The South Bayview Bulldog

Changes to the traffic patterns at Bayview Ave and Eglinton Ave will see stop lights installed at Roehampton Ave. and Bayview. The installation of these lights is said to be underway with the “traffic flip” for this and other changes to take place “overnight August 8”. It is unclear in the posted information exactly what time this might be. The assumption is that overnight August 8th means the night of Wednesday-Thursday (8 and 9). But in any case beware. As usual, the map is dizzying and brave motorists will wish to study it carefully and commit turns and no-turns to memory rather than trying to read them on the fly.  A post at Leaside  Chit Chat has reassuring news that drivers confused about turns are being ticketed. Take a look

Danielle Kane

Michael Pinksen and Danielle

Danielle Kane, 31, grievously injured by the mad shooter on the Danforth July 22 has emerged from a coma and spoken to her mom and boyfriend. Kaine is badly hurt, possibly for life.  She has a “long, long way to go,” according to her mother Jocelyn Kane. Danielle is a nursing student who was having dinner with boyfriend Jerry Pinksen when the shooting began. Like others, they were drawn to the street to help but the volley of bullets continued. One hit Danielle. Pinksen talks of the night in a City News report here.

There may be hope for Canadian journalism but stories like “How hard would it actually be for Toronto to become its own province?” certainly cast a lot of doubt. It is impossible for Toronto to become its own province (as the author has to admit). It’s impossible not just because it would require legal contortions across the country unseen since the construction of the CPR. That was a cakewalk. No. Not just that. It’s all the other stuff. Like, hmm, the Province of Vancouver. Or the People’s Republic of Leduc. Or maybe, the State of New Brunswick. Oh yeah. Once the juices start to flow there is no limit to what anyone might try.  Can Leaside secede from Don Valley North?  We like the idea of the Principality of Moore Park. With a Princess in charge. Such maundering is what makes the authorities in Beijing bring any muttering secessionist before a drum-head court for an instant verdict of treason and a sentence of, well, you know.

Leaside industrial anchor

Demolition this week

Scene on Commercial

DEL Equipment Inc, the well-known truck modification and retrofitting business, has left Leaside and its property has been sold to Gyro Mazda, also of Laird Drive, according to many sources. Demolition began this week on the DEL property at Laird Drive and Commercial St., a fixture of industrial Leaside for decades. There has been no announcement but it appears that DEL has been subsumed in Gin-Cor Industries, a national firm with which it announced an “alliance” last year.  The Internet shows a DEL location at 210 Harry Walker Parkway in Newmarket. It’s also unclear just how the two Gyro franchises — Mazda and Hyundai — will be configured. The firm already has land on both sides of Laird.

Residents of the Summerwind Drive in Boise, Idaho awoke to an invasion of goats Friday  The 118 goats gobbled everything in sight. They were later found to have escaped from a corral near the Ada County Highway District, where they had been rented to clear foliage. The goats belong to Kim and Matt Gabica, who use them for a business called We Rent Goats. The animals escaped from the corral by knocking out slats of a wooden fence. In due course a truck from We Rent Goats arrived and began the roundup. As Joe Parris of KTVB-TV tweeted: The party’s over kids.”

Party is over “kids”! Loose goats have been cornered and loaded back onto a truck owned by “We Rent Goats” pic.twitter.com/qWHrb7X7n6

— Joe Parris (@JoeParrisTV) August 3, 2018

Canadian press says Aimia Inc., owners of Aeorplan, have a deal with Porter Airlines to become a preferred carrier the loyalty points program as of July 2020, when the current arrangement with Air Canada ends. Aimia has rejected a hostile bid for Aeroplan from an Air Canada-led group that includes the key Aeroplan credit card partners Toronto-Dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Visa Canada. Porter’s fleet of aircraft is only a fraction the size of Air Canada’s but Aimia has also been in discussions with the Oneworld airline alliance, whose members include British Airways, American Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

A heavy tow truck is used to hoist a Toyota Yaris out of Toronto Harbour. Toronto Police Marine Unit divers recovered the body of the male driver. Car reversed into water from a parking lot last night at Parliament and Lake Shore Blvd. pic.twitter.com/ofrWPsMYBH

— Kevin Misener (@Kevin_Misener) August 3, 2018

City News reports that volunteer hockey coaches will be required to instruct kids from 5 to 18 in everything from gender diversity to why it’s important to use pronouns they’ve never heard before. Good luck to all. Then, the Rogers Cup begins Friday and here is a preview. Below that, Google is making a fuss about its new Chinese search engine that may or may not really search. Beijing does not like unapproved questions. Finally, mom and dad will fall for this yarn about twin girls engaged to twin guys. As it happened.

Demolition on Brentcliffe

End of an era

The demolition of the Dawsco Plaza on Brentfcliffe has members of Leaside Chit Chat mourning the end of a Leaside they knew as kids and young adults. It will make way for a multi-towered complex housing thousands. There is fear for the end of sunshine on the north side of Eglinton Ave. Many express concern for their apartment homes east of Laird. City of Toronto “planning” as good as dictates the destruction of low-rise properties to make the LRT worthwhile. (For who?) One poster says: “So sad to hear and watch the glass windows being shattered at 939 Eglinton Ave. E. making way for the new condo complex. After 65 years of being in the same house, it is breaking my heart…this is exactly what we don’t need here. It is hard to believe that Eglinton was a dirt road which ended at Brentcliffe beyond which there was a dump. I am remembering the day that it was tarred and paved. All the neighbourhood kids sat on a 2×4 by the curb and watched.”

The Ontario goverment has given Toronto school boards two weeks to align their wards with the 25 the Ford government has imposed on the City — meaning some trustees could end up overseeing many more schools than others. Toronto Star — subscription.

Joe Mihevc left and Josh Matlow may contest St. Paul’s while Jaye Robinson and Jon Burnside seem likely to face off in Don Valley West

As previously speculated by The South Bayview Bulldog, long-time friends (and opponents) in neighboring wards will have to contest the new larger constituencies against people who in many cases are their friends and political allies. City News reporter Pam Seatle has some examples in the video below. Two of the most graphic local awkward situations, St. Paul’s and Don Valley West, are shown in photos above.

As recorded by owner

Corrected and enlarged by The Bulldog

A resident of Fleming Crescent has posted video captures (left) of a car break-in which occurred Saturday night. The Bulldog has isolated the face of an apparent suspect, corrected it for colour and enlarged it. See if you know him and if so post to Leaside Community or mail the Bulldog