The South Bayview Bulldog

A risk of engine fires has caused General Motors to recall 475,000 Chevrolet Cruze compact cars, including more than 60,000 in Canada. A GM Canada spokeswoman says the recall applies to almost half a million Cruze vehicles overall, with 61,299 of them in Canada. The company says fires can ignite when fluids drip onto a plastic shield below the engine. The fix involves cutting into the shield to let the fluid drain on to the roadway.  GM says it knows of 30 fires caused by the problem, but nobody has been injured as a result. Most of the fires were caused by spills during oil changes that weren’t cleaned properly. Cruzes with worn-out manual transmissions also can leak fluid. The recall covers 2011 and 2012 models that were produced at a plant in Lordstown, Ohio between September 2010 and May 2012. The Cruze is one of GM’s best-selling compact models. CBC.ca

Councillor Shelley Carroll

Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 33) said something odd at the Toronto Parking Authority meeting the other day. The subject was a proposed extension of the five-minute grace period on parking tickets all the way out to ten minutes. Staff had said that an extension would probably cause fewer complaints. According to the Toronto Star, this is what Councillor Carroll said in opposing the extension: “When we’re advocating for our residents in the community, I advocate for the law-abiding ones first … I don’t spend a lot of time working out how to make it easier for people who are actually in contravention of a bylaw or a law.”  No doubt the Councillor didn’t intend to sound quite as mean-spirited as that remark suggests. We expect she’s a very nice lady. But  zero-tolerance sentiment on the subject of parking tickets is frankly misplaced. We’ve said before that the mind-set in much local government is to see the public as a money-hoarding enemy. Parking control isn’t seen as a service related to the convenience of the public — it’s about the strictest form of tax collection. Break the law by leaving your car where it shouldn’t be and well get you. So, if your dentist takes a little too long to finish up your teeth, or if you forget your hat somewhere and have to go back to get it, or if your kid loses track of time in the Gelato shop — well, that’s your problem. We have no interest in the unreliable nature of your life. We just want the money. As it is, traffic court Crown Attorneys throw out hundreds of parking tickets (and moving violations too) mostly because they don’t think they’re fair. Toronto’s “gotcha” parking ticket mentality is a product of a City that has spent itself silly. In it’s desperate attempt to somehow stay afloat, bureaucrats and politicians have come to believe the crisis is somebody else’s fault. Yours. We say parking control should be a service that keeps a reasonable turn-over in parking places when traffic a heavy. When it isn’t, back off. In one of many previous posts we discuss the unique nature of the parking tax. It’s the only one known that requires a citizen to guess whether the length of her errands today will coincide exactly with the expiry of the parking meter ticket. 

Friends and admirers of Leaside’s Howie Bernie will gather Monday, July 9 at Howard Talbot Park to honour the legendary local baseball figure Howie Bernie. The linked Toronto Sun story is very enjoyable and has a nice picture of Howie as he approaches his 75th birthday. He looks pretty good. Above, a picture of the Richardsons Junior Team from 1962 with Howie at the left rear recalls but one episode in Birnie’s career. In one of a number of face-offs with the team from Christie Pits, Birnie had his pitchers in and out like a revolving door, tailoring them to the Pits batters. It was a bravura performance and the Richardson’s won.  As the Sun says, he is a hero of the sandlot community and will be honoured by a legion ex-Leaside players, umpires he worked with, Baseball Ontario executives, pals, transplanted Leaside grads and even coaches he ejected. The party begins Monday, July 9 at 7 p.m. Toronto Sun.

A reminder from the pages of Inside.Toronto.com that the Leaside Garden Society Magical Tour of Gardens is scheduled for this weekend.  The self-guided tour of nine hardens goes Saturday between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Tour passports, which include garden addresses and a map, are $10 each are available at Gentry Clothiers in the Sunnybrook Plaza, Royal LePage, 1391 Bayview Avenue, Stars, 900 Millwood Road, Urban Nature Store,- 939 Eglinton Ave East at Brentcliffe and Write impressions-,1515 Bayview Avenue.