Kids all safe as wrong-way bus strikes cars, falls into river

All 17 kids aboard are safe after a school bus lost power on a hill and rolled backwards, smashed into two cars and finally landed in the Humber River ravine. This occurred on Humber Lea Road between King Street East and Kingsview Drive in Bolton about 8:15 a.m. OPP PC Tamara Schubert says that no injuries have been reported as a result of the crash. As reported by City News, it was a frightening trip to school for the area students. Paramedics say one person was taken to hospital as a precaution. The person’s age and gender and not yet known. This will probably have been the driver of a car. The bus was trying to make its way up a steep hill when it stalled near the top and started to roll backwards towards the bridge over the Humber. The bus struck the side of the bridge and ended up in a ditch near the river. “The rear of the bus was hanging over the river,” Schubert said. The OPP later said the tail end of the bus hit the water. The bus hit a Jeep and a Ford during the crash. “We rolled down the hill and we avoided one truck, a pickup truck. We just dinged a Jeep and the bus hit a red Ford,” a 14-year-old student who was on the bus told City.

Leaside barriers a benign cul-de-sac or selfish imposition?

The vote on a pilot plan to close Glenvale Blvd., Broadway Ave. and Craig Crescent with concrete barriers has electrified Leaside. Discussion, concern, defenses and damnations of the scheme are published from beyond North Leaside where people are permitted to vote. Is it a benign cul-de-sac or a selfish imposition on others? Friday morning the posts at Leaside Community number perhaps 200, maybe more. Those in favour speak mostly about the safety of children but frequently simply complain about  traffic. It’s understandable. Drivers making illegal turns into the three streets in question want to avoid a busy intersection at Eglinton. It’s made much worse by the LRT insanity but as a practice it is done everywhere. Others posting, like those to the west of Leaside and south of Eglinton think they are being made scapegoats. The terms of the pilot contain verbal provisions that any impact on South Leaside traffic will nullify a permanent closure. How this will be decided is an open question. Assurances have been made that emergency services see “no problem” but immutable time and distance makes this seem challenging. In many public discussions no paramedic, police or fire officials have been seen. The plan, as explained at links below, has many conditions which might end it. Leaside Community

GoodLife Fitness Marathon to close many roads on Sunday

The GoodLife Fitness Marathon set for this Sunday will again close dozens of roads during the day. The closures begin at 6 a.m. in North York and in Midtown stay to the east of Yonge St. until the marathon crosses Yonge at Belmont/Aylmer to go down Rosedale Valley Rd. to lower Bayview Ave. Have a look.

ALSO ON THE ROAD

Clammy morning to give way to “warm and wild’ afternoon

Forecaster Chris Scott calls for an “extraordinary” weather day across Southern Ontario in which a damp, clammy morning will give way to a warm and wild afternoon with damaging winds for all and severe thunderstorms for some Wind gusts between 70 to 90 km/h or higher will be strong enough to cause minor tree and building damage with local power outages possible as well

Power out after tree fall on Blythwood Rd. in Lawrence Park

Councillor Jaye Robinson tweeted Thursday night that Hydro is working to restore power to a large area of Ward 25 between Yonge St. and Lawrence Ave. A tree fell on Blythwood Rd. striking the Glengrove power station.

Forum Research shows PC Party polling strong in Toronto

City News reports on recurring polls by Forum Research showing that the PC Party is looking strong in Liberal Toronto. Then, an interesting take, again from City, on the case (or not) for a tax on owners of houses that are sitting empty. Below that, the excruciating details on how Facebook is going to make you happy forever. And finally, as shown above, women are sticking fake beards on their faces so they can get into the soccer stadium in Iran. They are not legally permitted in, you know.






Musk dismisses analyst as “not cool” to send stock plunging

Elon Musk was especially brusk in dealing with an RBC analyst Thursday. His manner seemed odd even for a man who makes a practice of it. As the electric car and solar panel company announced a record first-quarter loss, the Tesla CEO cut off two analysts who sought some basic answers: details about the company’s cash needs and orders for its all-important Model 3 mass-market electric car. “These questions are so dry. They’re killing me,” Musk said as he dismissed an RBC Capital Markets analyst in favour of a blogger who served up queries more to his liking. Musk called the analyst questions boring and “not cool.” Shares fell quickly in after-hours trading, and analysts began writing that Musk shouldn’t bite the hands that feed his company’s enormous cash needs because soon he may need more. By Thursday afternoon, Tesla stock had lost nearly 6 per cent of its value.

OTHER BUSINESS LEADS

Home sales, prices down in April over last year says TREB

The Toronto Real Estate Board says home sales in April were down 32.1 per cent compared with a year ago. The board says there were 7,792 homes sold through its MLS system last month compared with 11,468 a year ago. The average selling price was $804,584, down 12.4 per cent compared with the same month last year. CP24

Ancient watermain bursts under Yonge St. south of King

Reports say the water main break that has closed Yonge St.Thursday morning occurred in a pipe that dates from the late 19th Century. The Melinda St. access to the subway is also closed.

 

Jane’s Walks in Thorncliffe, Davisville and on Laird Drive

Geoff Kettel has written to alert those interested that there will Jane’s Walks in Thorncliffe Park and Davisville Village on Saturday, and along Laird Drive on Sunday. Please find details here.

Leaside alive with questions as jersey barrier ballots arrive

Ballots have begun to arrive at North Leaside homes for voting by some estimated 3,000 eligible residents on whether to seal off the community from the west at Bayview Ave. It is apparent from a long thread of questions and comments on Leaside Community that many people are quite unaware of the pilot plan. It would close Glenvale Blvd., Broadway Ave. and Craig Crescent with concrete “jersey barriers.”  All traffic in — and out — would have to find other routing. Many people in South Leaside are asking why they do not have ballots. But there is no such provision in the plan. Only North Leaside gets to vote. Comments range from whole-hearted support for the pilot. One man calls it “safety over convenience.” But many oppose the scheme and there are at least two comments about how the plan will isolate parents west of Bayview with children going to Northlea School. They would be forced to take their kids to Eglinton Ave and back up Rumsey to get to class. Leaside Community

Scadding Ave. and Princess St. awash in water main break