Inside the Tribute Presentation Centre

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The Tribute Communities Presentation Centre has opened for business at 1600 South Bayview, previous home of the Sleuth of Baker Street. It’s interesting to note that Tribute has placed a distinguished looking sign on its exterior to announce the new address of Sleuth. This is very unusual in a new tenant. The centre is very lovely with comfortable fixtures intended no doubt to make one feel as if he is in one of the Canterbury Lawrence Park townhomes. Beyond the reception area (upper right) is a large area with a model of the Bayview Ave development in the middle. On the walls are electronic show and tells as well as a flat screen television tuned to CP24. Worth a visit even if you aren’t in the market. The attendants are most welcoming.

Craziest corner in the neighbotrhood

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There may not be very much that the City can do about it, but the corner of Bayview Ave and Bayview Heights Dr (plus Evergreen Gardens) is the craziest place in all South Bayview. Residents of Bennington Heights will have learned by now that the quirky arrow on the road (left) means “find your way across the traffic and then, perhaps, turn left at Moore Avenue.” There is no apparent direction for drivers who want to go north on Bayview. And for hapless visitors who might try to find their way back into Bennington Heights by turning left onto Evergreen Gardens, well, that’s definitely forbideen (right). We would be glad to hear from anyone about signage for Evergreen because it looks as if there is no sign at the corner. All this said, the alignment of Bayview in this tight space makes any sort of quick fix very difficult.

Starbucks at Mount Pleasant and Soudan?

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A reader has sent mail to suggest that Starbucks will shortly open on the southwest corner of Mount Pleasant ‘Rd and Soudan Ave. It is the former home of a pastry shop. The story makes some sense because there are no Starbucks on Mount Pleasant, according to the menu of coffee stores shown on their website. Baristas at the Bayview Starbucks report that they are deluged with complaints that there is no shop on Mount Pleasant. There are many well established businesses on Mount Pleasant. There is the Bitton House retirement home across Soudan (which houses a Timothy’s) and a Sobey’s just up the street. We’ll keep you posted.

United Church HQ to stay in Toronto

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The General Council of the United Church of Canada gas voted unanimously to keep its headquarters in Toronto. The Manitoba chapter of the church has been trying to persuade it to move to Winnipeg from Toronto, where its office lease expires in 2015. The Manitoba chapter argued a significant move “would create a creative chaos” beneficial to the church’s “transformation in post-modern times,” said Bruce Faurschou, executive secretary for the United Church Conference of Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.

Riocan and Tanger Outlet to collaborate

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Riocan Real Estate, owner of the Laird Drive shopping centre, is collaborating with a huge U.S. outlet mall owner, Tanger Outlet Centres. They will turn the small mall at Cookstown, Ontario into a much larger retail centre. Cookstown is on Highway 400 about 50 kilometres north of Toronto. Tanger will bring in more high-profile stores, do more advertising, and offer shuttle bus service from Toronto, according to Riocan.

Democracy is messy — especially the U.S.kind

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This is a day when many Americans must feel ashamed. The trivially-named Super Committee (right) has produced nothing. Worse than that, both parties seem ready to quickly rewrite the spending sanctions contained in the committee’s mandate, revealing the entire process as a charade. As in so many others places, radically different social beliefs bred in the prosperity of the 20th Century, have made the U.S. a society at war with itself. And it seems fair to say that the seeds of gridlock were sown more than 200 years ago, even as the national sentiment was much more unified than it is today. That’s when the Constitution was crafted in a way that permitted one party to control the lower house and a different one to control the upper house. There was surely trouble in the making. It was part of an easily understood desire to keep anyone from seizing power. But in the end, it is a very serious flaw in the U.S process.

Push is on to meet funding target for arena

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The push is on to meet the $2.5 million community goal for expansion of the Leaside arena. City Council will vote on extended funding in the new year for the expansion and organizers want to get their share in hand before that. Paul Mercer, chair of the expansion committee, is quoted in the Toronto Observer as saying: “Although fundraising efforts will continue after Jan. 15, it’s critical that we reach our original $2.5 million target by that date in order to get City Council approval and get a shovel in the ground as soon as possible”. Sian Davies has a good account of the money situation in the linked story in the Observer. It is a publication produced by the journalism students at Centennial College.

Travellers told to pay for fuel or get off plane

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A flight by Austrian-registered Comtel Air was held on the tarmac in Vienna for six hours on a flight between Birmingham Airport and Amritsar in India. The 180 passengers were essentially “held to ransom” having to hand over hundreds of dollars in pounds or euros each because there was no money to pay for fuel to finish the journey. Around £20,000 was needed to complete the trip and those who could not or would not pay were escorted off the plane. Some passengers are apparently still stranded in Vienna.

Natalie Wood charmed a nation in 1947

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Full name: Natalie Wood (born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko )
DOB: July 20th 1938
DOD: November 29th 1981
Where born: Santa Catalina Island, California, USA.

Forgive us, but it seems seedy that a police investigation should be “re-opened” because somebody wrote a book that has no new information in it. But hey, that ‘s Hollywood. Better by far, we think to recall the story of Natalie Wood’s charming entry into movie stardom in the 1947 classic, Miracle on 34th Street. Here is much of the tale from the website Christmas Movies. By the time of her tragic death at the age of 43, Natalie Wood was one of the world’s foremost actors. Born in California to Russian parents, Natalie’s introduction to acting and the cinema came early. Before she had even turned five, Natalie made an appearance, albeit a very short one, in the 1943 film Happy Land. When she was seven Natalie appeared in Tomorrow is Forever, drawing plaudits from the star of the film, the great actor Orson Welles. Natalie’s mother Maria proved to be the driving force in the child star’s career. And her decision to sign up her daughter to 20th Century Fox proved fortuitous. Fox handed Natalie Wood her first ever starring role, as six-year-old Susan Gailey in the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street.

Yonge Street tree lighting November 26

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The Rosedale Main Street Business Improvement Association will again mark the lighting of the 50-foot Christmas tree near the LCBO on Saturday, November 26 with various festivities as part of Toronto’s Cavalcade of Lights festival. That’s the 2005 tree inset at left. The event takes place from 2 to 6 p.m.In case you are wondering about the association, they are the people who defied geography to declare Yonge Street around Yonge and Roxborough as”Rosedale’s Main Street.”