The South Bayview Bulldog

This afternoon brought blessed relief for families in the  southeastern Toronto neighborhood of Leslieville where everyone had been wearing winter clothes indoors. Power was off for some 12 hours in frigid temperatures. Late today, Toronto Hydro said that it had restored power to all but a few customers. They were working furiously into the night to get those homes back on line. Across the city, last night’s howling winds blew away garbage cans and paper boxes, knocked down electrical wires and brought down a few big trees. One of them blocked traffic on Rosedale Valley Rd all day (inset upper). On Blythwood Road (inset lower) Toronto urban forestry crews were summoned to get rid of a lofty Spruce tree. They stripped its boughs and then cut down the trunk.  Toronto Hydro tweeted that its crews “continue with power restoration efforts to last 100 customers who remain without power.” 

Nice summary of the return of hockey excitement to Canada from  the CBC. High points include the return of the Vancouver Canucks “Green Men” and the picture inset which was tweeted from space by Astronaut Chris Hadfield  He shared a photograph of our town calling it “home of my favourite team, the Maple Leafs,” he wrote “as seen from the International Space Station.”  He also had a request for NHL fans: “I won’t get to see the Leafs-Habs game on the Space Station until it’s sent up to me tomorrow,” he wrote. “Can you keep the score a secret?”  CBC

Some pharmacies across South Bayview are out of flu  vaccine, but the shortage is expected to be brief. Because demand for the shot is so high, based on the flood of late-comers responding to this year’s epidemic, delivery of the flu shot has become slightly sporadic in Toronto. There is plenty of the vaccine in stock but in some cases, it can’t be shipped fast enough to keep up with local demand. This sign at the Pharma Plus on Moore  Ave near Bayview Ave. is up today. The drugstore expects to have more of the flu shot allocation very soon but this week’s supply didn’t arrive. 

The old CIBC branch at 180 Laird Dr. (at McRae Dr.) has been sold after about three months on the market. It was listed at $1.9 million but a source at the listing firm CBRE Group Inc. said it sold for well over that amount. As is expected in such maters, there is secrecy around who purchased this interesting place, right at a choice corner in Leaside.  That information will be available after the transaction is reported to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and that should be by February 1, 2013. Then we will ask how the location is to be used. As previously posted in October, 180 Laird is a two a storey building dating perhaps from the 1930s. It has 18-odd parking spaces. There are about  3,000 square feet downstairs and  2,000 square feet upstairs. It is across the street from the SmartCentre. Planners have noted that if this building were removed it would permit a much smoother flow of traffic through the Laird, McRae, Wicksteed intersection. Over the front door the property comes with a very nice coat of arms in concrete of the now defunct Imperial Bank of Canada.   Imperial and the Canadian Bank of Commerce merged in 1960. Incidental to the agent, CBRE Group, Inc. is a Fortune 500 and SP 500 company headquartered in Los Angeles. It is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2011 revenue). The company has approximately 34,000 employees (excluding affiliates) and serves real estate owners, investors and tenants/lessees through more than 300 offices (excluding affiliates) worldwide. In past times, the initials in its name have stood for Coldwell and Richard Ellis but it is unclear if they have any official relation to the name today. With Wikipedia