The South Bayview Bulldog

Police have announced road closings for the Taste of the Danforth event this weekend. The days are Friday, August 8, 2014 to Sunday, August 10, 2014. Road closures will run from Friday, August 8, 2014 at 11 a.m. to Monday, August, 11, 2014 at 1 a.m. Danforth Avenue will be closed from Broadview Avenue to Jones Avenue. All intersections 30 metres north and south from Broadview Avenue to Jones Avenue, will be closed. Motorists are advised to consider the road closures when planning for their travels. The event will proceed regardless of weather conditions. The long-time and very successful attraction causes other Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) to dream about having similar success with their promotions. Taste of the Danforth has certain assets which only a few other BIAs possess. That would be the main subway line and enormous parking. 

Second Cup should have it all. They’ve got pretty good locations, a neat name and they’re Canadian. Why is the Second Cup the second choice of so many coffee drinkers? Today Second Cup Ltd. suspended its quarterly dividend to refocus on growing the business. Second-quarter sales and earnings have been going backwards. Sales fell 3.9 percent to $45.8 million, and comparable cafe sales declined 5 percent in the three months ended June 28.  Yes there’s competition but coffee drinkers might well agree that Second Cup has let Tim Horton’s eat its lunch. The secret is better coffee and better sweets. Starbucks has good coffee but its muffins aren’t anything to write home about. Horton’s has been smart to offer a lot more food than the others while talking up its coffee. It seems to have worked. Another perspective is had by noting that Second Cup is a largely franchised business and frankly that can make it hard to sustain a high standard across the whole chain.

As they promised, Toronto police have updated their search and public appeal for the unknown drugs or substances that caused so much grief at the VELD concert over the weekend. Two people are dead and 13 others were hospitalized after ingesting what cops say was one or more of two items — a small brown pill and a small clear capsule containing a white substance. They had earlier urged anyone who may have bought the drug to turn it over to authorities so experts can analyze the substance. Det. Sgt. Peter Trimble says several people have since turned over the drugs. George Mammoliti (Ward 7) has said the city should consider banning Electronic Dance Music (EDM) events on public property. CP24 

Police have reported the tragic case of two young men, one driving a car and the other on his bike. Now the 17-year-old cyclist is dead. It happened  Friday, August 1, 2014, at about 5 p.m. at Sheppard Avenue East and Neilson Road. The 17-year-old was riding a bicycle westbound on Sheppard and the other boy, 16, driving a BMW 323i westbound on Sheppard Avenue East. Thus it appears that the car and bike were traveling in the same direction and presumably were required to share the road in some fashion. It is among the most difficult and generally unpredictable situations in which motorists and cyclists can find themselves. The cyclist was struck by the BMW. The cyclist suffered life-threatening injuries and was taken to hospital, where he later died.

The western half of the Yonge-University-Spadina subway is closed between Spadina and Lawrence West stations tuesday (August 5, 2014) because of flooding at the St. Cl.air West station. Two to three feet of water has flooded St. Clair West station. It’s not yet known how long the cleanup will take. Best information is that a pump at the station which normally clears rainwater has failed.

The case of widespread substance overdoses at the weekend VELD electronic music concert at Downsview Park is now back in the hands of Toronto Police, at least for the purpose of figuring how two young people obtained the “party drugs” that took their lives. The homicide squad has been called in for that job and at a news conference Monday night they said the dead music fans were a 20-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man. Altogether, 15 people were hospitalized after ingesting substances.  Investigators say they believe the drugs were purchased at the festival and would like any concert goers in possession of substances to come forward. Police say they are not sure what particular drug led to the fatalities. The Special Investigations Unit has also become involved in the investigation. According CP24, the SIU interest was triggered because the male victim died after being restrained by police. A police officer was on duty at the music festival when he observed two people carrying the man. The officer requested an ambulance and while paramedics tended to the patient, he became violent and had to be handcuffed, the SIU said in a release. The man’s handcuffs were then removed while he was being treated in the ambulance, but he was pronounced dead while on the way to the hospital.