Toronto mayor on tape talking rubbish again: Sun

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Mayor Ford has apparently has been caught on audio tape in yet another public outburst which reporters at the Toronto Sun have described as offensive. They the behaviour is not unlike that seen in the video made at the Steak Queen Restaurant where a clearly disoriented mayor made shameful remarks about the chief of police. Joe Warmington, a reporter for the Toronto Sun, told CP24 that the mayor has said he will be taking a leave of absence to somehow or other deal with his disturbing habitual conduct. The Toronto Sun story will say that Ford was recorded by patrons of a bar earlier this week. The recording or recordings were apparently made without the mayor’s awareness but publicly.

HMV puts live music in Toronto store cave

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HMV, the struggling music and video store, is trying an inventive addition to business — a live music venue in the basement. All of this is occurring at the HMV on downtown Yonge St. not far from the roots of the retail music industry of the 60s, 70s and 80s. HMV Underground is an intimate (cave-like?) 140-person space. Managers say they hope to produce at least one performance a week. HMV is now owned by Hilco U-K which bought the 87-year-old retailer out of bankruptcy last year.  HMV evokes its very old past with the words behind its name — His Master’s Voice was the motto given to the lifelike sound to be heard in the earliest phonograph recordings. HMV is said to need to get people into the store. Free music might do it. The company has shrunken in recent years. Recently, the large HMV in Eglinton Square closed.  On 15 January 2013, HMV Group entered administration. Deloitte were appointed to deal with the administration of the company. On 16 January 2013, HMV Ireland declared receivership, and all Irish stores were closed. A week later, on 22 January 2013. On 5 April 2013, HMV was bought out of administration by Hilco UK for an estimated $150 million.

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Bennington Rolph Soccer wants kids to play

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Spring 2014, and time to alert everyone that spots are available in all age groups for play this fall in the Bennington Rolph Road Soccer Association. BRRSA is a community-based volunteer-run soccer house league for girls and boys aged five to 13 years, a great league for those who aren’t available for summer soccer! The season runs for six weeks in the fall, starting the first week of school. A tournament is held for all but the youngest age group at the end of the regular season. Games are played on the school fields at Rolph Road and Bennington Heights. The registration deadline is June 10th. Application forms and more information are available by contacting organizers here.

British actor Bob Hoskins dead in London at 71

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Word has come from London that actor Bob Hoskins has died at the age of 71. A family statement released this morning (Wednesday, April 30, 2014)  by agent Clair Dobbs said Hoskins died in a hospital after a bout of pneumonia. Hoskins was a much appreciated character player whose skills elevated him among most. His Cockney background was an endearing distinction. He is remembered for such classics as “The Long Good Friday.” He specialized in tough guys with a soft center, including the ex-con who chaperons Cathy Tyson’s escort in Neil Jordan’s 1986 film “Mona Lisa.” Hoskins was nominated for a best-actor Academy Award for the role. His Hollywood breakthrough came as a detective investigating cartoon crime in the part-animated 1988 hit “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.” He also played the pirate Smee in Steven Spielberg’s 1991 Peter Pan movie “Hook.” In 2012 Hoskins announced that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and was retiring from acting.

Rain today with sunny days to come tomorrow

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City and Ontario authorities are warning of high water levels in rivers and streams. Here in South Bayview the record yesterday’s rain was not enough to trigger the traditional flooding seen on lower Bayview from time to time. Traffic is still clear through there. The intense storm system which spawned swarms of tornadoes in the U.S. Midwest and South gradually shifted a vast supply of energy toward southern Ontario Tuesday. Extremely heavy rainfall began to fall over the GTA and we will get more of it today. Tomorrow (May 1, 2014) sunny weather returns and stretches into next week. 

Budget to tax “high earners,” cigarettes, air fuel

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The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star are both reporting that the Ontario government will be increasing taxes in the forthcoming budget on tobacco and aviation fuel. It will also, say the reports, increase income taxes on “high income earners.”  It isn’t known just what that means but the Star has used a figure of $150,000 or more annually.  Globe and Mail. 

Garage door handle catches hoodie, hangs boy

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A freak accident with a garage door has left an Oakville boy in critical condition in the Hospital for Sick Children. The lad, 9, ducked under the electrically-operated door at his home while it was opening. Somehow the hoodie he was wearing got tangled in the handle that typically sits inside the garage near the bottom of the door. Picture inset shows a similar handle. Neighbors heard the boy screaming and ran to his assistance, but he was left hanging long enough that he suffered very serious injuries. A neighbor cut his shirt to free the boy. His parents were home at the time of the accident, which occurred about 7.30 p.m. Tuesday night. The boy is said to have knocked on the door of a friend across the street. Then he went home and entered the door code with the intention of getting his bicycle out of the garage. 

A library patron is just an ordinary customer

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It makes one feel as bit unlettered to say the least not to know that a patron of the Toronto Public Library is merely a customer of that institution. Silly us. It began to get a little alarming when a person described as a patron wanted the library ro remove a Dr. Suess book for imaginary offenses to fathers  (see below). Not only that, the patron wanted the library to issue an apology to fathers. What could it mean?  By what incredible means did such a sorely misguided person become a patron of the library? Well, happily not by board approval. In fact, you just just sign up and get a card. Thank heavens, because the rather inflated patron designation was beginning to make it look like the library board didn’t know what it was doing. But it’s all right. A patron is a customer. Thank you for your patronage sir or madam. Bye now.

Norm Kelly says Toronto tree canopy in bad shape

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Toronto’s tree canopy is among the city’s most precious assets and the deputy mayor, Norm Kelly, said today that the damage done by the December ice storm has reduced this essential green umbrella to perhaps its lowest level in recorded history. He spoke at a roundtable meeting of interested parties in Toronto today. Kelly said  the canopy is at 25%, about 15 percent below the city’s established goal of having a tree cover shading as much as 40 percent of the community. According to Wikipedia, the tree canopy refers to the upper layer or habitat zone, formed by mature tree crowns and including other biological organisms  680 News

Library rejects request to ban “Hop on Pop.”

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The age-old practice (some might say primordial instinct) to jump on Dad is still okay at the Toronto Public Library. It’s contained in the Dr. Suess rhyme. Apart from anything else, this is a good chance for Dad to say “not too rough”, if he wants to. That’s how they learn, we hear. CTV said a “”patron” of the library had complained that the book encouraged children to use violence against their fathers. A document that lists books patrons have asked to be pulled from Toronto Public Library shelves was posted online Monday.  CTV

Oh dear, Toronto “wellbeing” under attack again

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That great and totally vague measure of affluence known as the Canadian Index of Wellbeing has popped up  in a study about travel times to work. Government money from the Trillium Foundation went into this piece of academic busy-work. It says GTA residents average about an hour getting to and from work each day. “Those living in Toronto commute 65.6 minutes, those in Oshawa 63.6 minutes, and Barrie residents commute 59.2 minutes,” reads the first Ontario-focused CIW study titled “How Are Ontarians Really Doing?”  Oh dear. The burden of it all. We suppose that the CIW might quiver a bit if our teeth were falling out or there was a foot of water in the basement but, you know, driving to work in traffic is pretty awful too. Glad we’re spending money on worrying about it.  Global News takes it all quite seriously.