The South Bayview Bulldog

This intersection is cleared following a five-car accident. Injuries were minor.

The City has issued road closure notices for the Taste of the Danforth and the Feast of St. Lawrence.

•  Danforth Avenue from Broadview Avenue to Jones Avenue will be closed in both directions from Friday, August 10 at 10 a.m. to Monday, August 13 at 4 a.m.
•  Pape Avenue from Lipton Avenue to Hazelwood Avenue will be closed in both directions from Friday, August 10 at 6 p.m. to Monday, August 13 at 4 a.m.
•  Logan Avenue from Danforth Avenue to the south side of the laneway north of Danforth Avenue will be closed in both directions from Thursday, August 9 at 3 p.m. to Monday, August 13 at 4 a.m.

Feast of St. Lawrence

•  Front Street East from Scott Street to Church Street will be fully closed from Friday, August 10 at 9 a.m. to Saturday, August 11 at 2 a.m.
•  Market Street from Front Street East to Wilton Street will be closed on Saturday, August 11 from 4 a.m. to midnight

Consolidate on west side of Laird Drive between Commercial and Industrial

Gyro Mazda of Laird Drive will consolidate all sales and service on the east of the street on property recently purchased from DEL Equipment Limited at Laird and Commercial Dr. The new facility will adjoin the Gyro Hyundai dealership which is located at Laird and Industrial St.  Partners Paul Kmet, JP Kovac and Jim Krigos made the announcement in a statement Thursday. The new Gyro Mazda facility will offer immediate drive-through with two lanes and 13 service bays, a large new vehicle showroom and many customer lounge areas. The partners say they are excited about the new phase and thank community members for on-going support. Mazda has been in business on Laird Drive for 40 years. It is of interest that the proposed zoning on the west side of the street, which now houses the original Gyro Mazda dealership, is for midrise development, buildings that might rise from four to 11 storeys. This section stretches from north of Stickney Ave. south to a line on the west side nearly to the Laird-Esandar Dr intersection.

R.V. Burgess Park

Random litter

Ever-present water bottle

A Twitter video Thursday morning complains about refuse littering R.V. Burgess Park on Thorncliffe Park Dr. It says “a supervisor” was going to check this litter within a week. “Obviously nothing gets done around here,” the tweet says. It is messy but not beyond an easy fix perhaps. Probably there are bins but maybe not. Signs reminding people to use them might be helpful. As on Bayview Ave. each Spring, a contingent of citizen volunteers is able to clean up this type of thing jiffy quick. In April, many parks in East York, including Burgess, were cleaned by volunteers. Toronto.com

50-foot firenado at Swadlincote, Derbyshire.

Honestly, Saudi Arabia is not the talk of Bayview Ave. But thoughtful people wonder why they’re so sensitive. And why is it necessary to flog bloggers? One reason may be that like all non-democracies, Saudi royalty deeply fears being overthrown. Count on it. Sadly for us, any new regime in that part of the world will not be a British constitutional parliamentary democracy. More like something really awful. You can count on that too. Then, City Cynthia ponders flooding past and present. Interesting. Below that, ten million Mustang cars are celebrated by NBC in this shameless but enjoyable bit of puffery. Lastly, the spectacular and scary weather and fire condition known as a “firenado” or “fire whirl” caused Wednesday by a plastics fire in the English midlands. It occurred at a factory where hundreds of plastic skids burned in Swadlincote, Derbyshire.

PC Josh McSweeney and PC Ryan Barnett had to swim through sewer water to rescue two men who were trapped in a flooded elevator on Tuesday night./CBC

Klever Freire points up recalling escape from elevator

Klever Freire and co-worker Gabriel Otrin were chin-deep in rising water as they hammered their lacerated knuckles on the roof of a flooded elevator at Alliance Ave and Rockcliffe Blvd Tuesday night. Freire told a news conference Wednesday that he and his friend found themselves inside the dead elevator in the basement of the building. They were finally able to pry open a crevice big enough to send a signal from a cell phone. They dialled 911. Minutes later, two police officers arrived and set out to rescue the trapped men. CBC

The South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association has published a newsletter commenting on the plan to reduce City of Toronto wards from 47 to 25.

The Weather Network calls for “scattered thundershowers” Wednesday. A surprising onslaught of rain hit South Bayview for more than an hour this morning.

Submerged streetcar/Toronto Sun

CP24 screen

Office wrecked

Stuck in garage at baseball game

Run for it

Heavy rain Tuesday night threatened to drown two men in an apartment elevator near Jane and St.Clair West. The deluge pummeled the City, flooding roads, sending water through the closed roof of the Rogers Centre and damaging offices and homes. Toronto Police Operations on Twitter reported the two were trapped in an elevator filled with water that was approximately six-feet high. A tenant said the men had been headed down to the parking garage to check on their vehicles. Northeast portions of the north-south subway are closed Wednesday because of flooded track. On Twitter, citizens posted pictures and video of their experiences. The Breakfast Television video below has some startling shots. Check the heavy iron sewer covers thrown into the air by spouting rainwater.

This is a story about a couple who leased their investment condominium to a man who they never met. In due course they learned that whoever he (or she) was, their condo was being used like a hotel room by Airbnb one-nighters.  Many will be sympathetic but others will wonder what they were thinking. CBC

Two-alarm wrecking yard fire/PC Steve Hammond TPS Twitter

Darryl Martin@beercapblog

Fire at an auto wrecking yard in Etobicoke has Toronto Fire Service busy Tuesday evening. The two-alarm fire is at North Queen St. and Atomic Ave. Roads are closed in the area. Video.