4 De Savery Crescent demolished in the Glebe

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Updating previous post:  As The Bulldog reported in January, the house on the hill at 4 De-Savery Crescent in what some call the Glebe was living on borrowed time. Now it’s gone and another single family home will take its place. De Savory is one of three or four pretty streets that curve between Manor Rd. and Belsize Drive west of Mt Pleasant Rd. Residents say the home came down in just two days and from the size of the new excavation, it’s replacement will be a big one. Like re-sale homes to the east, residences here are all subject to possible demolition. At 4 De-Savery there is a good-sized lot, one side of which runs along Thurloe Ave, As readers of the South Bayview Bulldog will know, this is across the street from the now vacant site of Glebe Presbyterian Church.  That property is slated, on approval, to see the construction of six town homes over a common underground parking garage. There are many older homes on these streets and the evidence of the pressure is seen by the development going on along Manor and especially at the corner of Redpath Ave. We continue to wonder about the future of the old apartments at the corner of Penrose Road and De-Savery. In the photos we see the scrambled remains of the corner steps to 4 De-Savery. Below, the same steps when they were cloistered by evergreen bushes on either side when the home was still inhabited.  

Skating in the New Year at Leaside Arena

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The Family Choi 

New Year’s Day across South Bayview was sunny, clear and oh so very frigid.  But rinks across the area — including outdoor pads like the one in June Rowlands Park — saw skaters being true to their heritage. What a heritage. Brr. David and Allison Choi with daughter Nina (inset) joined the family fun at the free skating event on Leaside Arena’s new NHL-sized rink. There were no big-league hockey heroics this day however. It was a perfect chance for parents to help their toddlers and pre-school skaters get some confidence on the blades. The free skate is an annual socializer for John Parker (Ward 26) who greeted residents with hot chocolate. Elsewhere, the streets were quiet so it’s a good chance that many people just stayed home, although there was shopping to be had at the Eaton Centre and elsewhere. The Toronto Zoo was expecting a big day. Mayor Rob Ford hosted the usual levee  in the rotunda at city hall. Lt.-Gov. David Onley hosted his annual levee at Queen’s Park 

Sunnybrook baby 6 seconds late for 2014 title

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There are two winners of the “first baby” contest, that annual Toronto birth-by-the-clock event for 2014. At North York General Hospital, a woman gave birth at exactly 12 a.m. The timely infant is Jenna Grace Cheaib (left). Centre we see Jenna in arms. At Rouge Valley Hospital in Scarborough, James John Kennady (right with mom and dad) was born weighing 6 pounds, 6 six ounces, and came 12 days early. He made a real effort to get that prize. At Sunnybrook Hospital, a baby was born six seconds after midnight, and at Credit Valley it was 38 seconds into the new year. A baby born at St. Michael’s Hospital entered the world at 12:02 a.m.

Comatose man to be moved from Sunnybrook

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The end-of-life case which went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada has brought another development. The court’s decision recently that doctors cannot unilaterally cease life support means that Hassan Rasouli, 61, will have to move out of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Doctors there had wanted to end life support for the comatose man   It is a dilemma for his loving family which fought to keep him alive. The monthly cost of private care will be more than $1,700 a month.  Theresa Boyle 

Man gives $100 bills to those waiting food cards

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Scarborough Samaritan
Happy New Year and good luck. Here is a heart-warming note on which to end 2013 and begin 2014. It’s the generous man who gave several people he met a $100 bill in the Golden Mile (Scarborough) location for the government’s food card plan. As we know, the cards ran out. With people milling around, perhaps waiting for more, this man (inset) came into the centre and spoke with several people.  In due course he began to give certain  persons the money to assist them in whatever way they wished. Much of this was recorded by a news crew. The man was interviewed briefly. He said he remembered a time that “I needed help.”  Several women he gifted were in tears at his generosity and kindness. 

End of local broadcasting, New Year’s Eve style

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The now nearly forgotten impact of cable-TV on local programming in Canada has taken one last kick at Toronto. Citytv’s venerable New Year’s Eve broadcast from Nathan Phillips Square will be submerged in the ABC celebration. Why? Because there is just too much to watch on TV on New Year’s Eve. Rogers, owners of City, has decided it can do better without fighting for the eyes of local TV watchers by letting ABC take centre stage. It is a pattern that is many years old as private TV discarded local programming that was unable to hold large audiences in the age of multi-channel choices. Toronto Star

Some have scolded City for this decision. Others are excited about bundling up to be at Nathan Phillips Square. Others say, “no thanks,”  it”s the fireplace for me. Go there by clicking tweets. 

Rowanwood residents bruised after 8-day outage

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Rowanwood in happier times

The National Post’s Peter Kuttenbrouwer writes about the people on Rowanwood Ave saying “The New Year’s Eve party at the Grahams (on the Rosedale street) is back on, after Toronto Hydro restored power to the family of five at 2 p.m. Monday. No preferential treatment for this family. There will be hors d’oeuvres, hot entrées, teams squaring off at home-made trivia and lots of alcohol. There will also be lingering bitterness, after nine days without electricity. . . .”  Best bit from the story: “John Graham’s parents, Sandy and Bill Graham had come from England for Christmas. “’Luckily John’s parents said, ‘Don’t worry, we lived through the war,’ ” says Ms. Graham. ‘Cold flannel baths, that’s what we did during the war.’” “They helped the family boil kettles of water to wash dishes by candlelight.”  As extracted by Yonge and Roxborough News.  National Post (if you can get through the paywall.”