It’s time to sign up for Toronto-run summer camps The municipal news release reminds us that these camps are an exciting, inexpensive and safe way for kids from three to 15 to have fun this summer. The release says: The registration dates for all four districts are: Etobicoke York District: Saturday, March 2 Scarborough District: Sunday, March 3 North York District: Tuesday, March 5 Toronto and York District: Wednesday, March 6. You can register online here beginning at 7 a.m. to midnight on the district’s registration date. Touch Tone Registration (TTR) is available from 7 a.m. to midnight. Call 416-338-0000 and follow the voice prompts. Operator assisted registration is available from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the initial registration day and from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day following registration. Call 416-338-4386 (4FUN).
Jelly Modern Doughnut will be an O and O
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| Rita, Roseanne and Chef Grayson |
Rita Tripathy of the “Jelly Sisters” (Rita and Roseanne) writes to note that the first of the Jelly Modern Doughnut shops to be set up in Toronto will be owned and operated by the Calgary company that created the brand. Rita says their collaborator in specialty doughnut-making, Chef Grayson Sherman, is going to create “some great doughnuts for Toronto”. In a 2011 interview Grayson told the website 101 “If you work with quality and you understand it and you approach it with a respect you’re going to end up with a wonderful final product. I’m a huge advocate of comfort food. I’m probably at the complete opposite end of the spectrum from molecular gastronomy. I feel that just because we’ve reached a level of evolution in the technology that we can do it, it doesn’t mean that we should.”
Queen declines offer to colour palace green
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One of the better larks by the tourism-hungry Irish was to ask the Queen to let them turn Buckingham Palace green for St. Patrick’s Day. Her Majesty kept on smiling and said her decision to pass on this lovely offer was not to take anything away from the very special affection she has for the country and the people of Ireland, especially following her historic State Visit in 2011. Here in Canada, many will have noticed the vigorous campaign by Tourism Ireland to persuade us to visit that land this year. It’s a lovely experience even if — we might say especially if — you are not Irish. Pre-recession Ireland was in a kind Euro-happy high. The streets of Dublin, Cork and other towns were humming with hundreds of thousands of workers from throughout the EU. It was frequently difficult to find an Irishman in Grafton Street, except for the statues of endless poets and patriots guarding every corner. Now, in much harder times, Ireland looks abroad for dollars and as a beautiful, congenial and safe place, there hardly seems a better vacation choice for those with the time and money.Town Centre Target will open March 25, 2013
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The new Target store in the East York Town Centre is all dressed up and loaded with stock. Inside, staff is putting the last details in place because the biggest store in the Target Canada chain is set to open to the public on Monday, March 25, 2013. Sources at the Town Centre said today there will be a media day held at the Overlea Blvd. store on Sunday, March 24, 2013. Target announced yesterday that some of its stores would open in March, with many more unlocking the doors in April. The Overlea store is said to be the largest by square footage in the chain. It’s one of only a few with two levels. Outside, the familiar Target colours can be seen on the trademark shopping cart racks. Target has also installed security cameras in the parking lot and placed several signs to that effect as a matter of reassuring shoppers.
Police arrest man wanted in subway stabbing
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| CBC and others named wanted man |
Police have arrested a man wanted for the Wednesday night stabbing of a subway passenger on a train near the Davisville Station. The individual, Cassim Celani Cummings, 20, was named following the attack as police viewed surveillance video. Witnesses say the attacked person had been standing up for other passengers who were being verbally abused by the wanted man. The victim, a 45-year-old man, was taken to hospital with serious, but non life-threatening injuries. He is expected to recover.
Jelly Modern Doughnuts heading to Toronto
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| It’s called S’More |
The Calgary business success known as Jelly Modern Doughnuts is expanding to Toronto. The company makes the announcement next to pictures of the cafe and bakery’s notoriously gooey fare on its website. The arrival is said to be in April but so far no information on just where the Jellys will go. The company says an appearance on the Food Network has driven demand for its pastries. Among the favorites is the maple bacon doughnut. Jelly Modern Doughnut And Official Site
Americans flock to the Internet for news
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| Walter Cronkite |
A poll by Rasmussen Reports in the U.S shows how far the world has come since the day of the great evening news anchors. It shows that more Americans now get their news from the Internet than from traditional network news. The net exceeds evening news by 25 to 24 percent. Cable news, however, continues to lead both with 32 percent. The poll has barely 10 percent of news users reading newspapers, although the data does not indicate if this includes newspaper websites. When Walter Cronkite ruled the airwaves he did so literally, garnering a large percentage of those seeking their primary source o news. The poll was based on 1,000 likely voters.
Bonnie Byford RE moves to temporary offices
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The offices of Bonnie Byford Real Estate will move into temporary quarters on Monday, March 4, 2013. The storefront at 1536 Bayview will be closed during “fire remediation repairs” required following the blaze which destroyed Leaside Cleaners two doors north in the Fall of 2011. There was considerable smoke damage done at that time and much of the pollution from the fire remains in the walls of the adjoined buildings. In the meantime, business will go on across the street at 1515A Bayview Ave upstairs over Write Impressions. The space was formerly leased by Barry Lynn Law. The contractor estimates work will take about ten weeks before Byford Real Estate returns to its long-time home. The phone number remains (416) 483-4444
Star’s morning cup of concern about rich whites
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It may well be that immigrants and newcomers to Toronto don’t use ravines for recreation. A reasonable perhaps if somewhat undefined concern. At the Toronto Star however Catherine Porter wants us to know that it is not enough to fix this Most importantly we must understand that ravines “aren’t just for rich white people.” Not moderate-income whites, mind you, but rich ones. The entirely fabricated notion that the ravines might be seen as rich white peoples parks receives grave consideration. How else to get others to tread there? Excellent work Catherine. Bless your healing hand.
Helicopter uses backwash to push deer to safety
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A recurring act of kindness is seen again as deer are unable to find their footing on frozen lakes. Naturalist Ian Waugh witnessed this rescue and took the video linked at the bottom of text of a doe on the ice near Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The animal was exhausted after escaping from a fall through the ice. Her fawn, which was able to stand, would not leave her side. At this point a pilot in a government helicopter struck on a plan to hover over the deer and blow them towards shore with the backwash from the blades. The scheme worked and when the animal was close enough to shore, other men grabbed the doe and pulled the deer onto firm land. Video is a must see Walmsley Brook to chase the February blahs
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A day like today is a good time to reflect on the verdant charms of Walmsley Brook, a natural feature of pre-suburban Toronto that ran across Mt Pleasant Rd. and down what is now Roehampton Ave. (map inset). There is a welcome plan to recreate as well as possible the feeling of Walmsley Brook in the Northern Lakes Landscape Design Project. This project will employ the green space in front of Northern Secondary School (inset) on Mt. Pleasant between Broadway Ave. and Roehampton. The project will recall “a dry river bed with trees, rock seating areas, planting and flagstone paths.” A news letter from Josh Matlow (Ward 22) says the final work “will provide a peaceful public space in a busy area.” Residents of South Bayview can see from the inset map that Walmsley Brook traversed the area north of Eglinton and then fell into the valley holding Talbot Park. The brook travelled on through Leaside and across what is now Laird Drive near Commercial Street. Near the infilled portion of Beth Nealson Drive it took a long tumble into the Don Valley and then joined the river, according to historians, The green space project is said to have been financed with $75,000 in developers fees. The picture of Northern Secondary School was taken in 1939 when the street was paved for the first time. Fixing the Bayview Ave dead zone (Part 3)
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Regular commentator Susan J. has kindly offered an opinion on the lack of bus service between the south end of South Bayview and the shopping district at Bayview and Millwood. She asks whether it might be possible to run the 28 Bayview rush hour bus down to Moore Ave. There is reason to think about this, even though the 28 is at present merely a Monday to Friday rush hour service. It comes from Davisville Station and turns north at Cleveland Street and then east on Belsize Dr. where it typically waits for passengers beside the Royal Bank at Belsize and Bayview. It then turns back down Bayview to return to Davisville Station. We wish there were handy statistics on just how many passengers the 28 carries because it does seem from a casual observation to be a very heavily used route. All of which is to say that if there is any potential excess in TTC facilities and personnel it would be ideal to add a limited service route out of St. Clair Station and have it short turn as does the 28. The easy part of fixing the dead zone is that it does not require a service which runs very frequently. There is no rush hour element nor does it have to run more than eight or ten hours a day. Most residents of Moore Park, Bennington Heights and the neightborhoods of south Leaside might find that a service which ran on a one hour headway from 10 am to 6 p.m. Monday to Saturday would be ideal. The new GPS driven service known as NextBus.com permits passengers to organize their time in a way which was never previously possible and thus work around bus times in a very effective way. Thanks to Susan J. for prompting these thoughts and we invite all readers to add their ideas by writing to us at news@bayview-news.com