The Little Dollhouse Company has made its move to 862 Millwood Rd. and local dollhouse fan Michele Petick has posted a gallery of photos to celebrate. You read it here first in December that owners Marie and John Fowler had purchased the building and were getting ready to move. The Little Dollhouse Company has previously been on Mt. Pleasant Rd. since 1975. Welcome.
Drivers should be alert to the large sinkhole that has formed on Jarvis St. at Wellesley St. overnight. Two southbound lanes of Wellesley Street were affected and may remain closed for a few hours.
The City’s electrical safety agency has ordered an immediate 48-hour inspection of power, heat and water facilities at the 240 Wellesley St. high-rise managed by Wellesley-Parliament Square Ltd. It is a woeful winter for tenants and yet another insight into maintenance standards for low-income rental buildings.
In the midst of a dreary Canadian winter, there’s nothing quite like getting on a bright pink, Florida-themed subway train. TTC passengers were able to board flamingo-pink subway cars and disembarked at subway stations decked out in Florida-style colours and City insignia earlier this month. The agency targeted stations that corresponded with Florida cities in similar geographic areas. For example, Yorkdale, which sits at the Yonge-University-Spadina line’s northwest corner, was reimagined as the Florida city of Pensacola. Union Station, the southern tip of the line, became Florida Keys, which is Florida’s southernmost point. The activation was led by Tampa-based agency Spark, which conceived the idea largely because the Yonge-University-Spadina line is shaped somewhat like the state of Florida — Media in Canada
There are 14 million people in Ontario, a province with a provincial debt of some $350 billion. These simple facts seem to cut straight to the heart of what ails Service Ontario. From disappearing walk-in locations to a cranky online system that doesn’t recognize valid driver information to 15-week waits for a birth certificate, Service Ontario is groaning under the load of essential demands from Ontarians. Most recently, CTV tells of parents waiting as long as 15 weeks to obtain a simple birth certificate. Drivers trying to avoid 45-minutes in line for a license renewal are unable to process valid data online. The data is recognized as perfectly correct by a human agent. The really upsetting part of this sad state of things is that Ontario’s crushing debt makes it seem likely that long lines, long waits and wasted time is the future at Service Ontario. CTV
This pleasant gang (left) is a “family photo” of young and older people getting ready to open the MakerKids storefront at 1661 Bayview Ave. MakerKids is said to be a mixed concept of school and educational camping in which children learn coding, robotics and the Lego-style game Minecraft. It says online that MakerKids has “award-winning programs for kids from grade 1 to 8.” MakerKids indicates plans for a huge expansion in Ontario naming 30 communities in which it intends to open. At upper right, it has been three weeks since the 20-cm doomsday snowfall fouled City streets. As days go by, people are complaining about the huge piles of snow and ice that remain on many important streets like Bayview and Mt. Pleasant. Don’t even ask about residential roads. They’ll get cleared courtesy of the sun in April. But if you go to Yonge and Dundas (for example) there is no snow or ice left on the streets. At bottom right, Councillor Josh Matlow and his daughter Molly crashed the CTV News set this week. Fun but maybe Molly’s allowance needs an increase. Below, events coming up soon. Also, The South Bayview Bulldog Bulletin Board
Some 30 months ago, First Capital REIT, owners of Leaside Village (Longo’s) shopping centre on Laird Dr. announced plans to develop the northeast corner of Lawrence Ave. and Avenue Rd. The site included the Pusateri store and a Mac’s right on the corner. The Mac’s was kicked out (saving it from the ignominy of becoming a Circle K). But as 2019 plods along the most discernible change to the corner is the imminent arrival of a Starbucks at the former Mac’s location. Pusateri continues to operate, the apartments are rented, the car wash is running and since Starbucks usually leases for at least ten years, it seem unlikely FC has much in the way of plans for Avenue Rd. and Lawrence Ave. FC also owns the former CIBC building now the Local eatery at Laird and McRae. First Capital buys Pusateri site at Avenue and Lawrence
Sunnybrook Medical Sciences Centre physician Dr. Marjorie Dixon will be among many experts speaking at the Second Annual Canadian Fertility Show this weekend at the International Centre on Airport Road. Her topic is IVF 101, a primer of sorts for couples eager to improve their chances of starting a family. The show organizers say the gathering permits those who are researching multiple IVF clinics to submit their applications to a number all at once, quickly and with much less stress over the course of an afternoon. In addition to being the only assemblage of international fertility experts and trailblazers in Canada, the show will also feature representatives from surrogacy agencies, the Foster System and various adoption agencies. The show runs from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, February 23. Schedule and other details
York Regional Police have released video of the arrest of a man slumped over the wheel of his truck. He later blew two-and-a-half times over the legal limit for alcohol in the blood. Next on the Video Wheel, fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld is dead at 85. His fascinating life is recounted. Then, the UK government has revoked the citizenship of a British woman who went to Iraq as an IS bride and like so many such persons is now in a camp, widowed and with an infant child. Unlike Canadian IS brides asking to come home to Canada however, Shammima Begum is a naturalized Briton and therefore subject to having her citizenship removed. Finally, the story of a tight little island in Scotland where they churn out fine whiskey. It seems Brexit would spell doom in the Whiskey Isle of Islay
Halifax police and fire officials confirm that seven children of a Syrian refugee family died early Tuesday as their dad suffered serious burns trying to re-enter the flaming home. The fire broke out on Quartz Drive in the Spryfield area. The children range in age from three months to 17-years. The mother and father remained in hospital Tuesday afternoon, the man with life-threatening injuries. The woman was expected to survive her injuries. A woman who lives next door to the home said she fled her home about 12.30 a.m. with her four children. “The mother was on the grass, praying I guess, bowing her hands down, and pulling on my husband’s arm to call 911,” she said, becoming emotional. “She said the kids were inside and the dad was sitting on the steps. I think he had gone back in because he was really burnt. It was just awful.
Summerhill Market plans to expand its two-store operation to four stores this year, adding a store in the Annex and another on Eglinton Ave.West serving Forest Hill and Chaplin Estates. This part of Eglinton from Oriole Pkwy to Chaplin Crescent is the Eglinton Way BIA. Summerhill owner Brad McMullen says he hopes to see the Annex store, which is under construction, open in the late Spring or early Summer. The purchase of a property at 484 Eglinton W. awaits closing but may be subject to a property swap.
