The South Bayview Bulldog

Red indicates mid-rise zoning

Gym at St. Anselm

Population to nearly triple in this zone

A modestly-attended meeting in the gymnasium of St. Anselm School Monday night was primer for residents on the enormous development planned for Laird Drive and Eglinton Ave. down to Brentcliffe Rd.  There will be parks, boulevards, trees, bike lanes and similar amenities on all these streets and others. Nothing much was seen regarding schools. Schools are the purview of the school board which from time to time complains that the City and Province don’t do much to help coordinate growth with classroom space. The huge developments at 815 Eglinton (at Laird) and 939 Eglinton (at Brentcliffe) are elements that will trigger the transformation of a low-rise street into something more like downtown North York on Yonge St. But many other addresses will also be rezoned to mid-rise and higher on the north side of Eglinton and the west side of Laird. Schematic drawings showed familiar places which will all be available for buildings six to eight storeys high. Density will mushroom. Comparative depictions of a radius around Laird and Eglinton showed the population leaping from 3749 people to 10420 people. Insights lately had by many  about the full meaning of an LRT along Eglinton.

The Leafs scored into an empty net with seconds remaining in Game Six to win 3-1 against the Bruins.

• We’re going to Game Seven: Maple Leafs demolish the Bruins 3-1

Alek Minassian

Police hold van driver on Yonge St. near Poyntz Ave/CP24 capture

CBC News has confirmed that Alek Minassian, a 25-year-old Richmond Hill man, the news agency says in a story online. Minassian’s LinkedIn profile identifies him as a student at Seneca College. Police have told CBC that the suspect is not associated with any organized terrorist group and he does not represent a larger threat to national security. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation, the CBC says Witness Jamie Eopni, who saw the struggle to arrest the driver, had estimated that he might be as old at 40. But the person taken into custody had his head shaved, making him seem older. Tom Winter of NBC News say that “multiple law enforcement officials in Canada and the US say the preliminary theory is that Minassian may have had mental health issues and had an online discussion about Elliot Rodger who went on a rampage at UC Santa Barbara.” At a news conference Monday nght, Chief Saunders was unable to indicate a motive but he did say that authorities believe the the action was not about national security. Twitter is alive with people who say they knew Mr. Minassian in some capacity offering a range of unverified allegations about his mental state and intelligence.

• Only driver’s license and credit card required to rent van
• A very angry and scared young guy’ Witness describes driver in Yonge & Finch incident

See later post

A Government of Canada in a news release Monday says “Canada and Ontario and the City of Toronto invest in 1,738 new and revitalized buses.” It lists the vehicles this way and notably, says there will be 60 all-electric buses, not 30 as reported yesterday when Mayor Tory inspected such buses. The component lists is given as this.

• The purchase of 729 clean diesel buses, 254 second generation hybrid electric buses, and 60 battery electric buses
• The Bus Rebuild component of this project involves rebuilding 695 total buses in the current TTC fleet.
• The Government of Canada is also investing more than $10 million for 15 other public transit projects in four communities across Ontario.
• The Government of Canada will invest more than $180 billion over 12 years in public transit projects, green infrastructure, social infrastructure, trade and transportation routes, and Canada’s rural and northern communities.
• Since 2003, the Government of Ontario has committed more than $4.9 billion to the City of Toronto to help improve and expand its transit system.

The hoax perpetrated on a Winnipeg neighborhood used the audio of a video which was posted by IkeArt Films to YouTube on April 3, 2016. The message with the post runs as follows: If you want to use this in a prank video, please drop me a quick credit/link in the description. Feel free to download this and use it for personal use, but please do not re upload this exact video. Whoever took the video and played it over a loudspeaker(s) in the Osborne Village area of the Manitoba capital had a “personal use” which the posters did not intend. It seems to bear out the common belief that whatever stupid stunt mankind can imagine, it will also promptly execute. Hear it here. There is also the actuality audio below, which is less clear, from station CJOB

Extensive damage to home/Tina Mackenzie CBC

The barbecue/Tina Mackenzie CBC

A barbecue dinner gone wrong is suspected in the death of a couple said to be in their 50s in Mississauga Sunday evening. The victims are Jim and Irene Headley, both of whom were retired. Friends say the couple had been married for 50 years and have three adult sons, two of which live in British Columbia. The couple’s third son reportedly lives with them but was not home when the blaze broke Fire officials refuse to confirm this but there is no other possible source mentioned. The two occupants of a home on South Millway and Burnhamthorpe Rd. were apparently seen by neighbors using the barbecue although there appears to be some confusion about how close to the house it was located. Early reports said it was in the garage. Investigators, along with officials from the fire marshal’s office, are currently at the scene.

Jim and Irene Headley

The Duchess of Cambridge has given birth to a boy, fifth in line to the throne, at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. He weighs 3.8 kilo (8.37 lbs). At the right below is a live transmission where the Royal Family Channel is waiting in hope of learning more.

City of Toronto golf courses have reopened for the season. Dentonia Park, Don Valley, Humber Valley and Tam O’Shanter courses are open Monday with early spring rates in effect. Scarlett Woods will reopen as soon as course conditions allow (read chunks of ice). A release notes that two of the City’s golf courses were recognized by the Golfers’ Choice Awards (Toronto Sun Golf Guide). Humber Valley won gold for Best Value Golf Course in the Greater Toronto Area and Dentonia Park was awarded silver for Best Par 3/Executive Golf Course in the GTA.

Warden Woods Park saw an outstanding day of tree planting by hundreds of volunteers this weekend. It is a high point of news related to Earth Day and our concern for the environment. The CBC report at right tells of a different result as Tesla struggles to balance its debt with ambitious plans unfulfilled. Late last week it temporarily cancelled work on the Tesla Model 3, intended to be its mass market breakthrough vehicle.

2011 you know where

Boo!

Casino for bigwigs, woods for Black Bloc

Minsters of the G-7 countries were in Toronto over the weekend at a so-far unreported location planning for the June 7/8 heads of government meeting in remote Charlevoix, Quebec. Police departments across the country will be breathing easier except perhaps for the RCMP. They will have to make sure that those nice boys called the Black Bloc, the ones who torch police cars and smash windows, remain in the wooded hinterland east of Quebec City  There is a casino at the Manoir Richelieu where diplomats and bigwigs may disport themselves. But it will be especially nice if the country does not have to deal with the usual aftermath of disgraced policemen, injured civil rights, ravaged business districts and previously unheard of criminal offenses (kettling). Here’s hoping.