The South Bayview Bulldog

The government is putting an end to the 21-year-old Drive Clean program.  Premier Ford, Environment Minister Rod Phillips and Transportation Minister John Yakabuski said Friday morning that the provincial government will end the mandatory emissions test for passenger vehicles next April. Drive Clean was brought in by the Conservative government in 1999 to curb polluting vehicles, a major source of smog. But as cars got cleaner and cleaner, the then $35 test became an irritant for drivers especially after it was revealed by the auditor general of Ontario that the vast majority of vehicles pass and the worst polluting vehicles were exempt from testing.

US SAYS MUSK FIBS

Tesla without Elon Musk at the wheel? To many of the electric car maker’s customers and investors that would be unthinkable. But that’s what the US Securities and Exchange Commission wants. It has asked a federal court to oust Musk as Tesla’s chairman and CEO, alleging he committed securities fraud with false statements about plans to take the company private. The agency said in a complaint Thursday that Musk falsely claimed in an August 7 statement on Twitter that funding had been secured for Tesla Inc. to go private at $420 per share, a substantial premium over the stock price at the time.

SHOPIFY ME GREEN

Shopify Inc. will invest as much as half-a-billion dollars into its forthcoming Toronto office, in a large downtown development where it plans to house thousands of new employees, says the Globe and Mail.  The Ottawa-based company’s neon-green shopping-bag beacon is expected to top the 38-storey skyscraper at the corner of Front Street West and Spadina Avenue when The Well complex, jointly owned by Allied Properties REIT and RioCan REIT, opens in 2022. Shopify’s investment and its anchor-tenant logo rights are part of a 15-year deal that Michael Scace, who brokered the transaction, said is one of the biggest-ever completed in the King West market on the edge of Toronto’s downtown core.

A break in an old watermain flooded parts of Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Eglinton Ave. and stopped the flow of water to some homes in the area Friday morning. Water service was resumed later in the day. The agency known as Eglinton 2020 tweeted that it was arranging to provide water for household that are effected. It said the break was caused by vibration. Josh Matlow tweeted that the break was unacceptable. He said he contacted Metrolinx and Toronto water.  Resident Rowan Caister tweeted: “Well, someone hit the mother of all water mains. Mount Pleasant and Eglinton is flooded out.” Eglinton re-opens after watermain break due to LRT work

An investigation by Global News reporter Carolyn Jarvis has revealed that as many as 15 Ontario pharmacists have dealt illegally in various opioids over the past five years. Jarvis, a resident of Davisville Village, relates details to the CBC,  which picked up the story. The impact of the drug dealing has been profound even though the number of rogue druggists is small compared to the 16,000 registered pharmacists here. Busy life of South Bayview’s Carolyn Jarvis of Global News

Children from Davisville Public School are beginning to settle in at their temporary home at Vaughan Road Academy while a new DPS is built on Millwood Rd. One of the bonuses for the elementary school kids is regular swimming classes at the former high school’s pool. No such amenity existed at Davisville. VRA is one of a number of buildings which the Toronto and District School Board has in transition as it juggles the ever-changing pattern of enrolment in midtown Toronto. Thursday evening Trustee Shelley Laskin and Davisville Principal Shona Farrelly met with a small group of parents at an open house at the new home for DPS students. VRA has been improved and adjusted to accommodate 5 to 12 year olds. A newly-paved and painted playground, removal of daunting steel turnstiles in the library, the lowering of coat hooks and water fountains and a new emergency exit for kindergarteners were part of changes needed. It is expected to take two years to build the new DPS with a targeted return to class there in the fall of 2020.

The Globe and Mail says Toronto Police will reduce the number of drug and gang teams from six each to four each. The cuts are called a “staffing realignment.”  This appears to be a function of a simple reduction in staff.  The issue of gun control is particular is much on the mind of the community in the face of daily killings and gun violence.  The Globe quotes Meaghan Gray of the TPS the teams have been losing officers to retirements and resignations. She said the remaining team members are being reorganized “to effectively continue the work they have been doing.” The newspaper says Gray would not confirm the overall number of officers the teams have lost.She is quoted as saying it is “not in [the service’s] interest to have the public know how many officers are dedicated to that line of work.”

• Ontario Bus Driver Fed Children Semen-laced Food
• Indigenous Services Minister says healing lodge Tori Stafford’s killer is at ‘provides restorative justice’
• What’s restorative justice?
• Federal review of child killer’s transfer ‘a good start’ says Tori Stafford’s father

Canadian Press says that Tim Hortons will seek to shut down a knock-off restaurant in India that uses a name and branding which is an outrageous copy of the Canadian firm. Tim Hottens, located in Yamunanagar, India, is two letters away from the coffee chain in its name. Its logo and branding mimics the Canadian chain’s as well. The font and colour of the name in its logo is essentially identical. Tim Hottens also uses the phrases “always fresh” and “cafe & bake shop,” as well as the red-hued striped background in its logo. Tim Hottens did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Canadian Press.

Police have issued the above images of a man they say is the lone outstanding perpetrator in the death of Chad Day, 42, on September 8 at 103 West Lodge Avenue. Two accused are already in custody. They are Lee Newelln, 30, and Christopher Small, 28, both of Hamilton. The unnamed remaining suspect is described as 20-30, wearing a black baseball hat, red sweater with white stripes and dark pants.

RELEASES THURSDAY

Bluebird Self Storage has tweeted that its new building on Esandar Drive is open for business. The large building is behind the Telus complex and opposite Longo’s in Leaside Village. The storage chain has six locations around the GTA. It posts a job position on its website for a “career-minded professional” to serve as a customer service representative at the Esandar location. Salary is  $32-35,000.

Amazon opened a new concept outlet in Manhattan Thursday called a Four-Star Store. It will carry only items from its website which have been rated four stars or above, the company said in a blog post on Wednesday. It is a further push into bricks-and-mortar retail for Amazon following its acquisition of Whole Foods and the gradual rollout of its cashier-less convenience stores. The store is at 72 Spring St. in SoHo if you’re going to Gotham.

Nuit Blanche Toronto
A series of significant road closures will take place from Saturday, September 29 through Sunday, September 30.

Scarborough:

• Borough Drive will be closed between Brian Harrison Way and Town Centre Court from Saturday, September 29 at 8 a.m. to Sunday, September 30 at 9 a.m.

Downtown:

• Queen Street West between Yonge Street and University Avenue, and York Street between Queen Street West and Richmond Street West will be closed starting Saturday, September 29 at 4 p.m. until Sunday, September 30 at 9 a.m.

Bay Street will be closed between Dundas Street West and Adelaide Street West, with additional closures on Temperance, Elizabeth, Albert and James Streets from Saturday, September 29 at 8 a.m. to Sunday September 30 at 11 a.m

• TTC – Subway Lines 1, 2 and 3 will operate an all-night schedule (1:30 to 8 a.m.) on Sunday, September 30 between selected stations. Free parking will be available at TTC commuter parking lots.
• Line 1 Yonge-University service will operate between Vaughan Metropolitan Centre Station and Finch Station.
• Line 2 Bloor-Danforth service will operate between Kipling Station and Kennedy Station.
• Line 3 Scarborough service will offer free, all-night service between Kennedy Station and McCowan Station from Saturday, September 29 at 7 p.m. to Sunday, September 30 at 7 a.m.

More detailed information about getting around during Nuit Blanche is available here.

Buffer Festival

• The curb lane and sidewalk fronting the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts at 27 Front St. E. will be closed Sunday, September 30 from noon to 9 p.m. for the Buffer Festival.

CIBC Run for the Cure

• There will be a series of road closures and lane restrictions in the area bounded by University Avenue/Queen’s Park Circle to the east, Bloor Street West to the north, St. George Street to the west and Queen Street West to the south on Sunday, September 30 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. for this event.  As a result, some TTC routes will detour during these closures including 5 Avenue Road, 94 Wellesley, 505 Dundas, 506 Carlton and 300 Bloor-Danforth.

Kensington Market Pedestrian Sundays

• Parts of Kensington Avenue, Augusta Avenue, Baldwin Street and St. Andrew Street will be closed on Sunday, September 30 from noon to 10:30 p.m. for the Pedestrian Sunday event.

Ontario Firefighters Memorial

• Grosvenor Street from Queens Park Crescent East to Surrey Place, and the westbound curb lane of College Street from Queens Park Crescent East to 112 College Street will be closed on Sunday, September 30 from noon to 3 p.m. The northbound lanes of Queen’s Park Crescent East from College Street to Grosvenor Street will be closed on Sunday, September 30 from 12:30 to 3 p.m.

Global Zoom 2018

• The curb lane on York Street will be restricted from Wellington Street West to Queen Street West from Sunday, September 30 to Monday, October 1 at various times from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily for Global Zoom.

A class of 27 new police recruits will graduate from the Toronto Police College Thursday. They will possess an array of language and professional skills worthy of a City like Toronto. A release says that the class is 18.5 percent women and 22 percent visible minority members. A total of 96% successfully completed post-secondary education and 41 percent have previous military or policing experience. The majority of the class speak a language other than English. Some of them are Arabic, French, Portuguese, Urdu, Hindi, Macedonian, Punjabi, Turkish, Japanese, Dari and Farsi. That’s at noon at the Toronto Police College, 70 Birmingham Street.

One more time for our Skip. #Gibby 💙 https://t.co/SM7K4YDDTf

— Toronto Blue Jays (@BlueJays) September 26, 2018

John Gibbons was given a hearty farewell as manager of the Blue Jays Wednesday night as the team and fans showed thier affection for “the Gibber.” The Jays defeated the defending champion Houston Astros 3-1 while fans applauded Gibbons throughout the game. The win guaranteed Gibbons a managerial win-loss record above .500. “I didn’t want to end up below .500 because then they call you a loser,” Gibbons said with a chuckle hours after the team announced the long-expected news that he would not be returning next season. The Jays end the season in Tampa Bay.