Holyday again tells Ford to make full statement

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Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday

Deputy Mayor Doug Holyday has held an impromptu news conference today (Friday, May 24, 2013) saying that members of executive committee will be releasing a letter to Mayor Ford asking him to make a clear statement about the allegations that there is video showing him smoking crack cocaine. Mr. Holyday’s statement coincides with media reports that he and other allies of the mayor on council are preparing to run the city in Mr. Ford’s absence if for any reason he is unable to perform his duties.  The mayor has not directly addressed the drug-use allegations publicly. Also Friday morning, the mayor’s chief of staff Mark Towhey is reported to have given the mayor a choice courses. They are: go to rehabilitation, resign or make a definitive denial of the allegations. As posted below, Mr. Towhey was fired yesterday. 

Ford fires chief of staff Towhey over “advice”

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Mayor Ford has fired his chief of staff Mark Towhey. Towhey was escorted from City Hall today at which time he said  “I am no longer the chief of staff. I did not resign. I’ve given the mayor my advice. He can take it or not take it,” Towhey said.. A brief statement from Ford’s office gave no reason for Towhey’s firing but said that deputy chief of staff Earl Provost will take over Towhey’s job. Provost had served as interim chief of staff. Toronto Sun

Leaside Lawn Bowling Club on Doors Open tour

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For the first time, the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club at 190 Hanna Road is listed among the places to see during the annual  Doors Open Toronto touring event being held this weekend (May 25-26, 2013).  Doors Open Toronto is sponsored by the developer Great Gulf and organized by the City.  There are more than 150 buildings old and new whose owners will open their doors so the public can get a peek inside these interesting and sometimes very historic buildings. The Leaside Lawn Bowling Club (left) was chosen as it celebrates its 60th anniversary and also marks the centennial of Leaside. The idea for the club began in the late 1940s when the Corporation of the Town of Leaside started to plan a park and sports complex (Howard Talbot Park) at the corner of Bayview and Eglinton Avenues. A clubhouse was built in 1952, and the Leaside Lawn Bowling Club was officially opened in 1953. Membership in the club was originally open to all male residents of the town of Leaside, who would be the only voting members of the club. Associate membership was also granted to persons residing outside the Town of Leaside and to ladies. In 1990, the two divisions of the club, male and female, were amalgamated. Among other buildings to see this weekend are the remarkable 1899 factory of the Toronto Carpet Manufacturing Company at 67 Mowat Ave (right) and the 107-year-old Toronto Fire Station 227 at 1904 Queen Street E. built in Dutch-Flemish Renaissance style (centre).  

40 more stores in Canada says Whole Foods

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The plan to open a Whole Foods supermarket in the as-yet unbuilt RioCan development at 1860 Bayview Ave (at Broadway Ave.) is only part of what appears to a very ambitious expansion in Canada. John Mackey, whose title is co-CEO, has told a conference in Montreal that as many as 40 stores might eventually be opened here. The target gross sales in Canada would be $billion annually, he said. Mr. Mackey would not say how long such a program of growth might take. He was speaking at the C2-Mtl conference. This appears to be a Montreal-based annual meeting described online as a “three-day event (that) is designed to inspire right and left brain thinking through a smorgasbord of non-traditional experiences, including multimedia conferences by world class speakers, engaging exhibitions, collaborative workshops, a creativity Boot Camp and evening festivities.”  Whole Foods is an Austin, Texas-based grocery chain that is much admired by many consumers but shunned by others because it excludes lines it considers either unhealthy or unorganic. Many complain for example that they can’t buy Coca Cola at Whole Foods, nor get brand name margerines like Becel. 

Corktown Common top name for off-Bayview park

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An unofficial contest to name the West Don Lands park west of lower Bayview Ave. has chosen the name Corktown Common. The name was submitted to general voting by  Toronto resident Tedd Konya. The contest was sponsored by Waterfront Toronto the weekly paper The Grid. The name references the Corktown neighbourhood within which the park will sit. Corktown is named to honour the Irish workers who settled there after the so-called Irish Potato Famine of the mid-19th century. The new name must be approved by Toronto and East York Community Council at its meeting on June 18. During the six week Name That Park contest almost 450 suggestions were submitted and nearly 1,500 people voted for their favourite name during the voting round. Corktown Common, submitted by Mr. Konya, received the most votes.

Brother says he believes mayor, condemns media

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The mayor’s brother, Doug Ford, has made a statement in which he said his brother calls the crack coaine charges “untrue” and that he believes his brother. Doug Ford then began an extensive attack on the Toronto Star and the media in general. The councillor’s performance has flabbergasted  members of council. Friends of the mayor are saying the content and tone of Doug Ford’s remarks are unforunate and unhelpful. Jaye Robinson (Ward 25) who in the past has been a frequent ally of the mayor, said she could not remain silent any longer. She said it was time the city heard from the mayor himself, not “his big brother.” Some say the events of today portend a collapse of such remaining goodwill that exists for the mayor.  CTV

The good and bad of traffic in Leaside

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A study of traffic in Leaside is on the mind of North York Community Council. John Parker (Ward 26) thinks one is necessary. Speaking at Council he cited the impact of the LRT. Certainly high-rise residential development on Eglinton and nearby the LRT has potential to create more traffic. People who live in condominiums cannot be expected to deny themselves cars, LRT or no LRT. Laird Drive will be busy with business and shopping traffic for years to come. It has parking, however, provided by the landowners both large and small. Bayview Ave., on the other hand, will almost always be congested and those who live there may wish to say a prayer of thanks about that.  Why? A decision was made a long time ago to save the unique treasure embodied in our wide, wide sidewalks. Whatever else may vex this venerable business district, it would be a much less attractive place without those sidewalks. They constrict the cars to two lanes but so be it. Residential Leaside will no doubt see more traffic on its mostly very quiet streets. The planners who laid out the town lived in a time when it was clear that houses needed driveways and garages. Frankly, residential off-street parking is everything. That modern realization will save Leaside from the street parking that has turned many older neighborhoods into one-way wonders. Council has concluded that any study, when money is found, should be bounded by Glenvale Boulevard to the north, Leslie Street and the CP tracks to the east and south and Bayview Avenue to the west

Cars “melt” under fallen wires near Alliston

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These pictures snatched from TV tonight (Tuesday, May 21) show the splintered hydro poles along County Road 10 near Alliston this afternoon where several drivers were trapped. The poles began to fall like ten pins when a freak wind and rainstorm blasted through the area blowing some vehicles, including an OPP cruiser, right off the road. One driver is shown on CP24 saying that he watched a live, high voltage power line laying across his rear view mirror begin to melt the metal.  Other drivers said they watched in amazement as the poles began to fall, domino-like trapping their cars in a tangle of wood and wire. OPP warned motorists to stay in their vehicles until power was turned off and they were able to safely leave. The Honda Motor Co. cancelled today’s afternoon shift because of dangerous conditions.  

Powerless to speed Laird Drive hydro upgrade

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Single lane northbound
We’re heading into month three of the hydro upgrade on Laird Drive and there’s lots of work being done, but it is a long street. We hear it may be about the end of summer by the time the new hydro conduit is laid and cabled all the way to Eglinton. Those on South Bayview will recall it took five months to finish a similar job on the Bulldog’s namesake drag in 2009. At that time it was said the work would permit the burying of high voltage lines under South Bayview. So far that part remains to be done. This picture of the Laird Drive work is taken right outside the CIBC branch in the Leaside Village. Pedestrians today were using the bank as a bypass sidewalk rather than cross the street. In the south door, across the reception area, say hi to the picture of Manager Despina Polymeris and out the north door. Stay calm and carry on, we say. 

Council votes 40 to 4 to kill casino in Toronto

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Toronto City Council has voted 40  to 4 against having any new gaming ventures in the community. Much of the opposition centred on the perceived social ills of a casino. The decision was taken on a motion by Councillor Mike Layton to oppose the establishment of any new gambling site in Toronto. Mayor Ford’s motion to oppose a downtown casino but expand gambling at Woodbine failed by a vote of 13 to 31. A second motion by Mr. Layton to oppose expanding Woodbine passed 24 to 20. Speaking in a news conference at Queen’s Park, Premier Wynne said her plan to modernize the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation will proceed regardless of whether there is a casino in Toronto. Ms Wynne replied to questions about her dismissal of former chairman Paul; Godfrey by saying she had two critical differences with him. One was how horse racing was to be integrated into the OLG and the second was the principal of no special deal for Toronto, if it were to host a casino. On this day as well, Ms Wynne heard that Andrea Horwath, leader of the NDP, had committed her party to supporting the Liberal budget, thus averting an election.