Flooding at Southvale Dr and Astor Ave

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The City is a mess this afternoon as heavy rain causes local  flooding both serious and simply annoying. This is the scene at Southvale Drive and Astor Avenue where a particularly large pond has sprung up. It’s typical of many streets throughout South Bayview. Much more serious however is the flooding at Union Station and elsewhere. The flooding has shut down a lot of electric transit. The Yonge-University subway is non-operational between Bloor and Osgoode stations. Into the mix, it appears the Union Station flooding has been caused by a backed up sewer sending sewage into the station. The stench is said to be terrible,.   

A lesson in how not to use a motorbike

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The narration tells the story. Five people on one motorbike! Fortunately they all survived

Expect extra local traffic on Bayview Sunday

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South Bayview neighbourhoods can expect overload traffic on their streets this Sunday as the Don Valley Parkway is closed for the Becel Heart and Stroke Ride for Heart. Some 13,000 cyclists will participate along a route down the parkway and along the Gardiner Expressway. There will also be cycle runs along City streets coming as far east as the Bayview Extension. The details are well set out in this link. InsideTtoronto article. 

A soaker today, what can we say

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Rainy and rather windy today although the lawns will be glad of the extra water. We have had  days of humid weather and forecasts that teased rain. Now we’re in store for a soaker as a low-pressure system moves into the region Friday. Rain began to fall in the city early today and by the end of the day up to 30 millimetres of rain is possible in some parts of southern Ontario. It may be a record-setting day for rainfall. Check the Weather Channel by clicking icon above. 

Merchants warned on card skimming scam

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Merchants in the Torono area are being warned about a new method of tampering with point-of-sales (POS) devices.They say they’ve recovered some tampered sales machines that read the PINs of debit and credit cards. A micro magnetic strip reader has been inserted on the plastic opening of the chip reader guide, which allows the magnetic strip to be read. Wireless technology has been added to transmit customers’ information using Bluetooth, negating the need for a camera device to capture PINs, he said. The only way to tell the difference between a compromised sales device and a regular one is that the debit or credit card in a tampered machine needs to be inserted almost entirely into the machine.

Rob Ford’s approval falls from 48 to 33%

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Mayor Rob ford has seen a sharp drop in his approval rating within the past few weeks, apparently caused by his confrontation with a Toronto Star reporter near his home. National Post

Arena ground breaking June 16, 2012

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The Leaside Arena Expansion Project’s “Official Ground Breaking and Community Barbecue” is  Saturday, June 16th at 11:00a.m at Leaside Gardens. Everyone is welcome! Help spread the word!

Wear a Leaside jersey to arena ground-breaking

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Brooke Biscoe and Paul Mercer, key men in the Leaside Arena Expansion, have good news. They write today: “We are pleased to report that the City of Toronto yesterday approved the award of the contract for the Leaside Arena Expansion Project to Aquicon Construction Company Ltd. This was one of the final steps before construction can begin which we expect will be in July. In the meantime we invite you to join us on Saturday, June 16th at 11 a.m. for the Official Ground Breaking Ceremony and Community Barbecue. The ceremony and barbecue will take place on the former Film Review Board property near the Curling Club and this area can be accessed either on foot from the arena parking lot or directly from Millwood Road — when driving towards the Leaside Bridge, enter at the driveway just before the railway underpass where some parking will be available. We look on this day as a community celebration and everyone interested in the second rink at Leaside Gardens is invited to attend. We especially encourage you to bring your kids — the current and future members of the LHA, LSC and TLGHA who will benefit most directly from the new rink in the years to come. Hockey players are encouraged to wear a Leaside jersey.”

Rogers Sunnybrook store shrinks to half

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Rogers large store in the Sunnybrook Plaza will shrink to half its original size. The end of video rentals means the company needs much less space and it will occupy only half of its previous square footage. Rogers will be located on the Froyo side of the present space. The other half, on the west, is said to be due for rental, perhaps when Rogers lease expires.

BIA meeting was “well-attended”

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A report from last night’s BIA planning meeting indicates that the event was  quite well-attended with perhaps a couple of dozen merchants on hand.  Councillor Parker convened the meeting but had to leave for other commitments. The meeting was handed over to  his assistant, the BIA coordinator from Mt. Pleasant and  “Michael the BIA guy” who was at last year’s meeting. Councillor Matlow was not present. The reports goes on: “Language during his four minute intro matched that of the letter (announcing the meeting) — extremely strong “encouragement” for getting this through. Wants to have some sort of vote by the end of June. Basically announced that he wanted the steering committee to be formed last night”.

Further details on Bull and Firkin fire

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TPS report: On May 29, 2012 at approximately 0258 hours, a fire was discovered in the Bull and Firkin, 1835 Yonge Street. Toronto Fire Services, main pumper A321, attended under the command of Platoon Chief Halls. Fire Command C20, Toronto EMS buses ESU 7 and ESU 2 were also on scene. Yonge Street was closed in both directions between Davisville Avenue and Merton Street due to the severity of the incident. The fire was extinguished and determined to be accidental, possibly caused by saw dust combined with oil rags. No injuries were sustained. Damage to the building and contents is estimated at $150,000.00. At approximately 0530 hours, Toronto Fire Services Platoon Chief Halls cleared the scene and Yonge Street was re-opened in both directions.

Mulcair snared by the Dutch Baloney Detector

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NDP leader Thomas Mulcair says Canada is infected with some ailment known as Dutch Disease. Dutch Baloney we say. The NDP leader’s vague concern for what might happen when the oil runs out (a hundred years from now?) is just drivel. No one expects the course of Canada’s economy to be perfect. We live in the real world like everyone else. We will deal with it. But this dithering about what might happen some day is foolish. We’re reminded of the late  astronomer Carl Sagan who concluded that there was an epidemic of irrationality loose in the world . We needed baloney detector kits to protect ourselves, he said.