The notorious corner of Welland Ave. and Moore Ave in Moore Park is where the police harvest a bumper crop of fines. It’s a $60 hit for those caught turning right between 4 pm and 6 pm Monday to Friday. Of course, the bylaw preventing these turns isn’t really about preventing turns. The turns have no effect on traffic at the corner. No, the bylaw is about keeping home-bound rush hour traffic out of Moore Park. And it does that. But what about Victoria Day, a statutory holiday when there is no rush hour? And no rush hour traffic. Well, today the police were at Welland and Moore stopping and ticketing hapless Sunday drivers because they made the illegal turn. Does robo-ticketing like this bring the police into disrepute? Quite probably.
Gardens Tour Saturday, June 25, 2011
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The Leaside Garden Society will conduct its annual Gardens of Leaside Tour on Saturday, June 25, 2011 between 11 am and 4 pm. Passports are now available for $10 at four locations. They are Coldwell Banker in the Sunnybrook Plaza, Royal LePage, 1391 Bayview Ave., Stars, 900 Millwood Road and Write Impressions 1515 Bayview.
Whimsical holiday weekend medley
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For a supposedly rainy day, Saturday was dashed sunny. And so Mr Duck, possibly a decoy, was out at Elegant Garage. (No ducks were injured in the making of this post). Down the street, the Hoodie Buddies, sweatshirts with built-in headphones (!) were on display at DEW. Right, we’re still having trouble processing the new Shoppers Drug Mart sign. That marquee hasn’t looked better since it was hefted up there in 1936 as part of the Bayview Playhouse movie theatre. Check out historic pictures from an earlier Bulldog post. Your friends at Second Cup
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Yes, it’s time for the 2011 issue of the Second Cup Rogues Gallery in which we feature the ever fine-looking crew of this South Bayview coffee bar. That’s owner Hong Ngo at the upper left followed by his happy associates from left to right Ally, Gabe and Sadie. Second row, from left, Andy, Steve, Sophie and Matt. Amazon selling more ebooks than printed
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Online bookstore Amazon.com now sells more e-books than all hardcover and paperback print books combined. “We had high hopes that this would happen eventually, but we never imagined it would happen this quickly,” said Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com in a statement Thursday announcing the milestone. Since April 1, Amazon.com has sold 105 e-books for every 100 print books. Bezos noted that the Seattle, Wash.-based company has been selling print books for 15 years and e-books for less than four. Amazon introduced its Kindle e-book reader in 2007.
Questions on the end of the world
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There’s something delusional about a news media that tries to get to the bottom of why the world didn’t come to an end. It makes the mind swim. There was the CNN anchor soberly seeking an opinion from Alec Baldwin’s brother. “What went wrong?” was the opening zinger. Piercing curiosity then demanded, “Why did this get so much attention” (Easy one. Check the mirror). And so it went. “Why do some people call this preacher a false prophet?” the anchor asked, seeking that need-to-know answer. All we can say is thank God someone has the guts to ask these kinds of questions. It’s not every day that the world doesn’t end when the media is pretending that it will.
Holdup thwarted on South Bayview
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An alert employee of Shoppers Drug Mart made a crucial call to the police to thwart a robbery attempt at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce on South Bayview yesterday. A masked man entered the bank later in the afternoon. Shoppers Drug Mart is next door to the bank. The employee got wind of the on-going hold up and called police who made a speedy arrival. They arrested an individual.
Grading and staking underway on Laird
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Grading and staking is well underway on the lands slated for development into a commercial and retail centre on Laird Drive.
Johnny Cash and the Plymouth Savoy
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In one of the many junk yards east of Laird Drive lies the 1954 Plymouth Savoy pictured above, centre and right. No one recalls today that Johnny Cash did a commercial for Chrysler (owner of the Plymouth brand) in 1954 when he was getting started. In that ad he called the Plymouth “the best car I ever owned.” This was remembered by the ad executives at Chrysler. In 1972 Cash was hired to take part in a Chrysler promotion in which the world was asked to “Help us find the best car we ever owned.” The winner of this contest was Mrs. Ray Hild of Tacoma, Washington (shown at the left with Cash) whose 54 Plymouth had but 14,500 miles on it. This means that Mrs. Hild was putting barely 800 miles a year on her Plymouth. Wonder where it is today? Certainly not rusting on Esandar Drive in Leaside.
Long black dresses on South Bayview
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These two ladies made a brief visit to South Bayview Friday afternoon accompanied by two gentlemen. As we can see, the ladies wore long black dresses on a C24 degree afternoon.
Baseball camp for kids at Howard Talbot
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Howard Talbot Park will be the scene of a baseball camp for kids this Summer. A story is published in InsideToronto. The camp starts at $350 per week, with rates going down $50 every week for kids who stay in the program. You may sign up and make inquiries by writing to leasidebaseballcamp@live.com or calling 647-338-3596.
Firemen investigate odour of gas
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Firemen went door-to-door on a short stretch of South Bayview yesterday to check on the source of the odour of gas. Apparently the odour was noticed on the street opposite Homefront by a citizen. The investigation ended without any action being taken.