Agile RioCan a strong presence in South Bayview

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The dynamic real estate investment trust RioCan is an ever present force in South Bayview. With headquarters at Yonge St and Eglinton Ave., RioCan owns the property at Laird Dr. and Eglinton  E. That’s the Leaside Centre. It also owns the Sunnybrook Plaza and will shortly take over at the yet-to-be-built 1860 Bayview Ave., home of a new Whole Foods store. RioCan has been under pressure since early May as the market tanked. Still, there is advice from many informed sources that this diverse and widely-spread firm is a very good hold. This article is from the Globe and Mail.  Rio.Can prospects. A measure of RioCan’s agility is its re-making of the out-dated Blue Mountain Mall in Collingwood. RioCan has permission from town council to revitalize the mall by demolishing some of it and using the inside corridors for retail space. It sounds like more of the mall’s doors will be on the outside of the complex. RioCan says it is converting a mall into a plaza. This conjurers up storefronts on the parking lot rather than inside. It seems a smart move as retailers frequently say there is nothing so good for business as having your door on main street. 

Umbra opens retail store in Shanghai mall

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Umbra, the Canadian home accessories design firm, has opened a store in the Jinqiao Mall in Shanghai. Umbra’s picture frames and some other items could be seen recently in large amounts in the Urban Barn store in the SmartCentre at Laird Drive and Wicksteed Ave. Umbra’s history is interesting because it started as a supplier to  retail firms some 33 years ago and many of its designs were very smart. Its vertical transition has been on-going for a number of years and has led to less interest among independent shops which do not want to compete with a supplier at the retail level. Nonetheless, there is no denying the extraordinary success of Umbra.  

Canada is “full” Suzuki tells Parisian newspaper

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Environmentalist icon David Suzuki says Canada’s immigration policy is “disgusting” for contributing to a brain drain from poorer countries and that Canada doesn’t have enough room to accommodate many more newcomers. He made his remarks to French newspaper L’Express on July 1, as part of a wide-ranging interview about climate change and environmentalism.  Canada

“Taliban failed to silence us,” says brave Malala

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Malala Yousafzai, has marked her 16th birthday with an eloquent and inspiring speech to the United Nations. The Pakistani girl was shot by the Taliban last year and her message today was that their attack has only raised millions of voices in favour of education for women and girls. She said that books and pens scare extremists.  Above is an extract of the speech. The full speech may be seen here. 

Empty Dreamliner catches fire at Heathrow

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An Ethiopian Airlines 787 Dreamliner has suffered an “internal fire” while sitting empty on the tarmac at Heathrow Airport. All reports on this fire are being issued in very guarded language as if no one wants to say the word batteries. Boeing says it has people on the ground and they are trying to get to the bottom of the fire. The Dreamliner was grounded this year because of the fire potential in the newly-designed lithium batteries designed to reduce weight. In what some consider a scandalous mistake, Boeing and other certified the batteries as safe when in fact they were very prone to fire. There has since been adjustments made but this incident, if it is a battery fire, will cause great concern for the safety of the 787.  

GO couldn’t turn train around fast enough

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GO train management says Monday’s stranding of the 5.30 service to Richmond Hill  happened because of the time it took for the engineer to run to the opposite end of the train. At 5.45 p.m., GO control told the driver to reverse the train and come back to Union Station. But the water was rising so swiftly, the hike back through the 280 metre-long train took long enough for the flood to surround the train. 

Q Living on Bayview to open in “2 or 3 weeks”

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The owners of Q Living, the new health food store at 1622 Bayview, say they will be open in two or three weeks. The current job is stocking the shop. This owner has another  Q Living in Toronto on Bloor Street near Christie Street. The Q in the name stands for a Chinese word that apparently has a meaning similar to “energy” in English.

Tree rectangles to be finished in terrazzo

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The tree boxes along the east side of Bayview are progressing, although not quite the way it was suggested by people on the scene who should know. It now appears that the rectangles will be largely finished in a kind of terrazzo surface.  That’s the rough looking rock like material you can find on the street today. It will, apparently be ground down (like terrazzo) into a smooth and we hope decorative finish. The trees will of course go in the holes and perhaps there will be grates surrounding the trunks.

Here’s the story on how Balliol St and Laird Dr were named

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Balliol College, Robert Laird Borden

A couple of local street names are on The Bulldog’s scribbling pad today. Balliol Street, the leafy residential avenue running from Bayview Ave to Yonge Street, is named after Balliol College at Oxford University. Balliol was founded in 1263. It may or may not take its name from the 13th century King of the Scots, John Balliol. What’s certain is that Balliol Street’s tricky juxtaposition of the vowels “i” and “o” has lead to the widespread incorrect pronunciation Bal-oil. Balliol started out and is still pronounced by many (or most) people as Bay-lee-all. Which brings us to Laird Drive. This street takes its name from the middle name of Canada’s eighth prime minister Robert Laird Borden. His mother was Eunice Jane Laird. Borden served as PM from 1911 to 1920, which all good Leasiders will recognize as the period in which the town was founded. Some depictions of Borden make him look like a curmudgeon but the others say he was actually fairly good company.

Who’s reporting all the fence, hedge infractions?

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Surely nothing like this could happen in Leaside! A neighbor, on the prowl for minor bylaw infractions like fence heights, hedge thickness. It’s happening in the ward of Scarborough Centre. It won’t be long before the so far unnamed “vexatious” complainer who has reported many of his neighbors in violation cases will be unmasked. The story’s author, Rachael Mendleson, is writing in the Toronto Star. She has pulled a few punches so far because it is pretty clear at least some of the victims know their accuser. The City also knows but is typically all wrapped up in zero-tolerance, high-privacy mumbo jumbo.  Ms. Mendleson is also rather cheap with information on the location . Scarborough Centre is a huge area. It seems likely this is much more localized than Scarborough Centre and starts with someone who was caught on a violation and is now retaliating.