RCMP have charged Patrick Brazeau and Mac Harb with a single count each of breach of trust and fraud in connection with their expenses at Senators. Canada
Woman, 69, hit by purse thieves at Yonge-Bloor
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TPS report — A 69-year-old woman reports that on February 2, 2014 at approximately 10 p.m. she was in the area of Yonge Street and Bloor Street East when she was approached from behind by two male suspects. One of the suspects grabbed the victim’s purse from her arm. Both suspects fled the scene eastbound towards Asquith Avenue. No injuries were sustained by the victim. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described persons in connection with this offence.
Power broker Ralph Lean goes to Gowlings
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Bay Street power broker and political fundraiser Ralph Lean has left the firm of Heenan Blaikie after learning it was contemplating chopping the headcount in its Toronto office by half. Mr. Lean has joined the Toronto office of Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP as counsel just eight months into his two-year contract with Heenan Blaikie. What happened? Apparently about 30 partners have left Heenan Blaikie in recent weeks after a drop in revenue has led to less pay. The cause of this decline wasn’t specified. The firm has announced it will embark on a “major restructuring” in the near future. Some speculation suggests a break up of its network of eight offices across the country. The 68-year-old Mr. Lean worked for 23 years with law firm Cassels Brock and Blackwell in Toronto until last year, when he reached that firm’s mandatory retirement age. Area high school rankings reveal wide range
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The Fraser Institute ranking of high schools reveals a wide range of performance among eight schools in the South Bayview area. The list is below and the full list of schools in Toronto may be obtained at the Fraser website. Digging into the information is useful as a measure of how better-off neighborhoods typically produce much higher achievement. The numbers are compiled by Fraser from figures belonging to the Ontario Education Department and, so far as most parents are concerned, they reflect the proficiency of both students and their teachers. The scale is 0 to 10.
North Toronto 8.5
Lawrence Park 8.4
Leaside 8.3
Forest Hill 8.2
Northern Secondary 8
Garneau 4.9
Jarvis 4.7
East York 4.7
Pile driver, trailer now on site at 1860 Bayview
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The construction trailer and a pile driver are now on site as work begins on the commercial development at 1860 Bayview Ave at Broadway. Ave. The site is being purchased over time by RioCan Real Estate Investment, the dynamic property company that owns Sunnybrook Plaza and the Leaside Centre at the corner of Eglinton Ave. E. and Laird Drive. This location is most notable for the impending opening of a Whole Foods market of some 50,000 square feet on the second floor of the development. In this case, the “anchor” business will be located upstairs. The property is being developed by Kingsett and Trinity Development Group and RioCan is acquiring the site on “a forward purchase basis in phases” at an approximate purchase price of $58 million. The store is expected to open sometime in 2015 There will be 193 parking spaces in a two-level underground garage. Neighbourhood improvements, including road widening along Bayview and Broadway Avenues to accommodate traffic concerns, were secured as part of the settlement with ratepayers. Business kid Derrick Fung feted by Forbes
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How Toronto business kid Derrick Fung created Tunezy and then sold it for seven figures. For this he is justly added to Forbes magazine’s 30 under 30 list for music CITY News
Toronto prefers LRT over subways by 61% margin
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Leger poll asked about a Scarboro subway — and what it would cost. CITY News Leger news release
Fourth-hand smoke hides under the bed
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Just to make it clear, The South Bayview Bulldog doesn’t smoke, never has and doesn’t like the habit. But there is a limit to how much third-hand-smoke baloney we’ll consume. Now some people in Riverside, California have put mice in cages “exposed to third hand smoke” and found the poor creatures have suffered organ damage. It’s a little hard to follow but the suggestion seems to be that third hand smoke sticks to things and gets even nastier than it was, sort of like cranky old curmudgeons of the human type. Maybe, but unless homosapiens are about to start licking third-hand smoke off the furniture it seems like a lot of worry about not much. We’re waiting to hear that fourth-hand smoke hides under the bed and infects your underwear at night. You know. Could be a problem.
Low-family-income rural school scores high
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Further to the The Bulldog’s post reviewing the ranking of public schools in South Bayview, the CTV post linked below breaks out the better performing school across Toronto as a whole. It also contains comment by the Fraser Institute, which compiled the numbers about the performance of kids as a funtion of their family’s income. At Cottingham Public School on Birch Ave., which won the highest score of 10, family income is well in excess of $200,000 a year (as it is in most parts of South Bayview). But says the institute, at Langdon Public School in Fenelon Falls the pupils still achieved an 8.2 rating in a community where family average income is merely $19,000 a year. Remarkably good work. And flies in the face of a complaint from a group called People for Education which seems to say that the Fraser survey is elitist, (our word) measuring things like “university trained parents” and others metrics of affluence. CTV
Fire destroys fire station and vehicles
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A rural fire department has lost six trucks and emergency vehicles when fire whipped through the Mount Albert Fire Station Sunday morning. The local authorities are scrambling to make sure there is adequate fire protection for residents of the area northeast of Newmarket. Firefighters were called from Holland Landing and Queensville fire stations shortly after 8 a.m. at 22 Princess St. in Mount Albert. There was really nothing they could do. The two pictures here show the station before the fire and during. Sources said the firehall is not manned and no one was inside when the fire started. Investigators with the Fire Marshal’s Office sifted through the debris for any evidence that can help determine a cause. Cottingham a perfect 10 in school rankings
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The annual ranking of public and Catholic high schools and elementary schools shows Cottingham Junior Public School on Birch Ave. with a perfect 10 (out of 10) ranking based on departmental metrics for the school year 2012-2013. Our Lady of Perpetual Help School on Garfield. Ave. is ranked 9.9. The Fraser Institute think tank collects education department numbers and issues an annual ranking of schools. Those interested may check the specific standing of a school by going to the link at the bottom of the post. Here in South Bayview Rosedale Public School ranked 9.8 and Deer Park registered 9.7 with the Fraser Institute. Some other area school rankings: Bennington Heights 9, Maurice Cody 8.9, Bessborough 8.5, Eglinton 8, St. Anselm’s 7.9, Rolph Road 7.8, Northlea 7.5. Whitney School registered at 8, down a half a point from 2011-2012. Public school rankings
The Buczynskis are at home on Belsize Drive
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| Walter and Danuta Buczynski |
When Walter met Danuta in Warsaw in 1960 there was a kind of curiosity, but not it seems, love at first sight. Within three months, however, the young couple — he a Canadian scholarship student in music and she a multilingual representative of the state assigned to look after such foreigners — found that they liked each other quite well enough to get married. Time being the test of such things, we may assume that it was the real McCoy. Speaking this week in the charming home on Belsize Drive they have owned for 43 years, Walter and Danuta Buczynski reflected on their productive life together. Walter Buczynski’s distinguished career as a composer, academic and musician is part of Canada’s music history. Until his retirement, Mr. Buczynski was the head of the music department at the University of Toronto. In recent weeks he has turned 80. It is a busy and productive time for the active piano artist as colleagues and friends organize concerts to celebrate the landmark. The next one, for those who care to drop in, is Sunday, April 13, 2014 at the Heliconian Hall at 35 Hazelton Ave. At home, Mr. Buczynski continues to compose. As her family matured, Danuta Buczynski volunteered at the Royal Ontario Museum. Her social, artistic and language skills were useful to the organization and now, 27 years later, she spends engaging hours in the service of the ROM as a trustee of the museum. William Littler has written an entertaining article about Walter Buczynski in the Toronto Star.