“Mid-air Skypark” in new offices, GO bus terminal

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Sky park links towers

Metrolinx and real estate company Ivanhoé Cambridge say there will a new development over the GO rail yard west of Bathurst Street which includes a new GO bus terminal. The project involves an office centre with two towers to be known as 45-141 Bay Street, a larger GO terminal and an elevated park above the rail corridor.  The new elevated “Skypark” will link the fourth floors of two new 48-storey office buildings constructed on the north and south sides of the rail corridors, and connect to Union Station. The terminal is said to boast more options for commuters and tourists alike traveling across the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area. The project will be built in partnership with real-estate firm Ivanhoe-Cambridge and through Metrolinx. Construction is expected to begin in the spring of 2015 and completed in three years.  

“A bit of mud” on tracks created subway chaos

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One of the largest passenger backups is occurring this afternoon on the Bloor subway between Keele and St. George stations because of what was first called “a bit of mud and water” on the tracks. amazingly, TTC officials said they had no idea how it got there. This down under the street in a place not accessible to the public. The line was shut down with “no expected clearing time” stated. Several stations were reopened by 9:30 a.m., though service was still suspended between Keele and Ossington stations. TTC spokesperson Jessica Martin said a subway operator reported debris on the tracks at Dundas West station, leading transit control to cut power and send investigators to the scene. Investigators found “a bit of mud and water” on the tracks, Twitter is crammed with complaints about what seems like a piddling reason to stop the trains but also with beefing, as always occur, of so-called shuttle buses that was unable to deal with the crowds. More like scuttle butt buses. 

Sober-spoken Ford finds motherhood in the arts

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The ArtsVote mayoral debate revealed a Doug Ford of much more subdued behaviour Monday afternoon at the TIFF Light Box. It was a surprise to see Mr. Ford there much less hear his sobre support for this motherhood issue. In fact, no one is against the arts per se. The only issue is how much public money will be spent and where. In any case, the rather boisterous host of the debate, Damian Abraham, was more reminiscent of Ford Nation than anyone else in attendance.  From reading BlogTO we know he is the lead vocalist of a group whose name can’t be printed in stuffy publications like The South Bayview Bulldog.  Its vulgar shock schtick is to be found in BlogTO however.  Proof again you can say anything in polite company as long you claim its the name of a musical group. The candidates included more than the TCF (Tory, Chow, Ford) bunch. Pleasant outliers Ari Goldkind and teen-wonder Morgan Baskin, a woman mature beyond her years, were also there. One of our favorite Leaside  people, Rudy Limeback was present and said the following. “It was the most civil debate so far this year. Even Dougie was on his best behaviour. Tory tried hard, didn’t register. Olivia lost a lot of points when in her summation she whipped out a napkin with Tory’s transit plan sketched out on it, showing the mistakes. Ari made many points that scored well with the audience. Morgan, in my opinion, had the best performance.” You can see that embarrassing ploy by Ms. Chow at 1.28 on the tape — Ed.  ArtsVote is a volunteer coalition of non-partisan artists, arts workers. The YouTube video below catches the flavour of the event.  

Holt Renfrew says it plans men’s-only store

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You’ll have to take it for what it’s worth but Holt Renfrew is going to open a men’s-only store on Bloor Street this week to compete with, well. whomever. It will be located next door to Harry Rosen’s place. Those who watch Holt Renfrew have long given up on the “discount store” concept named hr which was announced two years ago but has not been heard from since.  Globe and Mail   What happened to Holt’s “discount store”?

Rolph alumnae can buy crested shirts, hoodies

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Petra  Grantham, organizer of the Rolph Road Public School 75th Anniversary next month, is alerting all alumnae to a great nostalgic chance to buy Rolph Road School stuff. The order form for T-shirts, golf-type shirts, hoodies and women’s shirts is found on the Bulldog’s Twitter account here. Here’s the thing — you’ve got to hurry. The orders must be received by 3.30 p.m. Friday October 3, 2014 at the school office on Rolph Road.  And Petra advises you to hand deliver them to make sure there’s no mistake.

Will Tory call out Ford on his campaign of envy?

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With a month to go, a poll on the popular support for the three main candidates for mayor is out today (Monday, September 29, 2014). It shows that John Tory has 37%, Doug Ford 30% and Olivia Chow 21%. It is a robo-call poll done by Mainstreet Technologies and some may find the technology doubtful. But there it is. Most critically, is it the kind of information John Tory might act on to call out Rob Ford on his class warfare election campaign? Tory is down somewhat in this poll, Ford up. Tory has been playing it cool in the face of Ford’s naked appeal to envy and resentment at a mythical class of people which is out to oppress the  little man. Mainstreet Technologies

Death by debate? Here comes ArtVote Talk-fest

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A glossy affair this Monday, September 29, 2014, at the TIFF Light Box is called ArtVote Toronto. It goes at the noon hour. But keep in mind, it’s a mayoral debate. We believe that John Tory and Olivia Chow will be there. Doug Ford? Not sure really. It seems like such a juicy target for another his attacks on the imaginary civic elite, those who oppress the real people of Toronto. ArtVote