The South Bayview Bulldog

Zero time

He can’t help it if he’s a foot taller than her

She argues back

The sizeable number of traffic dead so far this year (22) may be getting to police and City officials. A snippet of video posted by Affan Imran at University Ave. and Front St. shows a police officer berating a woman, apparently for venturing into the intersection without time to cross. It’s not fully clear. The cop is annoyed although the woman seems to be arguing back. All this has the officer under investigation. It is all too predictable as authorities fret about “educating” the public. Vision Zero is the City’s plan adopted from European places to reduce traffic fatalities to zero. Laudable in some ways but also clearly the stuff of over-the-top tongue lashings. Desperate Toronto decrees traffic accidents aren’t accidents

Hey @TorontoPolice @TPSOperations your traffic officer at Front And University needs to calm down and not scare this poor woman trying to cross a street. #TOpoli pic.twitter.com/tmkzs6HI3i

— Affan Imran (@affan_imran) May 15, 2018

As reported Thursday in The South Bayview Bulldog the fireworks display at Leaside High School grounds is set for 9 p.m. Monday and the organizer, David Bryant, has reminded fans that his wife and daughter will pass among the crowd with a donation jug. He has posted pictures of the explosives and a bill showing the total at $3,476.63. A good reason to drop a dollar in the jug.

Price for fireworks

Monday at 9 p.m.

Proposal for 898 Mt. Pleasant Rd. at Eglinton Ave.

About 40 people attended a meeting at the Roehampton Hotel (formerly the Best Western) at 808 Mt. Pleasant Rd. Thursday evening to hear about a proposed 44-year-storey mixed use development on the site. Councillor Josh Matlow (Ward 22) denounced the scale of the project. It has a height many times greater than the present zoning and double the height limits seen in a draft of revised zoning. The neighborhood is no example of moderation in such things. It is a war-zone of high-rise frenzy. Enormous towers already largely built sit at the southeast corners of Redpath and Eglinton and Redpath and Roehampton. Perhaps they are “gifts” from the former Ontario Municipal Board. The Yonge Eglinton Plan is a set of guidelines being formulated by City staff for increased density along the LRT. The Roehampton proposal offends in a number of ways. It is too high, too close to an apartment on Roehampton and is said to cast at least some shadow on Northern Secondary School to the north. The City of Toronto planner David Driedger invited those present to write him if they had questions.at david.driedger@toronto.ca Urban Toronto

Eglinton and Redpath

Redpath and Roehampton

Living on borrowed time?

Dog rescued/Peter Fisher Special to CHEX

Third floor blaze/Today’s Northumberland

Global News video capture

Fire officials and some 50 residents are shocked but grateful that everyone, including the pets, escaped a raging apartment fire at 48 Wellington St in Port Hope during the noon hour Thursday. According to Port Hope Fire Chief C. Ryan Edgar, the blaze broke out in a third-floor unit and quickly spread to the roof of the 24-unit residential complex. Residents of the apartment who have not found refuge with friends or family are being housed temporarily at the Port Hope Parks and Recreation Centre at 62 McCaul St in the Lake Ontario town. The Red Cross and other victim services are on site — with CHEX TV. Peterborough

Today’s Northumberland

The opening of the  new Costco store on Overlea Blvd. cannot be far off. Thursday the public was invited by signage on the street to drive into the new parking lot and pay for a membership to the club. “Avoid the rush,” say the signs. Those who do this should look for a white trailer behind the construction trailer off the main drive into the lot. It’s not especially obvious. But it is there and they will gladly sign you up.

Turn it off?

Soon!

Buy it from us

Alberta Premier Rachel Notley is threatening to cut off oil shipments to British Columbia “very quickly” if BC does not stop its unconstitutional blockage of the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Analysts predict that a 60-litre tank of regular will cost $120 in Vancouver in mere hours of such a move. This as the Alberta government passed its new law granting it the power to stop oil flowing to its neighbor. Notley said she would use the law, first introduced last month and passed Wednesday, if construction does not begin on the KM project soon. “Albertans, British Columbians and the rest of Canada should understand that if the path forward for the pipeline through BC is not settled soon, I am ready and prepared to turn off the taps,” Notley declared.

A New York couple found a safe full of cash, jewels and other valuables in the brush of their backyard. Check out why they did not just pocket the goodies.

Starbucks at 1545 Bayview remained closed Thursday as renovation work apparently overtook the schedule. The store has announced on signs that it would re-open today.

Getting ready to board flght to Edmonton

Some 100 BC business, Indigenous, labour and community leaders boarded a flight from Vancouver to Edmonton Thursday to show support for the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Twitter activity says this venture is supported by the Great Vancouver Board of Trade. Tara Weber of BNN reported that the Indigenous tribe members on board the Federation Flight are those whose lands surround the pipeline. It’s said that while most Indigenous groups oppose the project, certain others are enthusiastic about it. The name of the mission — Federation Flight — has clear symbolism for patriotic Canadians who fear the economy and foreign investment will suffer if Canadian crude cannot be shipped to Asia. Meantime, the future of the pipeline is locked in the political grip of the splinter BC Green Party, which is propping up the NDP government.

David Bryant has confirmed to the South Bayview Bulldog that he and his selfless band of volunteers will once again stage a fireworks show this long weekend. It will begin at 9 p.m. Monday, May 21, on the playing field at Leaside High School. Mr. Bryant has begun a widely appreciated practice of such displays during the better weather. This year there will be more than 100 pieces exploded with a “special ending” says Bryant.

Leaside High field last year

David Bryant (centre) and friends prepare a fireworks show in 2017

“Mixed-use” proposal

Roehampton Hotel when it was still the Best Western

A meeting is set for Thursday (tonight) at The Roehampton Hotel (formerly the Best Western) to discuss a proposal to replace the hotel building with a 44-storey mixed-use building containing 457 residential units with retail space on the first level. The developer proposes 166 parking spaces in four levels of underground parking. The meeting is convened by Councillor Matlow beginning at 6:30 p.m. at The Roehampton Hotel, 808 Pleasant Rd. Urban Toronto