David Fafinski of Hamilton was on the QEW last Thursday when he recorded this misguided delivery of lumber. OPP are aghast of course. It fairly shouts knock my doors off and defines unsafe. Unfortunately the plate is unreadable. But it must have come from a nearby lumber yard or Home Depot. Language may be offensive.
A security lapse at Freedom Mobile has exposed customer data. The firm is owned by Shaw Communications of Calgary. The online publication Techcrunch says researchers Noam Rotem and Ran Locar found an Elasticsearch server leaking five million logs containing customer data. The server wasn’t protected with a password, allowing anyone to access the data. Credit card numbers were seen in plain language. Freedom said the data exposed was from customers who had opened or made any changes to their accounts at 17 Freedom Mobile retail locations from March 25 to April 15 and any customers who made changes or opened accounts on April 16.
An information meeting Monday about a proposed 8-storey mixed-use building at 1410 Bayview Ave south of Balliol St. has heard concerns about the building’s height, traffic, parking, schools and unrented retail space Like most such meetings, residents struggled with contrary concepts of residential bylaws limiting height and density next to official plans promoting growth, tower living and fewer cars. For many, it’s double talk. Brian Athey, former president of the Leaside Property Owners Association, asked if mid-rise heights of seven and eight storeys specified in the official planning act (OPA 405) exist “as a right” or are they subject to the many provisions in the plan intended to mitigate height. A sneaky question to expose OPA 405 as a sham on the public? The reply from City planner Alex Teixeira was that OPA 405 is intended “to be read as a whole, so I think everything does apply.” Make of it what you will. But those present were particularly offended by the idea that the garage at 1410 would have 44 parking spaces for 65 units. The residential bylaw would require 77 spaces for that density. The meeting heard the developer’s planner, Louis Tinker, say that increasing density and better transit has reduced car ownership downtown. City hopes seem to be high for the same thing in Midtown but those present openly scoffed at this idea.
Here’s a shot of the 5 alarm fire raging on at York Memorial Collegiate from the BT Chopper. Eglinton remains closed from Trethewey to Black Creek & Trethewey is closed north of Eglinton as a result. The call for this fire came in at about 3:30 this morning! Updates on @BTtoronto pic.twitter.com/8BeyfgK5Io
— Stephanie Henry (@henrylstephanie) May 7, 2019
The Toronto Fire Service was called back to York Memorial Collegiate Institute on Monday around 3 a.m.. for a fire that erupted in the auditorium. Flames could be seen coming from a second-storey window of the school, fire officials said. It is the second major fire to strike the high school at 2690 Eglinton Ave. West in 24 hours and is being called a completely separate incident. Fire Chief Pegg said the sequence is “very rare.” A sixth alarm was rung Tuesday afternoon and a helicopter is being employed to alert police to changing winds patterns so that the public can be aware of ground smoke patterns.
A reminder to pull together your old electronics for safe disposal at Thursday’s Enviroment Day at Leaside Arena
You may be richer than you think, as the Scotiabank slogan goes, but please don’t park in their little lot at the corner of Eglinton Ave. and Laird Dr. It’s the talk of the evening on Facebook Monday night with many comments saying that parking tickets from a bank aren’t legal. That makes sense. This unusual action seems to be prompted by coffee drinkers slipping into the lot then scooting over to Starbucks. One woman writes that the battle has been going on since 1983 “when TD bank branch was where Starbucks is now. Scotiabank went so far as to plaster banners on your windshield which were almost impossible to remove.”
Fire crews battled a four-alarm roofing fire at the Jones Avenue Adult Centre at 540 Jones Ave Monday night. Seven roofers were apparently on top of the building when the flames broke out, but they were able to get out safely. The school was evacuated and no injuries have been reported. The school is an English as a Second Language learning centre for adults.
The weekend removal of some 300 cats from a single apartment unit in North York has once again highlighted the difficulty neighbours often have in getting action against such abuse. The issue for most is the putrid odour associated with such a large cat population. Neighbours in this City News report say they complained frequently but it is not said to whom. On Saturday it was Toronto Cat Rescue and Toronto Animal Services that executed an order.
2011 CASE ON MANOR ROAD
The issue of whom to call is critical, as those who lived through a similar case on Manor Rd. near Mt. Pleasant in 2011 know well. Neighbours in that case had complained endlessly to the City without action. Municipal bureaucrats apparently considered the matter a case of a homeowner’s rights. In the end, it was an election canvasser who got action. He called the fire department because the smell coming from the house made him fear there was a dead body inside. Fire personnel found 60 cats in the house.
The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales in April climbed nearly 17 per cent higher compared with a year ago. The board says 9,042 homes were sold last month compared with 7,744 in April 2018. The increase came as the average price rose to $820,148 for the month compared with $804,926 in the same month last year. New listings for April were up eight per cent compared with a year ago. On a preliminary seasonally adjusted basis, the board says April sales were up 11.3 per cent compared with March this year — Canadian Press
A meeting to discuss the proposed condominium on Bayview Ave. south of Balliol St. is set for Monday (tonight) at Greenwood College School, Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Davisville Ave. Here.
These are eventful times in South Bayview as (upper left) fellow students and staff at Davisville Public School tweet their regards to young Colm, one of their own. He’s in hospital battling Dysautonomia. This weekend he was raising money to continue the fight in a campaign called Get Loud for Sick Kids. Last year Colm raised $9,000. Upper right. the long-standing drive-in on the northeast corner of O’Connor Drive and Donlands Ave will soon be a Tim Hortons. Area residents may recall the long history of this spot as a Mac’s (with gas station) Hasty Market, Seven Eleven, cocktail lounge and others. Below that, Eurodale Developments is tweeting pictures of duplex conversions which have been approved at Committee of Adjustment but, it says, have also drawn objections from some residents. At the bottom, reminders of the Leaside Lawn Bowing Club Open House next weekend and St. Cuthbert’s High Tea set for Sunday May 26. The invitation calls for High Tea Attire, which will have many men without spats struggling. Sounds like fun. Finally, dozens of public-spirited citizens, all friends of the Belt Line Trail, were out Saturday to clean the scenic route. Hat’s off to you fine people from The Bulldog and a sincere thank you.
