Sutherland Drive sinkhole was six feet deep

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Sutherland and Hanna

The sinkhole that took pavement six feet down on Monday (February 3, 2014) at Sutherland Drive and Hanna Road is just about filled and stabilized. Paving should occur between now and Monday, workmen said. The sinkhole appeared as the result of the frigid weather, according to those fixing it. The concrete support for the manhole in the centre of the intersection collapsed, dropping the sewer cover and surrounding pavement too far down for comfort. It wasn’t big enough to swallow a car but it would certainly have put most cars out of commission. TTC re-routed the 88 Leaside bus for a few days. Elsewhere with our weather, the city continues to dig out of the heaviest single fall of snow this winter.  The city has 200 salt trucks, 600 road plows and 300 sidewalk plows in its snow-clearing arsenal. A terrible accident near rural Orangville has killed a nine-year-old boy. He was pulled unconscious from a large snow bank by his mother after she went looking for the lad. He had somehow become buried in the collapse of the snow. Pictures courtesy rudy.ca

The place is a wreck but I’m watching you

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Reporters arriving in Russia to cover the Sochi Winter Olympics are sending out pictures of unfinished and largely unlivable hotels. Officials are saying that the hotels are 95% complete but this is what some media are finding. The rubble shown above is piled in the corner of the lobby of one hotel. In another, there is no floor in the lobby but the reception desk has the inset picture of Vladimir Putin there to cheer the guests. One reporter found the Internet connection hanging from the ceiling. Water from the hotel taps is a sinister yellow and everyone has been warned not to even put it on his face. More 

Heenan Blaikie winds up business, shuts down

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It seems like a bombshell even to the general public. The storied 41-year-old firm of Heenan Blaikie, home to hundreds of first-class members of the bar and former prime ministers, has sent out a one-page release tonight (Wednesday, February 5, 2014) saying that it is going out of business. Now the second-guessing begins around just what pressures were working on the law firm. Did it pay enough attention to efficiencies, to the running of the big dogs in larger partnerships, doing whatever it takes to get business?  Globe and Mail 

Give to the annual Prom Clothing Drive

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Alexa and Christian Rocca are in the hunt again for not-too-used clothing and donations to help the New Circles charity called the Prom Clothing Drive. This is the third annual effort and it is designed to assist deserving kids from less privileged areas to find clothes to wear to their big school event. This is the third annual drive and last year Alexa and Christian, the children of Patrick and Elaine Rocca, collected over 200 items. Any nice but no longer needed piece of clothing for teen boys or girls be it a dress, a tie, jacket, shoes or whatever is welcome. The drive is under way until April 4, 2014 and donations may be dropped off at Bosley Real Estate, 290 Merton Street attention Mr. Rocca.

Bieber, father “abused” flight attendant says NBC

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NBC — Justin Bieber and his father were “extremely abusive” to a flight attendant as their private jet flew from Canada to New Jersey on Friday, forcing her to take refuge in the cockpit, according to an official report obtained exclusively by NBC News. According to multiple law enforcement sources, the leased, luxurious Gulfstream IV on which the 19-year-old Canadian pop star, his father and an entourage of 10 friends traveled was so full of marijuana smoke that the pilots were forced to wear oxygen masks. “The captain of the flight stated that he warned the passengers, including Bieber, on several occasions to stop smoking marijuana,” says the official report of the incident. “The captain also stated he needed to request that the passengers stop their harassing behavior toward the flight attendant and after several warnings asked the flight attendant to stay with him near the cockpit to avoid any further abuse.” More 

Andy Elder’s cry from the heart about LRT misery

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Andy Elder

South Bayview area retailer Andy Elder has taken to his FaceBook page to voice concern about the long-term traffic misery that will be created by the tunneling work for the  Crosstown LRT. Read here and see the many comments.  Andy says: “Okay Leasiders. It’s time to take a minute to fully comprehend what is about to take place at the throat of Eglinton between Brentcliffe and Leslie. Sometime in the next few weeks that stretch of road will become two lanes, one in each direction. It will stay that way for about 5 years as the Eglinton transit is tunnelled out. All of the tunnel material dug out to Yonge St. will be picked up at this access point. An engineering marvel. but think about how the narrowing to 2 lanes will change your commute and travel patterns. There will be other disruptions on Eglinton over that time. It’s hard to think of the next 5 years as short term pain but that’s what it will be”. Grilltime

Good morning! I’m calling to cancel Wednesday

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Here are the top ten reasons for cancelling Wednesday.
1. Wednesday will happen everywhere else anyway
2. They’ve already picked up the garbage
3. I’ll sit here instead of in the car
4. Netflix is working
5. Need to break-in those Christmas slippers
6. Cam Wooley is enough reality
7. Heavy socks are in the laundry
8. I always do what Mayor Ford tells me
9. South Bayview is not South Miami.  And the number 10 reason for cancelling Wednesday:
10. Toronto has issued an Extreme Crap Weather Alert
Tweet your reasons to #cancelwednesday

The downcast-looking young lady may wish she had cancelled Wednesday too. This picture was tweeted by the CBC. At the right, a glimpse of South Bayview Ave. before the afternoon snow got even deeper. Friends at Bonnie Byford Real Estate ducked out of their storefront at 1536 to grab this video snippet.

Witnesses hear 15 shots at Yonge street killing

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A man has been shot to death outside a restaurant on Yonge Street just north of Teddington Park Ave Tuesday night. He was hit several times and was pronounced dead at hospital. Witnesses report hearing as many shots — perhaps a total of 15. The victim is Peter Nguyen, 26. Cops are seeking at least one assailant described as a white male possibly in his 20s. The shooting occurred outside the Piazetta Trattoria on the east side of Yonge between Teddington and Glen Echo.  Police say they are looking for a suspect described as a white male with blond, spiked hair and a chunky build. He was last seen wearing black clothing including a black hooded sweatshirt

1,800 kids will skate in Leaside Select Tourney

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The 24th Leaside Select Hockey Tournament is about to begin Thursday (February 6, 2014) with more than 1,800 players from across the district competing in 12 age groups. The kids, 6 to 18 years old, will be playing on 100 teams and as many as 6,500 family members will attend the games.  It is a wonderful triumph of sports, family fun and generous support from public spirited  individuals and corporations. Jeff Munn, vice president of select programs at the Leaside Hockey Association  recounts the impact of Leaside’s new double pad arena this year. “Last year we could only accommodate 75 teams,” he recalled. Mr. Munn explained that the new arena permitted  the expansion of the Leaside teams from 2013’s 16 to 25 for this year.  Each Leaside coach was permitted to issue three invitations to make up the 100 team limit. “We get a lot of requests for invitations,” said Mr. Munn. The new arena will permit all the games involving Leaside teams to take place on local ice and overflow games will be accommodated almost entirely at the nearby CanLan Vic Park Arena on Victoria Park Ave.  The logistics of looking after this army of young hockey players is greatly helped by sponsors such as Bell, Scotiabank, Pepsi, Longo’s Metro, Starbucks  and, in the case of the sandwiches, Andy Elder’s Grilltime meat specialty shop on Laird Drive. People like Shannon Quesnelle and her many parent friends and volunteers, will be on deck throughout the tourney to see to the care and feeding of the kids. The games go pretty much all day long for three and a half days and the public is welcome to pop in to catch some of the action. Schedule so far  

Feds introduce new election legislation

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The Conservative Government has announced a bill which would vastly change how general elections are conducted. The new legislation would be called the Fair Elections Act. Among its highlights is the creation of a new post called the Commissioner of Canada Elections. This person would be responsible for investigating all violations of the voting laws. The bill envisages prison time for those who impersonate election officials. The new law would also permit the broadcast of election results in the east before the polls are closed in the west. Canada 

In Toronto, the name Union Station is forever

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Dressed for its opening in 1924
That only thing that be can said about the suggestion by Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34) to re-name Union Station to the John A. Macdonald Station is that the City Councillor doesn’t seem to know much about the history of Toronto. The place is called “Union” station because of the historic uniting of the interests of the country’s railways and the decision to build a suitable (some might say world class) terminal for Toronto. When it was built between 1914 and 1920 there had already been two other places called Union Station. It is a place that has been with us for well over a century and a handy name that has become part of the fabric of Toronto. At Tuesday’s executive committee meeting, Minnan-Wong moved a motion to change the name, asking city staff to explore the idea and report back to the executive committee in July. This will not fly. Twitter is already alive with derision for the notion. Sir John A. Macdonald is a very important figure in our history but he is already well-honoured everywhere in the country.