The South Bayview Bulldog

A Landlord and Tenant Board adjudicator has ordered a Lawrence Park area landlord to pay for the hotel accommodation of her tenants until heat and hot water can be restored. Information from the tenants counsel Lisa Feinberg of the firm Weir Foulds LLP is that they have been without these requirements of life since February 11, 2014. The landlord, Bianca Pollock, told the hearing that she had been unable to get the work done despite repeated requests for service from contractors. Her building is at 2779 Yonge Street at Strathgowan Ave. During the hearing, the landlord took a call from a contractor identified as David Eastwood of Arrow Heating  and Air Conditioning. The issue seems to have been money and maybe prepayment because Ms. Pollock is said to have agreed to certain payments while on the phone. Later she told adjudicator Joseph Bercovitz that work will begin as early as Tuesday, March 11, 2014 and take a week to complete. Ms Pollock is required to pay for the tenants accommodation at the hotel until heat and hot water are restored.

Jeff Gray, Law Reporter for the Globe and Mail, dishes up the juiciest serving of sordid court news this Saturday. Rib-tickling reading   Jeff Gray 

Staples  will follow Future Shop, Best Buy and Radio Shack in a retreat from the storefront market as online giants like Amazon gobble up their business. Staples announced in Framingham, Mass., today that it will close up to 225 more stores — 
12 percent of its U.S. and Canadian locations . As much as half of Staples sales are now done online the company said. It it targeting $500 million in costs in the next two years. Staples has more than 2,000 stores in 26 countries, the vast majority in the United States. Locally, the company has shown versatility in recent years at its Brentcliffe Rd. store where the emphasis has been on service. 

Former New Brunswick premier Bernard Lord will be taking over as chairman of Ontario Power Generation, the province’s government-owned utility. Ex-Ontario cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello has also been tapped to take over as chairwoman of Hydro One, which operates the province’s transmission network. CTV

The following story is from Yonge and Roxborough: “”Famous journalist David Crane reports that the owner told him Patachou (at Yonge St. and Macpherson Ave.) is closing in May. They were planning to do it later but construction of a condo in the rear means they will be losing the kitchen. Also their chef who has been with them for 35 years wishes to retire. Another issue which helped reinforce the decision is that the car rent space opposite Patachou patio is to be torn down this summer, and a new building put up. Patachou owners think this would make the patio largely unusable this year due to noise and dust. 

Premier Kathleen Wynne’s accountability legislation was tabled on Thursday. It’s intended to get control of what some might call the provincial gravy train. That would be the persistently high and out- of-touch payouts to executives at Ontario corporations. As part of the process, according to the Canadian Press, the province intends to give the Ontario Ombudsman, Andre Marin, additional powers to investigate school boards, colleges and municipalities. Ms. Wynne spoke with conviction about transparency. It’s a fairly well-worn series of issues. The eternal misuse of money by executives and their boards at Ontario Hydro is a provincial scandal.  As to the extension of the domain of the Ombudsman, taxpayers will wonder why it’s necessary. There is also talk of additional Ombuds. No one at City Hall likes that because Toronto already has one. The move to more un-elected functionaries doing ministerial work offends democracy. As to Mr. Marin, he may be a nice man but his unctuous pronouncements won’t change anything at Hydro.