Yarwood’s Coke sculpture finds place of honour

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As recorded in a previous post about the plans for a Costco store on Overlea Blvd. the bronze sculpture created by the late Walter Yarwood (right) will find a place of honour in a garden with seating outside the proposed retail store. Despite its deteriorated condition the bronze has stood the ravages of some 50 years pretty well. It’s dirty and stained but the welds are sound. A little known feature of the “Coke bottle” sculpture are the scripts of many languages around the bottom. So far as we can tell, they all say Drink Coca Cola Ice Cold (Buvez Coca Cola Glace). All of this is to say the dramatic work will make a nice focus for the public seating on Overlea. The City of Toronto is notorious for twisting the arm of developers to install things like bicycle racks at new car dealerships. How about a few dollars to clean up the Yarwood before it is installed. If you would like to read more about  Torontonian Walter Yarwood, here is his biography. 

Fire damages St Jacob’s Mennonite Market

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Fire has razed parts of the St. Jacob’s Farmers Market in St. Jacob’s Ontario, a short distance from Kitchener-Waterloo. It was a well-known destination for weekend shoppers from all over Southern Ontario and a hub of Mennonite culture. The story of the market is told in the video at left. No one was was hurt in the blaze which occurred overnight and no cause has been determined.

“BlackBerry can survive as a niche phone maker”

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The Wall Street Journal is reporting that a  member of the BlackBerry  board, Bert Nordberg, has told it that the company can survive as a “niche smartphone maker”. Some call this a kind of public capitulation by the Canadian tech firm. Mr Nordberg is the person assigned by the board to find alternatives to Blackberry’s current wobbly position — somewhere between a fire sale and the onslaught of Apple. Mr. Nordberg did not rule out a sale of Blackberry. There is also the possibility of going private but that strategy seems murky against the company’s challenges. 

“Pop one on and you’ll feel better” firestorm

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The appearance of the trademarked names of three potentially lethal prescription drugs on women’s casual fashions has created a firestorm of protest in the U.S.  The shirts were created by celebrity favourite Brian Lichtenberg for the California fashion chain Kitson and are marketed with the suggestion that their young purchasers should “Pop one on and you’ll feel better. Doctor’s orders.” Manufacturers of the three tranquilizer drugs, Adderall, Xanax and Vicodin, are threatening to sue and are demanding the shirts be withdrawn. For his part, Mr. Lichtenberg, has thrown up the “art” and “parody” defense saying he wants to “open the door to much needed dialogue” — or tons of money perhaps At last notice, Adderall is banned in Canada and the others available by prescription only. 

Pope: “All men of goodwill” pray for peace in Syria

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To robust applause from the gathered faithful, Pope Francis called Sunday for a day of prayer and fasting over the violence in Syria. Devoting the totality of his weekly remarks in St. Peter’s Square to the civil war in Syria, Francis invited “all men of good will” to join with Catholics on September 7 to take part in the prayer and fast. He condemned in strong and personal terms the recent use of of chemical weapons. “I tell you that those terrible images from recent days are burned into my mind and heart,” Francis said. “There is a judgment of God and of history upon our actions which is inescapable!” CNN

“Doctor Rooftop will be with you in a moment”

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The large and well-known building on Eglinton West at Elmsthorpe Ave. appears this weekend to be sprouting a white-coated physician from the roof. The owner of this property has applied to build up to a total of four storeys. It is believed he intends to place a new medical services centre on the as-yet-to-be built LRT. We think Dr. Rooftop is a sign of the plan to do just that.  The building has been home in recent years to a pop up discounter, Brands 4 Less and the eclectic home and clothing store Liv. Before that it was most notably home to Paul Slavens Real Estate, Nestings Kids as well as many others. We believe 418 Eglinton dates from 1936 when it was built as an A and P grocery store. 

David Frost, broadcaster and writer, dead at 74

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BBC

New amalgamated union “Unifor” elects president

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Jerry Diaz

The merger of the Canadian Auto Workers Union and Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union has created the country’s largest private industry union. At the founding convention Saturday in Toronto, Jerry Dias was elected president of Unifor. Mr. Dias had huge support in the voting, garnering some 87 percent of member support at the convention. He addressed the unionists and later issued a release:  “Unifor is here because it’s time to stop playing defence and it’s time we started to play offence. It’s time to stop reacting and it’s time to start setting the agenda.”  The new leader seems to be especially bitter about the federal government. ”The Conservative government has decided to challenge our democratic right to organize and collect dues. They are singling out unions. They’re attacking our finances. They’re attacking our ability to represent our members,” said Mr. Dias.

Sure, driverless cars — but maybe we’ll hate them

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It appears that those who know about the urgent arrival of driverless cars say it’s going to be an awful shock to us when they materialize in showrooms in as soon as four years. It quotes an expert of some sort, Paul Godsmark, as saying we have to “get sub-optimal humans out of the equation.”  That’s right Paul. In fact, self driving cars are too good for people. Make people walk and maybe bring the cars coffee.  Are we still perimitted to make coffee?  Rob Drinkwater

LRT stations and where they may be located

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The location of Eglinton LRT stations across the top of South Bayview continues to be a work in progress, evidently. Still, the estimable Bree Rody-Mantha has winkled out a few details, and we can add some more. The discussion has been underway among transit wonks for years as to where such stations should be located. In 2011, the Urban Toronto forum thread on this subject contained great detail on the so-called “station box” for the stop at Bayview Ave. It was to sit underground across Bayview on the north side, accessible from the Metro lot and from Sunnybrook Plaza. In the current issues of the Post Magazines,  Ms Rody-Mantha has learned that the address of  1787 Bayview is mentioned as the location of the stop. That’s the McDonald’s building overlooking Talbot Park. But it may well be that this is merely a stairway entrance on the south sidewalk which will take riders to the platforms underground with the McDonald’s untouched,  At Mount Pleasant, it appears the old bank building (inset) , now a Second Cup, will be the site of  the LRT station. It’s nice to think that the 1940s centre of local commerce might survive as a train station but that seems a long shot. At Avenue Rd., the Metrolinx authorities were at some pains, Ms Rody-Mantha reports, to deny that the building now housing Oink Oink would have any role in the placement of the station at that street. Whatever the case, it is clear that Metrolinx is not finished the process of settling on locations and as one retailer on the route told Ms Rody-Mantha “they’ve changed their mind three or four times….” In such matters as this, it seems reasonable. The address of 1155 Eglinton Ave. E is given for the Don Mills Station. That number is well east of the Don Valley Parkway on Google maps but Google become inaccurate when there are no buildings to reference.  There is apparently no information from Metrolinx for the stations at Laird Drive and the now on-again stop at Leslie Street. As to Laird, the old TD Bank building on the northwest corner (now a Starbucks) would make a graceful station entrance but once again, The Bulldog may be day dreaming. Previous post 

100,000 sq ft of green space at Overlea Costco

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The Toronto city staff report on the proposal by Costco to develop the old Coca Cola properties on Overlea Blvd. is now online. The report will be considered by North York Community council on September 10, 2013. As previously reported by The South Bayview Bulldog, Costco wishes to demolish the present buildings dating from 1965. The new structure would be a one-storey, 156,521 square foot store and warehouse. The staff report says, among many other things: “The site design includes 100,331 sq,ft. of landscape area representing approximately 18% of the site area (the buildings occupy 28% and the surface parking lot occupies 54%). Landscaped areas are proposed along the Overlea Boulevard frontage (ranging from a depth of 14 to 20 metres); landscaped islands within the parking lot; within a 3 metre strip along the entire western edge of the site; and within a strip of varying dimension along the Thorncliffe Park Drive frontage. The design of the Overlea Boulevard landscaped frontage would include a large pedestrian seating area in front of the building (and in close proximity to an existing TTC bus service stop) and centred around the relocated Coca-Cola bronze sculpture.”  The sculpture is the work of the late Walter Yarwood, one of the so-called Painters 11. These were Canadian artists who formed their relationship in Toronto in 1953.  The Costco plan also calls for a four-island, eight pump service station on Thorncliffe Park Dr. and 607 outdoor parking spaces.  Staff reports like this one are intended to guide council and usually become the  basis for the terms on which permission is given to proceed.

Night owl mines gas-bar gold in Europe

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The familiar Mac’s Milk logo with the winking owl is how most of us know the Quebec-based mammoth Alimentation Couche-Tard. Next time you step into the Mac’s at Sunnybrook Plaza or the On-the-run store in the Esso station at Merton and Mt Pleasant, you will be visiting one of the most profitable companies in the country. The name means Night Owl Supply more or less in English. Last year Couche Tard purchased a 2300-location gas bar chain from the Norwegian company StatOil ASA. The oil producer had spun off its retailing business and collected some $2.8 billion for it from Couche Tard. Now the payoff. Yesterday Couche Tard reported that its quarterly profit more than doubled compared with a year ago — $255 million, up from $102.9 million. Couche Tard, already the largest convenience store operator in North America, now has locations similar to the On-the-run grocery and gas outlets in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Russia.