U-turn driver thwarts cops pursuit of kidnapper

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John Brown
Police were thwarted in their attempt to catch an accused kidnapper on Monday when a U-turn driver wheeled across the middle of the street and slammed into the police car. Nice work buddy, or madam. It’s an educational moment about why the Highway Traffic Act makes this common trick of the lazy driver illegal. It happened in 54 Division as cops chased John Brown, 43, wanted for the  kidnapping of a 33-year-old woman.  He is still at large and police have issued this picture. U-turns seem to be a way of life in Toronto. Recently a parking enforcement car was seen making a U-turn on Eglinton Ave. W. Maybe it’s time for a campaign against this dangerous and illegal turn. 

Will Chow make jets on the island an issue?

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Olivia Chow has filed her papers to be candidate for mayor this snowy Wednesday — but she sent someone else to City Hall to deliver them. The gentleman said the candidate herself was busy working on remarks for presentation Thursday. 
Olivia Chow quit her job as a member of Parliament today and will declare her candidacy for mayor of Toronto tomorrow (Thursday, March 14, 2013). Ms. Chow has name-recognition and is a sympathetic figure. She has a strong downtown base. The issue will be whether Ms. Chow’s decidedly left-wing reputation will play in the many parts of Toronto where centre-right candidates typically win. In recent years, David Miller narrowly won the 2003 general election against John Tory. Mr. Miller was probably not seen as being as far to the left as Ms  Chow. Most people believe that Miller won largely for his opposition to the island airport bridge. It is an issue that many think cuts across right and left.  It is mushy municipal motherhood to be in favour of better transit and food trucks. The present field does not have much to say about the 2014 incarnation of the airport story — jet planes for Porter Airlines. We shall see if Ms Chow and her advisers think they can isolate her opponents on an issue that goes beyond left and right.   

Private home, public park or political football

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It’s easy to see why neighbors at the north end of Bessborough Drive and elsewhere want to leave the historic Thomas G. Elgie home just as it is. The property is currently owned by Renaissance Homes of Toronto and its president Matthew Garnet is trying to make some money from it.  What’s left of the Elgie family’s 200-odd acre farm from the mid-1880s is a verdant corner of the community providing a park-like atmosphere for those who live there. Over the years members of the Elgie family, a conservative clan from the United Kingdom, have given much public service to Ontario. Their story is important. The building that sits on the property today is well off the street and consists of mainly two parts. One dates from 1883 and the other from the 1970s. The picture above shows the general size and shape of today’s Elgie House and the inset black and white picture, taken in 1934, shows the piece in which the pioneer family huddled so long ago. Mr. Garnet’s plan is to divide the property in three lots using two of them for new homes. On the third lot, he proposes to relocate the renovated portion of the Elgie home which was built in 1883. The 20th century part would be demolished. That plan has been rejected by City Council and by the Committee of Adjustment. The home is a heritage property — as it should be — and with preservationists and neighbors in agreement, the Renaissance proposals have gone nowhere.  In this election year there is no appetite for it at the office of Councillor John Parker (Ward 26). So Mr. Garnet has taken his case to the Ontario Municipal Board. On Monday, May 12 the OMB will weigh the argument that the location of the farmhouse on the property — its  “placement, setback and orientation”  — are integral to the home’s historical attributes. In other words, it can’t be moved to that third lot Mr. Garnet wants to create. Some may say it is an interesting position for the City to take in a province where every summer weekend sees a historical home being moved to a commercially suitable location.

Ami welcomes her clients on Bayview Ave

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Ami

Ami , the petite esthetician and manicurist, loves her new location on Bayview Ave.  “It is so friendly and nice with people coming and going,” says the cheerful businesswoman. She has built her business at different locations over 20 years since finding passage to Canada from Vietnam.  And the early years were a struggle, going to school to learn her craft and working for others. But her persistence won out and now she is proud to recount her considerable clientele. “They are wonderful and loyal” says Ami. Like all  practitioners on her business, Ami is licensed by the Ontario government to provide the services of the esthetician’s trade. Manicure, pedicure, body-waxing, eye lash curl and tint and biogel (artificial) nails are among her range of skills. She is currently offering  25 percent discount for a first visit to her new studio at 1659 Bayview Ave (416) 489-8292 and cell (416) 828-4354. There is a quiet pride about Ami. She’s a Canadian now and like so many immigrants who thought they wanted to go the U.S. using Canada as a way station, Ami found she really liked it better in Toronto than anywhere else. She’s glad she figured that out. It is 20 years since Ami set foot in this country and she has worked every day she has been here. One can imagine why her clientele show her loyalty.   

New “equity map” looks a lot like an income map

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It’s the “neighbourhood equity score” combining ratings for economic opportunity, social development, health, participation in decision-making and physical surroundings in 140 Toronto neighborhoods. But as someone tweeted tonight, the map looks like an old-fashioned family average income map. The Globe and Mail writers are excited and predict a lively debate and maybe there should be. But enlightening, it is not. Note how the north end Scarborough neighborhoods populated by Chinese have high-equity rankings. Your local (high) equity scores are Leaside 85.82, Rosedale-Moore Park 83.78, Yonge-Eglinton 88.11, Yonge St. Clair 80.99, Lawrence Park North 92.05, Lawrence Park South 90.12.  Equity scores