his dog, a boxer named Albert, and water plus proper clothing as he vows to stand in the way of the postal service. He has been there since May 11.

Bennington Rolph Road Soccer is looking for players

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Area families are asked to note that the Bennington Rolph Road Soccer Association is still accepting registrations for September 2015. This is a great post-summer activity entirely run by volunteer parents. Fall may seem a long way off but time is required to prepare for early Autumn fun. Lead time is needed get adequate uniforms, rent sufficient field space and lots of other loose ends. The league for kids 5 to 13 and has been running in the neighbourhood for many years. It is a great place for those whose kids who want to play soccer but are not in town in the summer, or for those who play summer soccer and want to keep their soccer going. Bennington Rolph 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. 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 information and to register 

TTC meets June 22 to address “Bayview Ave. dead zone”

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Jon  Burnside (Ward 26) has written to constituents reporting that TTC will again study the absence of service from areas of south Leaside and other south end neighbourhoods. These include Bennington Heights, Moore Park and places such as the Crestview apartments on Leacrest Road as well as residential streets such as Bessborough, Southlea, Astor and Rolph, to name a few. The Councillor says that during a planning meeting with the TTC it was discovered that it had been applying “incorrect data.” This resulted in a decision to review the matter and report back at the meeting of June 22, 2015. As readers of the South Bayview Bulldog will know, it has been an abiding issue that there is no service from the south end because buses turn east at Sutherland. This routing has a purpose perhaps but it leaves residents unable to travel by transit for shopping, medical service or go to school in the business district and beyond. This is a matter as well for the merchants of South Bayview and their new Business Improvement Area.

CGS Track and Field Day played in warm morning sun

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Playing the game at CGS. Faces tell of the day’s fun

The 2015 CGS Track & Field Championships had beautiful weather on Tuesday, May 19 at Leaside High School’s large field. The warm, morning sunshine was a real inducement to participate fully on the LHS grounds, which are just half a block away from Children’s Garden School.
Events included the standing long jump, shot put and the 100, 200 and 400 metre races. Hearty congratulations to all participants. Parents came out to support the kids as well as help CGS staff keep record of the results in each event. The Award’s Assembly was held at the end of the day. The children displayed excellent sportsmanship as the results were announced.
The Children’s Garden School Physical Education program incorporates Track & Field every spring. The Junior Kindergarten to Grade 3 students also had a trip to the Norval Outdoor Education Centre in May. This was the first visit for CGS to the exceptional Upper Canada College facility.

 

Incredible airborne car at York Mills Rd and Leslie Street

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This security video from a car repair business on York Mills Rd. shows the flight of a black Subari as it comes hurtling out of the next door service station. The drop in the height of the property levels differs so the Subari was easily airborne as it crashed through the service station fence. The repair company property appears to be as much as six feet lower. The consensus seems to be that the driver mixed up the pedals. He is in hospital in serious condition. The video is remarkable not only for the flying car but the graphic efforts of rescuers, smashing windows and ultimately, sawing off the roof of the car to extricate the man. Stay with it to see CTV video of later events. All of this occurred about 11.30 a.m in the rain at the normally un-exciting intersection of York Mills Road and Leslie Street.

Thomas Elgie House moves forward on Leaside property

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Thomas G Elgie House Sunday, May 31, 2015

The 19th Century Thomas Elgie House has been moved forward a few metres on the homestead property at 262 Bessborough Drive, land that will soon be home to two additional homes, newly-built by the owner and contractor  There will be an addition to the Elgie home and it appears the foundation is being dug. The estimated 135 year old home is now perched on both steel beams (two courses) and wooden blocks on the earth.