Cool hand Pennachetti takes leave of City Hall

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Joe Pennachetti

Joe Pennachetti, City Manager during  a time when Toronto really needed a manager, will retire from his office in December, he has announced. Pennachetti was the coolest of  hands on a bureaucracy numbering some 35,000. His tenure during the bumptious years of the Ford administration was marked by a quiet but firm accountant’s code to the correct and accurate. He did not hesitate to contradict the mayor when he felt the facts required it. Mr. Pennachetti, 64, was hired at Toronto City Hall 2002 by Mayor Lastman and was distinguished by his retrieval of billions in transit funding from the provincial government. He was appointed City Manager by David Miller in 2008. 

Tweeting new electric BMW on South Bayview

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Twitter bug Rebecca Spring is among the Leaside Tweets of interest this Saturday morning with her picture of a BMW i3 all-electric car as it scoots by epi Breads at Millwood Rd. and Bayview Ave. Rebecca is an employee of the World Wildlife Fund she notes on her account. The i3 was launched this summer all over the world and is said by the maker to take “a holistic approach” to ensure that customers will be able to meet their mobility needs with the pure electric BMW i3. Not quite sure what that means. But it’s a nice little shock of a Bimmer with a range of plus 150 kilometres we’re told.  To achieve that objective, BMW provides what it calls a four-pillar approach of premium services: Home charging: Quick and convenient charging will be possible either at a home charging station offered by BMW i or at any public charging station that uses a Level 2 SAE J1772 charging system. DC fast charging, using an SAE DC Combo-Fast Charger, will be available as an option. From a public fast-charging station, it will provide an 80% charge from a fully depleted battery in just 20 minutes. Public charging: The BMW Group will have partnerships with public charging providers in all countries where BMW i models are introduced. The company is working towards charging standardization and is involved in setting up a comprehensive network of charging stations. Flexible mobility: The BMW Group will create a whole new mobile lifestyle built around a range of mobility services – such as the car-sharing initiative, DriveNow, which has over 130,000 members. Customers will also have access to rental cars with combustion engines for longer trips. Assistance Services: Customers will be able to utilize services such as ConnectedDrive apps and future roadside services such as mobile recharging equipment. With BMW release 

Condo developer gone with $12 million in deposits

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Maclean’s 

Manderley Manor to new space on Mt Pleasant

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James and Ilona Sublett are moving their long-standing furniture store, Manderley Manor, down Mount Pleasant Rd. to a 4,800 square foot double store. They will be at 543 and 545 Mount Pleasant, beside the Regent Theatre just north of Belsize Drive. Manderley Manor is known for its dealership status with Stickley Furniture, a classic brand of quality American-made furnishings. Stickley is an amazing story by itself. Created in upstate New York by Gustav Stickley more than century ago, it still makes its Oak, Cherry and fine wood pieces there. The Subletts have been established on Mount Pleasant for 25 years and quality furniture has been their passion the whole time. If you think the name of their store is familiar, check Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 Gothic romance Rebecca. 

Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again… I came upon it suddenly; the approach masked by the unnatural growth of a vast shrub that spread in all directions… There was Manderley, our Manderley, secretive and silent as it had always been, the gray stone shining in the moonlight of my dream, the mullioned windows reflecting the green lawns and terrace. Time could not wreck the perfect symmetry of those walls, nor the site itself, a jewel in the hollow of a hand. 

Game to be chair of CFL says Ward 16’s Stintz

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Karen Stintz says she’s game to take the chair of the Canadian Football League. The active and sociable former TTC chair, mayoralty candidate, Ward 16 councillor, wife and mom says the job would be just her speed. (We see her flexibility opposite in a Salsa competition). Somehow the idea got into her head (we dare not ask how) but she says that for some time she has been thinking about the position. The Toronto Star, which broke this news doesn’t say if she has been asked or just what started her mind working. The story does quote Ms Stintz as saying  she “grew up with football” when her family lived in Baltimore and then later Indianapolis.  She has been to two Grey Cups,  she told David Rider.  He notes that a commemorative 99th Grey Cup football — a gala dinner centrepiece that Stintz won — has a prominent place of honour in her council office. Ms. Stintz has the issues at her fingertips: a new (stadium) home for the Argos, making sure they stay in Toronto (should be easy) new teams in an expanded CFL and so on. Cynics have noted that John Tory, front runner for mayor and someone with whom she shares parallel politics, is former CFL chairman and a mover in those circles. Stintz was never in a  position to win the mayoralty but, say those of suspicious mind, her absence from the race certainly does not hurt him. 

Dressing up in red? It may be a Chinese thing

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Researchers at Wuhan University in China have concluded that Chinese men find women dressed in red more attractive than those garbed in any other colour. So dress in red, right?  Well, with a caveat. The Chinese have a 1,000 year history of loving red. The symbolic meaning of red to the Chinese is good fortune, good times and a kind of general well-being. Does your average guy in Shanghai like to see a girl dressed in red? It’s a good bet. She’s talking to him about happiness, money, good health and who knows what else, as well as how great she is personally. Red is about as intuitive to the Chinese as white is to a bride on her wedding day. Just so you know.

Thorncliffe festival tomorrow from 2 to 6 p.m.

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Tomorrow (Saturday, August 23, 2014) will see the Thorncliffe Summer Festival take place at  R. V. Burgess Park on Thorncliffe Park Drive. It’s a project of the Thorncliffe Neighborhood Office. From 2  to 6 p.m. the business and family event will see booths and tents where merchants will do business.  There will  be obstacle games and family activities and an arts and crafts section for youth and children. There will also be a vendors bazaar organized by the Thorncliffe Park Women’s Business Association. As reported by Jean Ko Din in the East York Mirror, this is a new group of about 70 women formed to help vendors keep track of their transactions and account for money. Jean Ko Din 

928 Millwood condominium sold for $396,000

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Current and recent valuations on condominiums locally range from the two-bedroom unit at 928 Millwood Rd. which recently sold for $396,000 to the 1 plus 1 bedroom unit at 188 Redpath Ave. which is listed for $409,000. The Millwood unit is on the fourth floor of a pleasant looking building near Randolph Ave. and was listed for $419,000. The pressure on the price may be related to the sale date, December 14, 2013.

Kinsella would excel at dirty-politics buskerfest

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Marcus Gee of the Globe and Mail is here regretting the campaign tone set by Olivia Chow worker Warren Kinsella for his clanger that John Tory is “segregationist”. Mr. Kinsella would rank well at a dirty-politics buskerfest. 

Coach consoles kids with “speech for a lifetime”

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They’re calling this the speech these kids will remember for a lifetime. And why not. Their fantastic coach, David Belisle, is making them proud of themselves after a hurtful 8-7 loss in the Little League World Series. Every father will hope to do as well with his own children.  

Bulldog reader Bob gets Beer Store scoop

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Long-time Bulldog reader Bob Arsenault of Bayview Ave. has winkled out good news on the Beer Store at 609 Roehampton Ave. It’s been closed for ten days. Bob was up there earlier Thursday and asked some questions of people on the site. It appears that the Beer Store will be coming back at this location after the place is fully renovated and adds, of all things, a Tim Hortons coffeeteria. Bob calls this great news and so it is. The downside is it will take a year. What’s the rush? 

Ward 16’s Karen Stintz out of politics at City Hall

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Karen Stintz has dropped out of the mayor’s race and is dropping out of politics at City Hall. She will not run for councillor in Ward 16 although she is still able to place in her name in contention. She would doubtlessly win that election easily. The Ward 16 councillor told a news conference Thursday (August 21, 2014) that she has run though her financial resources and cannot continue the campaign. She said she is not going to endorse any other candidate. Ms Stintz has been unable to get her public support above 5 percent in any of the many polls taken to gauge who might win the election for mayor. Although she is widely-liked and owns sensible ideas, the contest has been dominated by John Tory, Rob Ford and Olivia Chow. Ms Stintz said that among her first priorities on stepping out of the race will be to get her children ready for school in September.