The South Bayview Bulldog

The habit of frivolous spending is so deeply set in the culture of the Ontario government that it beggars the imagination how it might ever be dug out and eliminated. Earlier this week the Premier herself was denouncing the head of the Pan American Games for carelessly charging a cup of coffee to his expense account. No kidding. Today it’s revealed that the Tourism and Sports Ministry has given half a million dollars to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to help stage the 2016 NBA All-Star Game. This reckless giveaway makes people gag. The enormously privileged and wealthy MLSE taking $500,000 from a province that hardly knows where the next nickel is coming from is grotesque. The sense of entitlement that the never-ending stream of tax dollars has created in government is an insult — and no small threat — to democracy itself. The bureaucrats figure the government will never go broke. It may chase you into the poor house but it will get what you’ve got before you slam the door. Can anyone see what the voters want above everything? The City of Toronto endures living with a mayor who is uncultured, inarticulate  and hopelessly confused about many things. But Mr. Ford’s popularity defies his behavior because he is trusted by hundreds of thousands of people to be careful with their money.  

It’s been a while but Leaside High School alumni who remember may want to spend a minute or two (or more) in front of the television tonight at 8.30 when Will Arnett’s new sitcom The Millers debuts. Arnett is still young-looking enough to play a Miller offspring to his TV father (Beau Bridges) and mother (Margo Martindale). Actually, the former LHS and Sunnybrook Plaza habitue was born in May 1970, so they’re pushing it. 

Ray White, Chair of the Leaside Memorial Community Gardens Board of Management, speaks about the new ice pad and the excitement of the official opening this Sunday, October 6, 2013

An expert panel has concluded the girders used in building Windsor’s Herb Gray Parkway are unsafe. The Independent Expert Review was convened over the summer, after concerns were raised that the support beams used in the $1.4-billion parkway project were not manufactured to code. Their conclusions were made public Wednesday. “With various violations in the design and construction requirements and the uncertainties in the construction of these girders, the IER can not unequivocally opine that the girders are safe and durable,” said the report. “In fact, there is evidence that safety and durability of the girders have been compromised.”   Independent Expert Review

There was considerable drama at the corner of Moore Ave. and Bayview Ave Wednesday night  as a man had climbed onto a ledge outside the balcony railing on the sixth floor of the building on the southwest corner. This all occurred beginning sometime around  9 p.m. and as witnesses report continued on for more than two hours. It had a peaceful resolution however by all indications. Traffic on Moore and Bayview was stopped for quite a  period of time. Photo: rudy.ca 

There were many welcome visitors (one is seen here) picking their way over the cabled sidewalks of Bessborough Drive today in the vicinity of No. 146. It appears that Rogers Communications is making a commercial here. Like so many businesses seeking to hit the right note with consumers, they chose to make it in this favoured upper middle class corner of town. The address is owned by Patrick Rocca who called this one in to the South Bayview Bulldog offering it as a “slow news day” possibility. But we have few slow days here at the Bulldog.  What that means is that most things are grist for our mill. Now, as for all those trucks and vans,  they are with the street for another day as the production is expected to wrap up Thursday night. The producer must be skilled at horseshoes because Thursday is looking like another fine and mostly clear day with a high of 20 degrees in the afternoon.