The South Bayview Bulldog

The LCBO will open an outlet at 1524 Bayview Ave at Millwood Road in the premises formerly occupied by Blockbuster Video before it went bankrupt. Several sources on the site have confirmed the arrival of the liquor store. Renovations are underway even as the old Blockbuster sign remains outside on the long vacant store, which is beside epi breads. It will hardly need saying to anyone with business to do on South Bayview, merchant or shopper, that the arrival of an LCBO is long overdue for the many neighborhoods that look to this street as a preferred shopping destination. The Blockbuster, which has been vacant now for more than 18 months is an ideally-sized space for the liquor outlet. We note the coincidence that 1524 Bayview is slap up against the west border of the provincial riding of Don Valley West whose member if the premier herself.    

Funny thing about streetcars — they have to fit on the tracks. But we love those big electrical passenger ferry boats of  the streets and the TTC has 204 of them just waiting to see if they fit on the city’s tracks. Paula Fletcher (Ward 30 Danforth) told the CBC she’s excited and nervous to see them in action. The trams were designed for Toronto by Bombardier as part of a deal signed in 2009. Ms. Fletcher’s worry is that a vehicle of this kind has never operated in open traffic anywhere in the world. “Everyone’s just waiting to see how well they’re going to work on the current track,” she said. So later this month, when the snow subsides, the new streetcars will hit the tracks and we will all find out of they fit the tracks. Can’t help wondering  where the bus is. Montage: It shows the exterior of the new Bombardier, self-contained motorman’s cab where operator can lock him/herself inside, new miniaturized fare boxes, token and transfer dispenser.  

Reuters is reporting this afternoon that that U.S. and China reached a deal that “significantly expands” U.N. sanctions on North Korea for its third nuclear test, eliciting a renewed threat by Pyongyang to scrap an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea also said it would sever a military “hotline” with the United States if South Korea and Washington pressed on with two-month-long war games. China’s U.N. ambassador, Li Baodong, told Reuters the 15-nation Security Council was aiming for a Thursday vote on a draft sanctions resolution, which was agreed to by Washington and Beijing after three weeks of negotiations. The landmark move, in which China finally seems to have agreed to taking action rather than merely disapproval, still has to unfold. But it is different and reveals the growing concern in China that North Korea might somehow trigger a war. In any such conflict, North Korea would be beaten but the death toll and social impact of the regime’s collapse is troubling to most parties. North Korea’s response to the news is revealing as well. It has not threatened a cataclysm as it frequently does, nor does it dare say a word against China.