The South Bayview Bulldog

Toronto Police have issued a warning this afternoon about a frequently seen crime in South Bayview and area The theft of cell phones, iPhone, players and smart phones is a well-known phenomenon in our area. The police offer some ideas which may be helpful in avoiding theft. Frequently thieves will approach the victim and ask the time. As the victim is checking, the thief grabs the device away. And the police are warning about the bad habit of showing your electronic device around, or being obvious with it in public. This is an obvious problem which the South Bayview Bulldog has warned about. Anyone behaving this way becomes a focus for possible thieves. Finally, the sympathy ploy in which the thief pretends to need a phone make an urgent call to make to his parents or someone else. Such fictional emergencies are usually easy to spot. One or two questions will soon put the thief off his game. If the police are required urgently, call them yourself at 911.

One wonders whether a new website permitting people to compare neighborhoods for everything from crime to playgrounds will create more dissension than enlightenment. Many may also conclude that they already know intuitively all the good and bad things about a neighborhood. But it’s an ambitious project.

Here is word of a very worthwhile plan to start an instructional summer softball league for girls in Thorncliffe and in Flemingdon. The volunteers need simple things, mostly used equipment. Geoff Kettel says in mail that the new Thorncliffe Girls Softball League is looking for equipment to start their instructional league for 40 girls on Sunday June 26. They need gloves, balls, bats, uniforms, bases and all the other necessities to get going. They also need jerseys. The following merchants can accept donations. Grilltime Gourmet Meat Shop(62 Laird Dr. at Kenrae, across from Telus bldg) Mountain Bean Coffee(Sunnybrook Plaza at Bayview and Eglinton) SupperWorks (105 Vanderhoof, behind Turning Pointe, across from Mercedes building)Van Nes Flowers (204 Parkhurst, just south of Eglinton on east side of Laird)

Back to the old fashioned door crasher specials at Moms-to-be-and-more. The dynamic baby store will have specials every summer Wednesday between July 6 and August 24, 2011. Take a look.

Bell Canada has agreed to pay a penalty of $10 million for making misleading advertising claims — but it insists that it has done nothing wrong. Bell has agreed to stop making claims which misstated fees for many of its services, including home phone, Internet, satellite TV and wireless.

According to a survey released in Toronto this morning retailers who focus on getting their product and services messages out on Facebook and Twitter are probably spending time and effort in the wrong area. This is the word for word conclusion from a well known retail consulting firm KubasPrimedia. Kubas has an impressive list of clients including the LCBO and Shoppers Drug Mart. The survey of over 1,500 consumers on their retail shopping habits and store preferences revealed they preferred to check out a company’s website for shopping pre-planning. More from their release: “Social media, like Twitter and Facebook, has been heavily hyped in advertising and promotion circles,” said Ed Strapagiel, Executive Vice President of KubasPrimedia. “MMRR (major market retail report) shows that retailers and product manufacturers who are relying on social media to sway consumer purchase decisions may be misguided.” Here is the full release.

The huge UK chocolate retailer Thorntons has announced that it is closing 180 stores and converting many others to franchises. Thorntons stores numbered as many as 600 in recent years. The company acknowledges that changed business conditions and to a certain extent changing tastes have hurt business.