Good cop buys shoeless man some boots

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A young New York City cop touched the world in a big way on Wednesday, Nov. 28, when he purchased a pair of boots for a homeless man and tucked the receipt into his own boot in an internet image that has now gone viral. One simple act of kindness has reverberated across the country and maybe even around the world, recorded by a tourist on a cell phone. It wasn’t anything earth-shattering in the scheme of the universe, actually. Officer DePrimo, NYPD, saw a homeless man with no shoes on a very cold night in New York City. Thinking about how his feet were cold under two pair of socks and his boots, he walked into a nearby Skechers store and purchased a pair of boots for $100. When told why, the store employee used his discount to reduce the price of the boots to $75. Officer DePrimo gave the man the boots and then watched him smile and walk away. He never even found out his name. He didn’t have to. It was one of those human to human contacts that warm the heart. New York Examiner

Rolph Road girls are slo-pitch champs again

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What a great picture this is of the Rolph Road Public School Grade Six Girls Slo-Pitch Softball Team. Once again, the Grade Six girls at Rolph are winners of this city-wide competition. It’s the fourth year in a row the Grade Sixers have triumphed and excitement was running high as they approached the challenge this year. This picture was taken by the chair of the school council Robin Dickie. She says she still has to get the boys team to sit still for a picture. The boys also won their Slo-Pitch Championship   Congratulations to all. 

Wizard of Oz rehearsals count down to Dec 20

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Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production of The Wizard of Oz opens Thursday December 20 at the Ed Mirvish Theatre at 244 Victoria Street. This is the cast (left) looking good in some pre-opening publicity activity. It is noted that the Lloyd-Webber production contains “all the beloved songs from the award-winning movie score, all the favourite characters and iconic moments..” That would make sense. It would be just just like them to leave out Ding Dong The Wicked Witch is Dead.  To the right, a nostalgic extra in which Judy Garland sings Over The Rainbow. Notice the well trained doggie playing Toto.  See you at the Ed Mirvish.

Bedford Park Town Homes on Roslin Avenue

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A somewhat unusual project on Roslin Ave in what is loosely called Bedford Park will see these four single family homes demolished and replaced by six town homes as pictured. The development is the work of Balder Corporation and has been named Bedford Park Town Manors. It may be an overly grand name but there seems little doubt the project will improve the street and increase values. Roslin Avenue is a somewhat spotty street of older homes that will probably benefit from some redevelopment. Key to this change is the great location between Yonge St and Mt Pleasant Road and north of Lawrence Ave.  

Will Cody kids sing at Starbucks this season?

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Residents and parents will be waiting to see if the morning concerts normally held at Starbucks on Bayvew Ave. will take place this year. Each December pupils of Maurice Cody Junior Public School sing Christmas and other seasonal songs for patrons. Statements from the elementary school teachers union suggest today that such things as concerts outside of school hours will be one of things that teachers will boycott. All involvement in extracurricular activities,  field trips and  administrative tasks mandated by the Ministry of Education will be refused. The Minister, Laurel Broten, said today that the Government will use legal “tools” to make sure  children are not left behind. This suggests she is considering back-to-work legislation. Two years ago

Illustrator Dewar sees City Hall as it really is

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Sue Dewar in the Toronto Sun has produced a illustration that will speak to a lot of taxpayers. Take look at the link here at her vision of City Hall being carted away by a salvage helicopter to the City Dump. Perfect. Cartoon of the Year It accompanies a story by Mike Stroebel  suggesting that the whole of council gets  14 days to clean out desks and not come back for two years. Seriously, he says, who needs this?  Meanwhile, the legal team representing Mayor Rob Ford has filed written arguments with the divisional court, asking for a stay order which would keep him in the city’s top job, pending the appeal of his conflict of interest ruling.

RBC logs truly regal $7.1 billion in 2012 earnings

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The Royal Bank has logged record annual profit in 2012, including $1.9 billion of net earnings in the fourth quarter. Q4 profit amounted to $1.25 per share of net earnings, or $1.27 per share.. For the full-year ended Oct. 31,  RBC had $7.5 billion of net earnings. That’s up 17 per cent from 2011 and equal to $4.96 per share of net earnings or $5 per share on an adjusted basis.

Planner finds council speeches “insufferable”

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Jennifer Keesmaat
Toronto’s new high-profile City Planner has tweeted out an opinion that the speeches of Councillors are “insufferable” now that jockeying for a run at the Mayor’s office is on. The tweet has embarrassed Jennifer Keesmaat because bureaucrats are not supposed to criticise council. Makes sense but she’s right. Much of the posturing at City Hall is downright nauseating. It seems likely Ms Keesmaat will survive the little boo-boo unscathed however.    

Starbucks in U.S. selling special brew for $7/ cup

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Starbucks Corp. has started selling a specialty coffee that costs $7 for a 16-ounce “grande” cup, making it the company’s priciest brew, as customers demand more premium products. The Costa Rica Finca Palmilera coffee costs $40 for a half- pound bag and $6 for a 12-ounce “tall” cup, Lisa Passe, a Starbucks spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. It’s made from a rare, difficult-to-grow varietal called Geisha. The new coffee is available at only 46 locations in the U.S. Northwest with expensive Clover brewing machines. Bloomberg

Elementary teachers talking tough

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Elementary teachers have reminded all Ontarians that they are going to go on strike in December. They’ll give us “ample notice” before the classrooms go dark but it seems certain that there will be darkness. The Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario issued a release  saying there are currently work-to-rule strike actions occurring in four Ontario school boards, but “teachers in all other boards will also be in a strike position during December.” When that happens, planned strikes by union locals will “affect operations in each public elementary school throughout the province,” ETFO said.  Then there is smarmy stuff in the release about how unfortunate it all is.