Mayor says: “Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine”

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Mayor Ford made a brief appearance at City Hall over the noon hour in which he made the remarkable admission that he has smoked crack cocaine. It was a disturbing little exchange in which the mayor lectured reporters to “ask the question the right way.” The admission was couched by the mayor once again in the manner of his Sunday apology. “I’ve made mistakes. All I can do is apologize and move on.”  The tone of the admission was defensive and loaded with reproach for the reporters for, apparently, taking as much interest in this matter and because they “didn’t ask the question in the right way.” Mr. Ford said he was not an addict and that the occasion of his crack cocaine use may have occurred in the context of his being “in a drunken stupor” about a year ago. It was not clear whether the mayor was admitting to smoking crack cocaine once or more than once. 

Mid-morning mugging at Roehampton-Rawlinson

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Toronto Police Service report: A 13 year old male reports that on October 31, 2013 at approximately 1150 hours, he was in the area of Roehampton Avenue and Rawlinson Avenue when a male suspect approached him from behind. The suspect struck the victim about the shoulder causing him to fall to the ground. The suspect removed the victim’s cellular telephone and fled the scene eastbound on Roehampton Avenue and then northbound on Rawlinson Avenue. No injuries were sustained by the victim. Police are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying the following described person in connection with this offence. Suspect #1: Male, white, 30 to 35 years, 6’3”, 200 pounds.

Costco consultation meeting Thursday, Nov. 7

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There will be a community consultation meeting Thursday, November 7, 2013, to discuss the proposed Costco store at the site of the vacant Coca-Cola buildings on Overlea Blvd. The meeting will be held at the Macedonian Orthodox Cathedral at 76 Overlea.

Doug Ford launches slashing attack on Chief Blair

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Doug Ford has accused Chief Bill Blair of behaving like he is judge, jury and executioner. He is, said Mr. Ford, the most biased police chief in the history of the city. He said he will write a letter to the police review board and also complain to the police board.  He criticized police board member Andy Pringle who he said had been on a fishing trip with the chief. He called this a “massive conflict of interest.”  Mr. Ford said we cannot have a board member being the police chief’s fishing buddy. He called for Mr Pringle’s resignation. The angry Mr Ford said he is not intimidated by the police chief. “The police chief doesn’t intimidate me,” said the mayor’s brother. “We don’t live in a police state,” he said. Reporters tried to bring the discussion back to the mayor’s conduct but failed in the face of Mr.Ford’s forceful strategy to stay on the subject of the police chief.  The chief has held  a scrum news conference in which he said he is in the hands of the attorney general. Blair said he is subject to civilian review and insisted he will not respond to any personal attacks. I am just going to do my job,” said Mr. Blair. The timing of the chief’s scrum coincided exactly with Mr. Ford’s news conference at city hall. It caused CP24 to cut away from Mr. Ford to cover the chief. Councillors John Filion (Ward 23) Paula Fletcher (Ward 30) and Pam McConnell (Ward 28) offered immediate responses to Mr. Ford’s attack. They were all strongly critical of Mr. Ford.  Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34) this morning said he supports Chief Blair and board member Pringle in the face of Doug Ford’s attacks.  11.03 a.m. 

Dutch girl’s amazing voice astounds talent judges

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The impact of a 9-year-old Dutch girl’s raw talent has shocked judges at the Holland Got Talent program and created an overnight international sensation. She is  Amira Willighagen, a schoolgirl otherwise unknown who has never even taken singing lessons. Here she sings a familiar piece from Puccini’s opera  ‘Gianni Schicchi’.  It is known in English as Oh My Beloved Father.  From the Mirror:  “Are you really nine years old?” astounded judge Chantal Janzen asked. “This is incredible.” Perhaps even more amazing was when young Amira admitted she had never even had singing lessons, instead honing her incredible voice from YouTube tutorials. In the above video the opening remarks are in Dutch. Amira begins to sing at about one minute and 40 seconds into the video. Mirror

Heins could leave B’Berry with $22 million payout

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Arik Hesseldahl

Byford dollhouse comes home to Bayview Ave.

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The doll’s house that Bonnie Byford purchased more than 30 years ago to decorate her real estate shop at 1536 Bayview Ave has come home. It’s been out of its familiar place in the storefront since renovations began a couple of months ago. Mrs Byford bought the familiar house from “Jack” the original owner of the The Little Dollhouse Company on Mt. Plesant Rd. The certificate guaranteeing the structure’s authenticity is still a proud possession of the firm. That was 1981 and now the old house is as fresh as ever after work by Rob, renovator at the same Little Dollhouse Company. It has been painted and some windows have been repaired. Rob also fixed the electrical system, put down new “broadloom”, installed new wallpaper, baseboards and crown moulding. It was delivered Friday and now it falls to Bonnie’s daughter, Sue, to clean and arrange the furniture. Picture at the bottom inset shows the freshly refurbished and decorated bedroom complete with occupant. 

Sutherland Drive bungalow demolition goes on

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The demolition of two old bungalows on Sutherland Drive continues with one of them, 151 Sutherland, being handled in an interesting way. The south wall of the little home is still standing and so is the partial front wall. It contains the pretty leaded-glass windows we mentioned in a previous post. You can see those windows from what was the inside of the house in the upper shot inset. This will be a huge house when it is finished. The excavation goes back to what seems to be just a few feet of the property line. It is assumed that the south wall is in place to grandfather the now non-conforming proximity to the neighbor’s home. It appears as if the wall sits on the property line. It is a common practice. Across the street at 146 Sutherland the bungalow has been fully demolished and awaits its new foundation. Previous Post

Filion motion could throw net over reckless Fords

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John Filion (Ward 23) has proposed a motion at City Council which is intended to remove the power invested in the mayor to appoint and fire heads of committees as well as the deputy mayor. The Filion motion is seconded by Paul Ainslie (Ward 43) and will be put before council at its next meeting Monday, December 16, 2013. The motion, if passed by council. would remove the mayor’s ability to shuffle the members of his executive committee and hand that power over to city council at large. Filion said his motion is the strongest action council can take against the mayor. He told CTV that as long as the mayor has the power to hire or fire committee chairs the appointment process gets mixed up with the business of the city. Mayor Ford has fired at least two of the original executive committee members elected with him in 2010. They are centre-right councillors Jaye Robinson (Ward 33) and now TTC chair Karen Stintz (Ward 16). This motion seems like the most promising way available to council to work around the mayor. Wednesday, however, John Parker (Ward 26) expressed concern that council may not have the power to enforce this control on the mayor.  Mr. Ford has apologized twice in three days, admitted he smokes crack cocaine and attacked the police and the media in a way that suggests he is a deeply troubled man. His brother, Rob Ford (Ward 2) has pursued a campaign of accusation which is also very troubling. Promises by the mayor that he will never repeat any of the many sins on record is not believable. Clearly the mayor should resign. In the absence of that, City Council should act to throw the strongest net it can over Mr. Ford and his brother.

EARLIER STORYDoug Ford (Ward 2) has said that his brother, the mayor, will not meet with the police “at this time.” Mr. Ford made the statement when he appeared on CP24 with Stephen LeDrew. Doug Ford gave no reason for this refusal except for a reference to legal advice. The Toronto Police Service has requested to speak to the mayor about matters related to its surveillance of him and his friend, Alexander Lisi, who is now accused of extortion. Doug Ford said that members of the media were “out of control” in regard to his brother. He said that he believed CP24’s City Hall reporter Katie Simpson “wants to rip Rob apart.” Mr. Ford invoked images of a lynch mob unlike anything that has ever been seen in Canadian poliltics. Mr. LeDrew asked several questions aimed at exploring the particulars of the mayor’s behaviour which were deflected by changing the subject. There was no explanation, nor has there been, about what Mr. Ford was doing in the more than 100 furtive meetings he had with Mr. Lisi in which he received bags from his friend.    

Power surge similar to cause of Bayview Ave. fire

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A wicked ball of fire rolled along power lines in Lachine, a suburb of Montreal, on Friday during the wind and lightning storm that swept Ontario and Quebec. Captures from cell phone video show the ominous spectacle as it rolled past the home of Huw Griffiths. Griffiths got his camera going as he saw a light getting brighter and moving closer to his house (left). The flaming mass rolled into sight incinerating lines and equipment as it went by. Right, it slips out of sight beyond the window frame. The video can be seen below. It appears to be the result of a lightning bolt strike on cables which unleashed a power surge. This is the type of fiery phenomenon that insurance experts concluded caused the fire on South Bayview on October 14, 2011. The fireball is believed to have travelled from a transformer outside Leaside Cleaners directly into the premises. The blaze destroyed that business and heavily damaged others.

Leaside’s Coco Ma is at the Munich music camp

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Coco Ma

Leaside piano prodigy Coco Ma, with her dad Jimmy, is spending a week at the Munich Music Camp for young people being run by Lang Lang, the international piano artist. Coco, 13, is one of just 12 students who were chosen for the all-expenses paid honour out of some 300 applicants worldwide. It is an exiting time for Coco but like many talented children she seems to have a maturity that surpasses her years. “I’m a little excited,” she confessed and then added, “a little nervousness is enough.” The opportunity to learn from Lang will be a mind-expanding experience for Coco. He is a 31-year-old Chinese expatriate who now lives in New York. Lang traces his first interest in classical music to an occurrence at the age of two. He watched a Tom and Jerry cartoon titled The Cat Concerto that featured as its music the Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 by Franz Liszt.  Below is a promotional video which was intended to seek applicants. 

Mayor apologizes, promises “changes in my life”

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Mayor Ford will not resign. On his radio program on Newstalk 1010 today he said he is sorry for the past and that he apologizes for his mistakes. Mr. Ford said that is going to make changes in his life. He said he wanted to assure citizens that he would do that. He did not however say what those changes might be nor did he acknowledge the specifics of his “mistakes”. Mr. Ford had clearly scripted his remarks and after about 90 seconds or so seemed unclear what else to say. At this point his brother, Doug, said “pass it over to me”. The program, which lasts until 3 p.m., appears to have moved into a familiar pattern of how Mr. Ford will be “taking care of everything.” Mr. Ford said that from now on he will have a full-time driver. He said he will privatize garbage collection across the now unionized east side of Toronto east of Yonge Street, but that he needs another term to do that. This is a promise he has made before with the same condition — re-election in 2014. Lorrie Goldstein