Battle set on city hall bike station and showers

Mayor Ford has pledged to do whatever he can to defeat the proposed bicycle parking station and shower stalls planned for the parking garage under city hall. “I’m going to try to kill it at council,” says Mr. Ford. The $1.2 million bike station was approved by the government management committee Monday and will go to council for approval next month. The plan includes four showers.

Star says 21 on council will vote “no” on casino

Star writers Daniel Dale and David Rider say that 21 councillors have now declared they will definitely vote against a large downtown/waterfront casino. A majority of 23 votes is required on council to approve the project. The casino journey has seen the growth of a vigorous and widespread taxpayer opposition to the concept. Two other councillors are leaning to the No side — one of them, Ana Bailao, strongly. Even if two of those 23 councillors change their minds, the No side is still probably safe, barring some major unexpected development. The story says, “Some 15 other councillors are publicly undecided, including two, Glenn De Baeremaeker and Anthony Perruzza, who almost always vote with the left. The casino would still go down to defeat if the undecideds broke 13-2 in its favour, which is highly unlikely.”

Recall issued for Old Navy cotton pajamas

The Federal Government has issued a recall for Old Navy footed and non-footed one-piece sleepers with the style number starting with 476746. The Healthy Canadians notice says: “They are made of 100% cotton. The hazard identified by Health Canada’s sampling and evaluation program has determined that these products do not meet the flammability requirements for children’s sleepwear under Canadian law. Loose-fitting children’s sleepwear can contact ignition sources such as stove elements, candles, and matches more readily than tight-fitting sleepwear, and once ignited will burn rapidly, potentially resulting in severe burns to large areas of the child’s body. For this reason, cotton is not permitted in loose-fitting sleepwear. Neither Health Canada nor Old Navy has received reports of incidents or injuries related to the use of the affected sleepwear.” The recall notes that some 15,550 of the recalled products were sold in Canada between June 2012 to February 2013. Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled products and return them to where they were purchased.  

Boring on the Eglinton tunnel to begin in May

Boring of the tunnel which will carry the Crosstown LRT along Eglinton Ave. will begin in May, the transportation minister said today.  Glen Murray spoke at a ceremony on Eglinton West near Black Creek Drive where the excavation will begin. The LRT will stretch 19 km along Eglinton Ave with 11 km of that being underground. The two boring machines now on site at the west end will advance a distance of 14 metres a day as they move east. The project is estimated to be finished in 2020.

Astonishing 16-year-old speaks 23 languages

Timothy Doner

Timothy Doner isn’t the captain of the basketball team. He’s not the student council president and he’s not starring in his school’s play. But the 17-year-old teenager easily stands apart from the rest of his peers at school, if not the rest of the youth in the U.S. Doner will practice languages at restaurants and meet-ups throughout New York, speaking Arabic in Astoria, Queens to Mandarin in New York City’s Chinatown. He’ll even order his kabob from street vendors using arabic.  New Tang  Dynasty TV. 

Raw joy in Lotto winner’s Happy Dance

See video

You will have seen perhaps the raw and exuberant joy generated by the most recent $40 million Lotto Max outcome. The energy and pure spontaneity of Maria Carreiros is very special. You can take a look at the CBC video of it on this page. In the midst of it, her daughter breaks down in tears and says what of all of us know. “It’s so much money”. Take a look again because you won’t see a lottery winner who expresses her happiness like this for a very long time. 

Toronto to build showers for sweaty riders at 2 bike stations

Toronto management committee has voted to include showers at a city hall bike station so that sweaty cyclists can emerge from their trip downtown smelling sweet. The decision follows previous approval to put showers in a bike station to be built at Union Station. Of course, not all cyclists will be able to use the showers even if they want to. There will not be enough. In fact, it is an open question whether anyone will use them. It depends how many people like the idea of showering in a municipal parking garage. (You summon up your images, we’ll summon up ours). Beyond this, the whole thing will require the loss of 24 parking spaces which at present produce $70,000 in revenue. The total cost of the station and showers will be $1.2 million. This is being done, so far as anyone can tell, because riding a bicycle to work is an act of good. Story

Henderson, Messier and King are honoured

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has awarded the Order of Hockey in Canada to NHL stars Paul Henderson and Mark Messier and former Team Canada coach Dave King at a ceremony in the Parliament Buildings Monday.  This was the second year the honour has been awarded by Hockey Canada and the prime minister took part in a hockey “hotstove” discussion with Messier, Henderson, King. The Order of Hockey in Canada celebrates people “who have made an extraordinary contribution to hockey in Canada.” 

Dolly Jewellers to open this month on Bayview

Alex and Beverly Simmons were busy making adjustments to their new location at 1699 Bayview today.  They are the second generation owners of Dolly Jewellers, a firm that was founded in 1946 by Bev’s dad Ned Austin.  Alex explained that over the years the company has grown and sometimes contracted. At one time there were six locations. This however will be a second store to go with the original location at 1971 Weston Road.    They hope to open late this month. 1699 is the location near Hillsdale which was occupied by Smokin Cigar for so many years. 

Nordstrom will open store in Yorkdale

Nordstrom, the high-service family-owned department store based in Seattle, will open a store in Yorkdale Shopping Centre. It is the second Toronto area store planned by Nordstrom, the other being in Sherway Plaza.  The three-level, 188,000 sq. ft. store will be housed in the mall’s new expansion which is set to begin January 2014. Nordstrom was founded in 1887 and has always emphasized service. For many years new employees were given a company handbook welcoming them. It said: “Use the best judgement in all situations. There are no  other rules.”