The South Bayview Bulldog

Following is a comment from gjp9 who takes issue with our post on disconnecting the downspout: Your disapproval of disconnecting downspouts is filled with melodramatic undertones. The benefits of re-directing rain water from our sewer systems outweigh the so called “damage” you mention. Water will not “gush” into basements, it is easily re-directed into lawns and gardens as I have done, hoards of mosquitoes will not descend upon rain barrels (because if any do appear a few drops of dish soap will do the trick), and CSA requires rain barrels to be child proof ensuring the safety of children. Before starting a rant about something you may or may not be interested in, please do some research opposed to adopting a sensationalistic writing style. Thank you

Hello there Mr and Mrs South Bayvie homeowner. This is your City speaking. Here are your orders for today. Disconnect all the downspouts on your home from the sewers. Do it immediately. Make sure the rainwater which will then gush out everywhere doesn’t flow into your neighbor’s basement. It’s okay. We’ve told him the same thing. Also make sure the water doesn’t flow towards the sidewalk and into the sewer. See if you can by some faint chance make the water go onto your lawn and garden, if any. Keep it there. If there’s too much, please use a great big barrel to hold the rainwater. Make sure the standing water doesn’t attract mosquitoes or any other type of pest. Use your best guess as to how to make sure thát Legionnaires Disease doesn’t develop there. Little kids have been known to drown in barrels, but let’s not worry about that. If you can get your neighbors to agree, maybe you can, for a small cost, pump the rainwater up into a tank on your roof. We know you don’t understand why the city built an enormously expensive storm sewer system which is now going to stand empty. But your job is to do as we say.

So some 140,000 people have hastened to read a vitriolic letter of resignation by a disgruntled former employee of Whole Foods. We suppose that if Whole Foods is your life you might be drawn to the Gawker website to read the letter. It contains less than scandalous specifics — Whole Foods doesn’t re-cycle properly (who does?) and it throws out food. But for the most part it seems to be a barely cogent, self-involved temper tantrum e.g.: The former worker found his job “an increasingly sped up fall down a really long hill. That got rockier with every metre. And eventually, just really spiky . . . With fire, acid and Nickleback (sic) music.” In response, Whole Foods said “We wish him well.” Seems about right. Keeping in mind that many people find Whole Foods not quite to their taste either. But it runs along the lines of not being able to buy the stuff they want there. You know, Diet Coke, Becel and other essentials of modern life. Read the story.

Frances Lankin has been appointed Chair of the Telus Toronto community Board. Ms. Lankin was a member of the provincial legislature for 11 years and has been an influential contributor to the philanthropic movement in Ontario. In 1990 she was elected the member for Beaches-Woodbine and subsequently served as Minister of Health in the government of Bob Rae. In announcing her appointment, Telus said Ms Lankin’s “accomplishments and achievements signify the dedication she has towards her community.” News release

For those who wonder what the heck is going on with the new subway trains, we recommend this article in the Digital Journal by Daniel Boynton. It has some insider type overheard remarks on whether the new trains were running slow, or not, on the so-called launch day. It explains how the trains will go into service ever so slowly with, according to the TTC, just one train in service now. Boynton has advice for those with the time and interest in riding the new train. The task can be made easier by boarding at a station where the passenger platform is in the middle, between the tracks. It would be very frustrating to watch the train go by southbound with you were stuck on the northbound platform.