Predicting the future is usually not very rewarding but as 2014 wanes and the weather stays nice, The South Bayview will stay optimistic and chance a guess on three items. The spacious Second Cup shop at 1585 Bayview Ave. will “go corporate” in 2015 as popular former franchisee Hong Ngo will depart for other fields. No doubt there is a major face-lift coming for this location as head office takes over. A Bulldog flashback link summarizes the fortunes of three local Second Cup shops. The year 2015 will see political boundaries re-drawn that may rattle a few cages. They are quite historic. For the first time in maybe 150 years, Bayview Ave. will cease to be the federal dividing line between Leaside (and East York) and that part of the the city known as Davisville Village. This decision by the federal redistribution committee eliminates the federal riding of Don Valley West and lumps most of it into the riding of Toronto North. Equally ground-breaking, the riding of Toronto Centre will be broken up, detaching Rosedale and Moore Park. The riding name will survive however for those parts to the south of Rosedale Valley Rd. Moore Park and Rosedale will find their way into what will surely a political unknown to be called University Rosedale. U-R, as the new riding is being called, seems to be a compromise place. It was created when opposition to a proposed new riding of Mount Pleasant was revealed. Among the ferocious opponents of that idea was St. Paul’s MP Carolyn Bennett. It is important to keep in mind that these are federal changes and it remains to be seen whether they will be adopted for provincial and municipal boundaries. The Mike Harris government unified the Ontario and municipal boundaries along the same lines as federal boundaries as an efficiency. And finally the LRT. By the end of 2015, it is the undertaking of Metrolinx that the Eglinton Ave. E. tunneling will be at least half way from Brentcliffe Rd. to Yonge Street. Construction may begin on some of the stations.
Winners of 2014 Window Wanderland announced
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Mount Pleasant Village BIA has announced the results of its Fourth Annual Window Wanderland Contest. This is the inventive occasion in which participating stores create holiday show windows which altogether, make a wonderful experience for all those neighborhood friends who come shopping on Mt Pleasant between Eglinton Ave. E. and Davisville Ave. It is a friendly competition which benefits the entire street. There were more than 3.000 votes this year in a balloting period that ran from December 1 to December 19. The BIA has announced the winners today (December 24, 2014). Pictures top to bottom: 1st Place: Jacaranda Tree and Co. 2nd Place: Madison Beauty Studio 3rd Place: Moksa Day Spa. Congratulations to these three participants, and congratulations to the other 25 participating businesses that created exceptional store windows. All the windows are shown on the BIA’s website. Some turkey-stuffed residents of Davisville Village and the Glebe may want to walk off their meals Thursday and the Window Wanderland shows will be there to see. There are 28 windows in all. If you do go out it will be windy but there is a good chance of some sun. The rest of the week looks pretty good with mostly sunny conditions through Saturday. New Year’s Eve is predicted to be a mix of sun and cloud with a daytime high of minus 5C. Hydro has a plan for holiday power outages if any
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Toronto Hydro is reminding customers that if the power goes out on Christmas Day, there is a plan. They ask that any outages be reported to 416-542-8000.
Scramble to grab spilled cash in Hong Kong
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There is a serious outbreak of finders keepers on this Hong Kong Street as pedestrians and motorists scramble on their hands and knees to grab bank notes spilled from a van involved in an accident. It’s all quite illegal but no word on that aspect of events as authorities say that as much as $15 million Hong Kong dollars disappeared. That’s about $2.5 million Canadian.
Defense lawyer Eddie Greenspan dead at 70
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What a rush! Christmas Eve on Bayview Ave.
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Bayview Ave. was jumping this Christmas Eve morning and the action never looked better. Mind you, that 20-minute wait outside at Cumbrae’s for the pre-ordered turkey may have put off some customers. One man muttered about having paid in more than one way for his bird. The top three shots here show the lineup around the corner and up to nearly the lane way on Manor Rd. But spirits were generally high with wonderful Gateau St. Honore (cakes) specially ordered emerging from Rahier and all the shops very busy. There was a lineup at COBS (bottom picture). Lady carrying the flowers has just come out of Passion Fruit. Merry Christmas everyone.
Libs to pay back $10,000 used to wipe computers
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Cops drive Merton/Mt Pleasant accident car to collect facts
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Police drive accident car/Bulldog
Toronto accident reconstruction police remained at the corner of Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Merton Street Tuesday night putting a 2010 Cadillac STS through tests to see what happened when an elderly woman was run down about 4.30 p.m. Above, an officer stops the car in mid-intersection and colleagues (left) come to see the visibility. Police have accessed the car’s black box and taken photographs through the windshield of the Caddy in an attempt to see what the driver saw in the critical seconds before the woman was hit. She is in Sunnybrook Hospital with a serious head injury. Witnesses in the big Esso On-the-Run station on the northeast corner said the victim was bleeding profusely at the scene. They said they did not think that she had been run over by the car but had been knocked down. The vehicle was eastbound on Merton. It made a left turn onto northbound Mt. Pleasant, striking the woman somewhere closer to the east side than the west.
Accident occurred before dark
Police would not confirm that the woman was crossing from west to east. The George Barker Manor home for seniors sits on the northwest corner but no one was able to say whether the woman lived there. The accident closed Mt Pleasant from Balliol Street to Moore Ave. Merton Street was closed from Pailton Cres (west of Mt. Pleasant) to Cleveland Street to the east. The accident occurred just before sunset. Traffic was backed up on Mt. Pleasant and the 74 Mt. Pleasant bus was diverting east at Moore. Cars and trucks normally forbidden from entry into Moore Park and across to Bayview were piled up by the thousands in that neighborhood. At Sunnybrook Hospital, the woman, 75, was said to have a “serious head injury.”
Steak house owner creams snatch and grab thug
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These are videos posted today on YouTube by steakhouse owner Arron Barberian after he fended off a snatch and grab thug outside his restaurant. The incident is said to have occurred Monday (December 22, 2014) and was recorded on the surveillance camera of a sandwich shop Barberian owns. He operates Barberian’s Steak House and the sandwich shop called TLP (short for “three little pigs”) both on Elm St., near the Toronto Eaton Centre. He was carrying a till full of cash from the steakhouse to the sandwich shop in broad daylight on Monday morning when the robbery attempt occurred.
Woman struck at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Merton St
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Bayview BIA will know its name in the New Year
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The long-awaited results of the BIA vote will bring much curiosity as to what it should be named. Josh Matlow (Ward 22) who broke the news of the vote result on Twitter, has long favoured the name South Bayview BIA. That was the choice of The South Bayview Bulldog as well as nearly 80 percent of the people who voted in a Bulldog poll in August. The decision might seem almost automatic except that last summer former Councillor Parker suggested that the name Bayview Leaside should be used. A vote among the five members of the steering committee brought a split in favour of the Leaside name. Mssrs. Matlow and Parker were somewhat at odds until they reached a working compromise at City Council in August to get the voting process moving. The new BIA was left simply unnamed. Mr. Matlow has been a strong voice in favour of a name which is inclusive of those living on both sides of the street. As residents will know, Leaside sits to the east, Davisville Village to the west. Also, South Bayview has a long history and considerable name-recognition throughout the area. In a tweeted reply to area political gadfly and naturalist Rudy Limeback, Mr. Matlow said the new name will be chosen in the New Year. In a tweet late today he added that the decision will be made at the first Annual General Meeting of the BIA and that he will be present to speak for Ward 22 residents.
Merchants, landlords vote 68-26 for Bayview BIA
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The poll is in! South Bayview (b/w Davisville & Soudan) merchants have voted 68-26 in favor of creating a Business Improvement Area (BIA).
— Josh Matlow (@JoshMatlow) December 23, 2014