The South Bayview Bulldog

The transformation of the old Davisville Mini Food Mart into a Yoga studio is apparently nearly complete. As we told you many months, ago the two storey building at Davisville and Cleveland was being renovated for that purpose. Today the building sports a sign which states Prashanta Yoga, Coming Soon. It will be pleasant to have such an enterprise in that neighborhood although the renovation has taken a long time. The front door, which stands close to the bus shelter, is still surrounded by building materials. The new purpose for this address is a good one. Earlier story

It’s not generally known that Agnes Macphail (above) the first woman elected to Parliament, lived for a period at the structure at the corner of Millwod Rd and Donegall Dr. It’s a duplex with addresses of 220 Millwood and 2 Donegall. Local historians and others are trying to have the home recognized in some way, perhaps with a plaque. Mary Macdonald, of Heritage Preservation Services, has been trying to achieve this for more than ten years. She’s still trying. It appears Macphail lived here in the upstairs apartment following her defeat in the 1940 general election when she began writing for the Globe and Mail and other publications. Agnes Macphail’s remarkable career as an Ontatrio MLA, MP, the Canadian Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and many other organizations, is well told in the linked Wikipedia entry. The elegant photo above is from Wikipedia and was taken by the famed Canadian portrait photographer Yousef Karsh. Also see Town Crier article

Walder Ave, the short street running north from Eglinton Ave E. to a cul de sac north of Broadway, is being re-made. As in the general area, modest bungalows and smaller homes continue to be bought up, demolished and replaced with larger, two storey structures. Three such homes side by side are awaiting Castleton Homes to change the face of this part of Walder.

Brooke Biscoe of the arena board has messaged supporters that the campaign kicked off today to raise the $2.5 million community portion of the cost of building the second rink at Leaside Gardens. At the meeting Expansion Committee Chair Paul Mercer and Councillor John Parker summarised the long journey from the time the idea of building the second rink was first discussed in 1998 until today. Thanks were expressed to the many people who have been helpful. To help raise awareness of the second rink the board has installed a billboard on the north-bound face of the billboard along Millwood in the Arena parking lot. Check the Facebook page. Stories from today’s meeting filed by the Sun and Star

Work has moved south as workers make yet more repairs to the water system on Millwood Road. Earlier this week when these pictures were taken, the street was fully blocked between Bayview and Donegall. Even the east lane way was blocked (upper right) by the contractors, Rabcon. The best information we have is that it remains only for natural gas lines to be installed on Millwood before it can be restored to its proper condition. But apparently there has also been a need for water connection repairs. Check previous.