The South Bayview Bulldog

The City of Toronto will issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) next week to begin the process to secure a new, more durable Toronto sign on Nathan Phillips Square. It is a well-known attraction and a wildly popular spot for selfies and group photos among residents and visitors alike. The original sign was installed on the public square in front of Toronto City Hall as a temporary structure in July 2015 for the Toronto Pan American and Parapan American Games. Although it was only built to last a few weeks, in response to the sign’s popularity the City extended its presence on the square indefinitely and it has become a Toronto landmark.

The Toronto Parks, Forestry and Recreation Department is will sponsor a Summer Dog Swim this Sunday, September 1, at ten selected pools around the city. There are rules and the time is limited but for those kids (young or old) who want to swim with the pooch, this is the chance.

Sunday, September 1 from 4 – 5 p.m.
Blantyre Outdoor Pool
Halbert Outdoor Pool

Sunday, September 1 from 4 – 6 p.m.
Goulding Outdoor Pool

Sunday, September 1 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Greenwood Outdoor Pool
High Park Outdoor Pool
Kiwanis Outdoor Pool
Ledbury Outdoor Pool
Monarch Outdoor Pool
Rotary Outdoor Pool
Stanley Outdoor Pool

For those who care, the chance to watch the K-pop band BTS preparing for the Billboard Music Awards is compulsory. An ad hoc video (now taken down) which showed the band horsing around with a number of performers, including Drake, was posted early Thursday. At 2 p.m. it had close to a million views, rendered no doubt by the band’s enormous international fan base. BTS was formed in 2013 and took its name from the Korean expression Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts. In 2017, it announced, for English speakers, the acronym would be changing to stand for Beyond the Scene. Now you know.

Toronto Police are investigating an early morning act of mayhem at Yonge and College Thursday. Below, another City News report on a daylong crime spasm Wednesday by two apparently raging perpetrators. It was a time when you’re glad that there are police around.

A quirk of fate with popular appeal has surfaced in New York as Olivia Valli, 26, the granddaughter of Frankie Valli, 85, will play the great singer’s first wife Mary who died of a drug overdose in 1980 when Olivia’s mother was just two. Then, back in Toronto, there is much fretting about the prospect of selling packaged beer at convenience stores in the subway system. Below that, a man sitting in front of a pastry shop in Mississauga has been badly hurt when a car crashed into the place. It was driven by a driver of 86 and police are investigating. Finally, the annual Tomatina tomato fight festival in Brunol, Spain. They used to do this during frosh week at Canadian universities until people complained that it was wasting food.

A metal detecting couple has found an amazing treasure trove of coins. They have unearthed a hoard of silver coins that date from the famous Battle of Hastings. The find is expected to make the couple overnight millionaires and it has made them the envy of detectorists from all over the world. Adam Staples and his partner Lisa Grace, from Derby, were investigating an unplowed farm field somewhere in northeast Somerset when they found the treasure. Their discovery is said to be worth £5 million or about $8,130,000 Canadian.

Maurya’s Grand Opening at 1549 Bayview

Lit Espresso at 1517 Bayview is for sale

Hresa and Andreas Chatziargiriou of of Lickadee Split, 980 Coxwell at Plains

Recreation registration reminder outside Maurice Cody PS

Reminder of the bricks that built a City

Looks like fun

Welcome to the happy folks (left) at Maurya East Indian Roti at 1549 Bayview Ave. They celebrated their grand opening Wednesday and will be on the job every day. Good luck to these hard-working people. At upper right, Lit Expresso Bar, 1517 Bayview, is for sale with interesting insights into Bayview Ave. rents and leases. Centre-right are East York ice cream friends Hresa and Andreas Chatziargiriou of the popular Lickadee Split shop at 980 Coxwell. Check Joanna Lavoie’s article in Toronto.com. Lower left beside Maurice Cody Junior Public School is one of many reminders to register for recreational programs. Lower right and below are reminders of a time when factories east of the Don generated tons of red brick that built a City. The commemorative September 7 festival looks like fun.

The Hudson’s Bay Company has struck a deal with fashion rental chain Le Tote that will see HBC sell its Lord & Taylor unit to Le Tote for $100M US. Under the terms of the deal announced Wednesday morning, Le Tote will get the Lord & Taylor brand name and control of all 38 of the chain’s luxury department stores from HBC, along with all the inventory of clothing and other items. HBC, meanwhile, will retain control of all the real estate assets that Lord & Taylor stores are sitting on. CBC

RioCan has resubmitted plans to the City which would permit it to add a previously unapproved urban plaza in its huge development at the corner of Laird Drive and Eglinton Ave. on the site of what is now known as RioCan Leaside Centre. Present plans call for residential towers of 18, 21, 36 and 38 storeys. The City has objected to the size of the development. The matter will therefore be before LPAT (Local Planning Appeal Tribunal) this fall.

Source: PUBLIC REALM MASTER PLAN, 2019. 06. 25, 815-845 EGLINTON AVE. E.

Source: PUBLIC REALM MASTER PLAN, 2019. 06. 25, 815-845 EGLINTON AVE. E.

Source: PUBLIC REALM MASTER PLAN, 2019. 06. 25, 815-845 EGLINTON AVE. E.

Source: PUBLIC REALM MASTER PLAN, 2019. 06. 25, 815-845 EGLINTON AVE. E.

Source: PUBLIC REALM MASTER PLAN, 2019. 06. 25, 815-845 EGLINTON AVE. E.

Gary Poltash, 64, of Florida was killed in Muskoka accident

Suzana Brito, 48, died in boat collision

Kevin O’Leary was on one of boats

Kevin O’Leary has released a statement Wednesday saying that he was on one of the boats that collided Saturday on Lake Joseph. Police say Gary Oltash, 64, a Florida man with a cottage on the lake was pronounced dead at the scene. A 48-year-old Uxbridge woman, Suzana Brito, died later from her injuries. Police say two vessels collided on the lake near Emerald Island in Seguin Township at around 11:30 p.m. Here is O’Leary’s statement.

“On late Saturday night I was a passenger in a boat that was involved in a tragic collision with another watercraft that had no navigation lights on and then fled the scene. I am fully cooperating with law enforcement in their investigation. Out of respect for the victims’ families and to fully support the ongoing investigation I feel it is inappropriate to make further comments at this time. My heartfelt prayers and condolences to the victims, the families and those affected by this loss.”

An earlier version of this story was inaccurate. The Bulldog apologizes for the error. Here are reports from the CBC and City News with unique interpretations.

Crowded at rush hour

Empty later

An infusion of federal cash (is there an election coming?) will finance an expansion of the Bloor and Yonge subway station. The original 1950s station has already been expanded to accommodate crowds of as many as 750,000 riders a day. Writers pulled out the most scarlet descriptions of the station as the announcement was made. City News called it “chronically-claustrophobic.” Some one billion dollars will be divvied up between Bloor-Yonge station improvements, and the SmartTrack Stations Program, which will see six new stations built on the Stouffville, Lakeshore East, and Kitchener GO rail corridors. Just when is another question.