Council votes to strip mayor of certain powers

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Toronto’s City Council has voted overwhelmingly in favour of John Filion’s motion to strip Mayor Rob Ford of some of his powers. It is not clear exactly how this might change the day to day functioning of the office.  At 10.50 a.m. councillors were asking about the mayor”s authority to declare emergencies which appear to be set in statute and not modifiable.  

Orlando sells Bayview Village for $500 million

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The Bayview Village Shopping Centre at Bayview ave. and Sheppard Ave. E. has been sold by the Orlando Corporation to a group representing the British Columbia Investment Management Corp.  The conditional sale carries a hefty $500-million price tag. It is said to be the largest single property sale in Canada this year. The mall is relatively small — only 440,000 square feet. For decades the dynamic Orlando management led by billionaire Carlo Fidani has kept the Willowdale retail hub up to date with store openings and constant renewal. Many will remember the demolition of the K-Mart Store. Analysts are speculating that the select location on a subway in what is now north-central Toronto has potential for residential development. According to the Financial Post, we may see proposals to build condos in the parking lot. This is speculation however. Bayview Village was built in the 1960s as an open air mall. In 1977 a movie theatre was added and the mall was roofed over. It was one of the numerous post-World War II small neighbourhood community malls that were built in the inner suburbs of Toronto where residential neighbourhoods were growing. All of these community plazas were strip malls with one or two anchors.

Mayor Ford’s friend Alana is a 23-year-old beauty

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It seems a shame that the lovely-looking young woman  shown above should have had to spend the St. Patrick’s Day evening last year at City Hall with a foul-mouthed 44-year-old out-of-shape elected official. According to his paid employees, it was Mayor Rob Ford wandering the corridors of the seat of city government that night taking swigs from a large bottle of vodka.  That’s what the police records say. The account was compiled from an interview with a man named Isaac Ransom, who at the time was Mayor Ford’s assistant. What can it all mean? The woman, named Alana, is said to hold the title of Miss Toronto Tourism.  Few people could tell you just what this title means. As for the evening at City Hall, all we can say is we are very sorry about Alana’s bad luck.  

Rosedale Liberal oversaw jobs shipped to India

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Bruce Cheadle of The Canadian Press writes a scorching attack on the Liberal candidate in Toronto-Centre for the byelection to be run this month. “A high-profile federal Liberal candidate campaigning in Toronto on a platform of restoring the middle class oversaw the decision to move two dozen full-time media jobs from that city to India,” Cheadle writes. “Chrystia Freeland was the head of Reuters Digital in New York when Thompson Reuters moved its Toronto digital newsroom to New York and shipped the bulk of its work to the Bangalore operation. “The December 2011 move put about 25 Toronto staff under Freeland’s supervision out of work, including 17 permanent and five temporary unionized employees. Thomson Reuters won’t say how many employees remain — only that the company has “a fully staffed and functioning newsroom in Toronto . . . “A common refrain from former Reuters employees is a sense that Freeland didn’t go to bat for them when their jobs were on the line. Aviva West spent three years as a full-time contract editor who worked every weekend at the Toronto operation. “’We had zero contact with (Freeland),’ said West. “’She was in charge of consumer news, and that’s what we were doing in Toronto, programming 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Reuters.com. We never, ever saw her.”  Yonge and Roxborough News

“Spookiest on street” 409 Belsize meets wrecker

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As vacant houses go, 409 Belsize Drive near Bayview Ave. was ranked by the South Bayview Bulldog as the spookiest on the street before Halloween. Now the developers are having their day as the stucco and frame storey and a half finally disappears. The old home looked especially creepy through the front widow and one might not have guessed that it fetched $850,000 when it sold just about a year ago. It had been listed at $773,500. Now you can get an idea of how much of an edge the builder will have as he hopes for an appreciation on today’s prices for a new home at this choice location. The lot is a typical east-end Belsize size — 25 by 125.     

McDonalds ends lifelong ketchup deal with Heinz

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Bernardo Hees
What does McDonalds have against Bernardo Hees? Plenty, it seems. Mr. Hees is the new CEO of H.J. Heinz, the world’s most famous ketchup maker. Now McDonald has said goodbye to Heinz. After a 40-year relationship, Big Mac is going elsewhere for its ketchup. So what’s up? It has something to do with Mr. Hees previous job, and maybe how he did.  He used to be the CEO of McDonalds arch-rival Burger King. Still, it seems like a harsh decision by the Golden Arch. Was it all that sneaking around to find out where McDonald’s was going to locate, and then moving in next door? Who knows. But the flow of ketchup has stopped. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and an investment fund affiliated with 3G Capital bought Heinz for $28-billion (U.S.) in June and immediately named Hees CEO. Burger King went public in June, 2012, less than two years after it was taken private by 3G Capital Management LLC, which retains a stake in the fast-food chain. Still with Heinz, ketchup production in Leamington, Ontario’s tomato town, will end soon. Heinz will also shut plants in the U.S. as well. About 740 people in Leamington will lose their jobs there.  

Argos rap Mayor Ford for obscene language

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The Toronto Argonauts have criticized Mayor Ford today for his behaviour while dressed in an Argo jersey. The mayor used obscene references as he responded to suggestions that he may have associated with prostitutes. Here is the statement from the football club. “It’s well-known that the Mayor is a big fan and supporter of the game of football. The Toronto Argonauts organization is not in a position to comment on the manner of dress of public officials. The situation with respect to the Mayor and his leadership is unseemly at best. These latest remarks, while wearing our team’s jersey, are particularly disappointing given our organization’s work in the community to help youth deal with issues of bullying prevention. We hope for the benefit of the wonderful citizens of Toronto and this great city that this situation is resolved expeditiously.”

Glebe town homes meeting set for Tues, Nov. 26

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The choice parcel of land in the heart of the Glebe is the source of a lot of interest. The former site of Glebe Presbyterian Church is proposed as the site of a six, three-storey attached townhouses. They would sit over a common garage of 13 parking spaces and for the main part face onto Thurloe Ave. The church, before it was demolished last year, carried the address of 124 Belsize Drive even though its main entrance was at Thurloe and De Savery Crescent. There is still public consultation to take place before these homes are built and one meeting will take place Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at 7 p.m. at North Toronto Community Church, 7 Eglinton Ave. E. This notice comes from Josh Matlow (Ward 22) who says he will be there.  As indicated in previous posts, with the demand for of homes in the Glebe and an added amenity like an underground garage, the value of each unit will be substantial. Profit to the builder would be very handsome as well if he paid only the listing price of $2,800,000.   This proposed project may seem attractive to residents here and elsewhere considering the frequent attempts by developers to challenge zoning with multi-level towers

Mayor threatens legal action, spouts obscenites

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Mayor Ford arrived at City Hall Thursday morning in an Argo jersey and right off the elevator told reporters (and a live television audience) that he will be suing former aides and others who spoke to police about suspected drug use and the role of a friend of the mayor’s, a woman named Alana. He also used unrepeatable vulgarities to deny certain interaction with another woman at City Hall.   Yahoo   Gondak denies she slept with mayor.

The last bearded Prime Minister resigned in 1896

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We’ve been wondering lately if Thomas Mulcair knows that the last Canadian Prime Minister to wear a full beard was Mackenzie Bowell who left the office in 1896. Every single first minister since then has been pretty much clean shaven. Robert Borden (1916) and Louis St-Laurent (1957) has mustaches. Academically speaking, the thinkers are split on whether the full beard makes a guy more trustworthy or sort of sneaky looking.  Of course, Mr. Mulcair’s beard may have nothing to do with whether he becomes Prime Minister. There has never been an NDP true north PM bearded or otherwise.