The South Bayview Bulldog

The women who are waiting for Jeff Boucher to come home seem as decent and good as any man might wish. Boucher’s wife, Kirsten, says of him that he is a good husband and good father. She knows that her husband’s age, 52, represents a kind of statistical red flag in the life of many males. And she is able to understand. His daughter Bettina, 17, seems like a dutiful child who is deeply concerned for her dad. And his mother Mary has spoken compassionately about her son and her hope that he has just chosen to seek a little distance from everyday life. And there seems nothing seriously awry. This tall, fine-looking and athletic man would seem to have everything. Many would trade places with him in a flash. But the workings of the middle age mind and inevitable mortality can invade the most secure corners of paradise. There was money ($3,500) found in his filing cabinet at school but there is no reason to think there was the slightest impropriety. It was collected for a student ski trip yet to come and that bond of trust with the kids is fully in place. Indeed it is the perception of such an apparently satisfying life that makes the story of Jeffrey Boucher’a  disappearance so painful.  CBC

It’s been announced that Nortstrom Inc will take the large north-end premises now being vacated by Sears at the Toronto Eaton Centre. This store was the original home of Eaton’s from the time TEC was built to the company’s bankruptcy in the late 1990s. Construction will begin on the new three-floor Nordstrom store in March. Seattle-based Nordstrom had already acquired several department store spaces vacated by Sears. Cadillac Fairview manages the Toronto Eaton Centre as well as prominent malls in Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa that will have Nordstrom stores. This announcement was perhaps the most poorly-held secret in retailing since Sears said it was leaving downtown Toronto earlier this year. Many concluded then that the deal had already been done. “Our properties were the first to welcome Nordstrom to Canada, and we’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Nordstrom,” said John Sullivan, Cadillac Fairview’s president and chief executive.

This idea comes from the maker of a cable system, not the City planner. It’s the kind of thing that sounds like fun but in the end can’t sustain itself. It’s only ten years since the Toronto to Rochester hydrofoil fiasco.  It was a cute idea but nobody bothered to ride it. Now the Brick Works is a kind of  favorite child of City Council. That’s why there’s a weekend bus, that runs mostly empty, from Davisville Station down Bayview to the bricks. That’s why there will no doubt be suggestions the City pay for a cable car. And yet, the poll being run at the 680 News site suggests that there is a sober-minded 45.5% of people who see through this scheme.