Playground in Charlotte Maher Park open soon

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The improvements to Charlotte Maher Park at 550 Roehampton Ave. at Bruce Park Ave are speeding ahead. It’s a bit of a perfect storm of construction in the neighborhood because Link Line is also replacing gas lines. But in the relative quiet of the park, it is a pleasure to see the new play structures, benches and sandbox with field stone border being finished up. Underfoot it is still gravel but this will be covered by a wood chip layer which should keep kids safe and give them traction. There will also be a new community bulletin board. The work is on schedule for the end of August. The park is named after Charlotte Maher, a dedicated social advocate in North Toronto for more than 30 years.  She was a key founder of several social service organizations, including POINT (People and Organizations In North Toronto) and SPRINT (Senior People Resources In North Toronto). Charlotte Maher was a school trustee and later a contract executive at many social assistance agencies. She is a  strong believer in the value of volunteerism and has lived her creed.

Why is a man like Bob Rae sending silly tweets

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Bob Rae is a serious man. He has shouldered enormous responsibility for public matters in Ontario and nationally. Why is he sending out silly tweets about people like Rob Ford?  You may say perhaps that the publishers of the South Bayview Bulldog ought not to be lecturing anyone about finding alternate self-expression in the alluring laneways of the social media  But phonied up pictures of Rob Ford? It isn’t worthy of a man like Mr. Rae.  He is, apart from anything else, a very entertaining person at  a party. Let him post pictures of himself at the piano. It would be good for a favorite, a retweet or a like. CTV

Long-time Beer Store at 609 Roehampton closed

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Lady on hopeless mission

The Beer Store at 609 Roehampton Ave in the Metro grocery complex at Bayview has quietly closed. The long-time address for beer locked up a week ago but on Tuesday (August 19, 2014) people were seen coming to the store, surprised to find it gone. The forlorn state of the store might have been a tip-off for those who thought about it. Today it was sporting a sign with classically skewed letters that say end-of-the-line better than anything. There is a beer store in the Leaside Village on Laird Drive and another at Eglinton Ave. E. and Don Mills Road. Those on the west side of South Bayview can venture down Yonge Street to a store on Price Street, but it is frequently quite congested.
New Sign at Modella Ladies Wear 
The owners of Modella Ladies Wear at 1579 Bayview Ave. have installed a fresh new sign over their shop. It is a bright white and metal look which complements the street. 

3-2 vote to “re-brand street” as Bayview Leaside

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Members of the steering committee of the as-yet unformed and unnamed South Bayview Business Improvement Association have met in recent days and voted to name their future organization the Bayview Leaside BIA. The vote of the five members was 3 to 2 with two members voting for the name South Bayview. According to committee member Trae Zammit, owner of Smokin’ Cigar, the majority of three felt that there may have been a useful “Leaside cache” to their choice. Zammit said he had favoured South Bayview as the name. The street has been so known for many decades. Mr. Zammit said it seemed probable that the name of the BIA would require new street signs and a “re-branding” of the business district. Presumably new signs, approved and installed at some unknown future date, would mean shoppers would walk out to Bayview Leaside as opposed to South Bayview. Where this matter goes now seems to depend on both political and popular sentiment. It  cannot be formed before a formal vote is taken to create it. A recent meeting of Bayview Ave. merchants voted 52 to 25 to create a BIA. This would seem to mean that new association would contain well over 70 members. Would a vote among all the members be taken to gauge the popularity of a BIA name? In addition, Josh Matlow (Ward 22) has made it clear he favours a name which gives suitable recognition to those who live to the west of Bayview Ave. He has expressed approval of the name South Bayview BIA. And indeed, what are Mr. and Mrs Cleveland Street to think of a BIA which is named Bayview Leaside. On learning of the vote Mr. Matlow said he loves Leaside but is proud to represent and live with his family in Davisville. He said the naming of the BIA must be about inclusion. East York Mirror 

Man finds drone looking into his 36th floor condo

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That glowing green thing outside the windows of a Vancouver condominium is a camera-equipped drone seen and photographed Sunday night by local resident Conner Galway. He says the drone came peering onto his balcony as he was having dinner in his 36th-storey downtown home. And then it came back after dark. “I heard this loud buzzing sound, like a pack of bees, then over the corner of the patio came this robot-looking thing,” he said. The drone hovered about five feet away from the patio for a minute, then flitted from apartment to apartment for an hour in Galway’s Crosstown neighbourhood.  Later, close to 11 p.m. Galway spotted the drone’s green and red lights through the slats of his bedroom window blinds. It buzzed around outside for at least an hour. Twitter conversation  Photos: Nighttime picture of the drone taken by Mr. Galway and inset a commercial picture of a similar drone.

Killer fires six shots through car’s rear window

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A man is dead and another in critical condition after they were shot while their car was stopped at a light at the corner of Eglinton Ave. and Jane Street during the supper hour Monday (August 18, 2014). As reported by Kim Brown and Jennifer Pagliaro of the Toronto Star, the killer simply pulled up behind his prey and began firing through their rear window. 

It was a day like all days at Toronto Dippy Hall

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The TTC board has produced a report that recommends among other things that streetcars and buses should operate on the honour system.  Get on and get off and we trust you to pay. But of course. The honour system works so well in the collection of municipal taxes and at the supermarket. Starbucks trusts us to pay for our coffee before we drink it and disappear. Then there’s the e-cigarette crusade. Look, sucking on a plastic stick and calling it smoking is stupid. So is smoking. But the bogeyman of e-cigarettes is just perfect for the self-important worry-warts at City Hall. What if we find out in 20 years that e-ciggies have turned us into aliens? Run for your life. But before you do, ponder the Mayor. He is saying today what 99 householders out of 100 say. We need fewer raccoons. A lot fewer. It is a classic example of how Rob Ford’s problem is not his politics, it’s his behaviour. Now you can run for your life.

Black Walnut lives another day to make man nuts

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North York Community Council has refused a request from a McKee Ave. man to cut down a Black Walnut tree that is making him — well — nuts. Maurus Cappa told council that the tree on the back of his property is guilty of everything from aggravating multiple sclerosis, making him trip and fall, emitting a toxic substance and giving squirrels the perfect reason to dig holes and hide things. (The worst!) The City Urban Forestry Branch has concluded however that the tree doesn’t really represent a threat so serious that it needs to be axed. Lisa Queen of the North York Mirror has the walnut meat of the tale. North York Mirror 

Loblaws grocery app reaches 6 million shoppers

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Less than nine months after Loblaws introduced the mobile app to “reward” shoppers with product recommendations designed to fit their profile, the PC Plus program is said to have reached one-third of Canadian households. That’s according to a California-based company that provides the food giant with a service that matches customers with electronic coupon offers they are most likely to use. Do you feel a little manipulated. If so, it’s because you bought into it and it seems many people like it.  This is the step beyond plain old PC Points for merely shopping at Loblaws. And the profile developers say they will soon be able to provide Loblaws with information that permits it to offer you “coupons” based entirely on your profile and yours alone. In total, the program counts about 6 million members. Presumably the largely unseen hand of Loblaws is felt mostly in Ontario where it has the most stores. It is easy to see how Loblaws does such enormous business and how it can reject brand-name companies which otherwise would rule consumer decision-making in its stores. Itbusiness.ca 

Students expect to pay off school debt in 6 years

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Linda Nguyen
Linda Nguyen of the Canadian Press runs down the expectation and reality of student debt. Most kids think they’ll be on the hook for close to $10,000 in school debt but some shoulder as much as $25,000. On average, they expect to get out from under this burden in six years. It will be obvious that some take longer depending on their field and just how much judgement they applied during school. Worth a read if you are about to assume debt or have a son or daughter about to borrow money. Linda Nguyen, Canadian Press 

Pilot survives crash of his plane near Trenton

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Ouch!
A pilot has survived a rough landing in his small plane on a highway near Trenton Sunday evening. It seems very god luck that he was able to land without hitting other vehicles. Police say that the plane also took down some powers lines. Police report the pilot was taken to Trenton Memorial Hospital with minor injuries. About 160 customers in the area are still without power this morning. Reports from the scene say the pilot avoided a crash landing in the Bay of Quinte just a few metres to the south. The crash occurred shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, August. 17, 2014 in Trenton.. A section of the Loyalist Parkway (Hwy. 33) remains closed. Transportation safety board inspectors were on their way to the scene Sunday. Photos via Twitter by Eric Kuglin of the Whig.com 

Russia has no criticism of Putin and he is idolized

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In countries like Canada and the United States, it is almost impossible to imagine the high esteem in which ordinary Russians hold President Vladimir Putin.  He is seen as a hero, “the most polite of people” according to one slogan on shirts for sale in Moscow. Our politicians are reviled daily by millions of critics on all sides. Those in office are subject to public nagging and outright abuse. Putin is serenely untouched by such things. His image is everywhere and there no criticism of him heard in the controlled media. This video from Reuters reveals just how differently his countrymen see the man who is cast in the West as a thug and imperialist.