The South Bayview Bulldog

The family of a girl, 11, has made a gracious apology for what it calls the “pain and anger” caused by a story that the child had been attacked by a scissor-wielding man who cut her hijab. It said: “This has been a very painful experience for our family. We want to thank everyone who has shown us support at this difficult time. Again, we are deeply sorry for this and want to express our sincere apologies to every Canadian.”  The widely reported case was given a prominence which seemed improbable when the Toronto and District School Board either encouraged or permitted a news conference featuring the child. It occurred within a brief time after the incident was reported and seemed to many, even as it was happening, rather questionable. Thursday, columnist Rose Dimanno criticised the TDSB for this rush to publicity and also for its decision to end the Officer Resource Program even though a large majority of students said it seemed like a good idea. Carleton study finds cops and students a good fit in Peel

Bullet-riddled car on West Deane Drive

Two young men are dead and two gravely wounded in an ambush of sorts early Friday morning in Etobicoke. An unkown number of gunmen opened fire on a car in which the four were riding. It jumped a curb and stopped on the front lawn of a residence on West Deane Park Drive sometime after midnight. The matter continues to unfold.    .

Creeds opens Friday, January 19

Paige Cowan closing Wildbird

Simon Hanlon humour at McSorley’s

Guard back at Plains and Donlands

Hot lunch at DPS

Creed Coffee Bar (and dry cleaning) has tweeted that it will open for business at 1595 Bayview Ave. Friday, January 19 at 7 a.m. Welcome Creeds. Upper right, Paige Cowan has posted an emotional announcement that she will close her shop, Wildbird at 622 Mt. Pleasant Rd., after 25 years in business. The birders and gift shop is a favorite in the area and greatly loved by many customers. Below that, Joanna Lavoie of the Beach Mirror says the crossing guard recently removed from the corner of Plains Rd. and Donlands Ave. has been restored after a community protest. A survey suggested to police that there were not enough kids crossing there to justify the  guard but the community strongly disagreed. At bottom right, a tweet from Davisville Junior Public School about the new hot lunch program that started this week. One first grader declared to the principal “You gotta try the butter chicken with naan, Mrs. Farrelly.” Finally, as recorded by Rudy Limeback, it seems the self-effacing humour of Simon Hanlon, founder and former owner of McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon, is alive and well. Two boards outside the local favorite carry Hanlon chucklers this week, to wit: Many people have eaten here and gone on to live productive lives and The guy who parked your car doesn’t work here.

Canadian recipe

Tracey Crouch is the Minister of Loneliness

Nico Mallozi died of flu

Barenaked Ladies to Music Hall of Fame

Okapi named after Meghan

A New York Times article, as noted by City News, celebrates the creation of the butter tart in Ontario. They attribute the first butter tart to Mrs. Malcom MacLeod. Well thank you Mrs. MacLeod. Other news? The UK government has appointed Tracey Crouch, MP for Chatham and Aylesford, to be the country’s first Minister of Loneliness. It is a serious undertaking directed at dealing with this human affliction, said to affect nine million Britons at any given time. Below that, there is frenzy in much of New England and elsewhere in the US as parents hasten to get their children a flu shot. This follows the death over a period of about two days of 10-year-old Nico Mallozi. Lower left, those Scarborough kids who formed the Barenaked Ladies will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. Their sophomoric name was both scandalous and, well, sophomoric when they burst onto the scene in 1988. Finally, a newly-born Okapi or zebra giraffe has been named after Meghan Markle.  Although the Okapi bears striped markings reminiscent of zebras, it is most closely related to the giraffe.

Reuters is reporting that Amazon has short-listed 20 metropolitan areas, including Toronto, to build its second headquarters. It reviewed 238 proposals. Amazon said it would work with each of the candidate locations to gather more information and evaluate the potential of a partnership in the future. In September Amazon announced it would build a $5-billion second address in North America. It is estimated that the headquarters could bring as many as 50,000 new jobs. Unexpected Amazon selections included Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Nashville; and Miami. Other cities that made the list include Atlanta, Austin, Chicago and New York. Los Angeles was the only city from the West Coast selected. List is here.

W. Edmund Clark

New age of legal toking and pot tarts

Former bank chief to oversee LCBO

Premier Wynne was battening down the hatches Wednesday in preparation for the 2018 general election. She said goodbye from the cabinet room to Deb Matthews, Liz Sandals and Brad Duguid as she elevated three rookies to cabinet. They are Nathalie Des Rosiers, Daiene Vernile and Harinder Malhi. It was a broadly-based shuffle and the portfolios are here.  At the same time, the CBC says a durable friend of the Liberal government, W. Edmund (Ed) Clark, has been tapped to oversee the future of wine, liquor, beer and marijuana sales in Ontario. Mr. Clark, a former CEO of the TD Bank,  accessed the bank’s top job from the Canada Trust side after the merger of 2000.

• Ed Clark to be named new LCBO chair ahead of marijuana sales launch
• Kathleen Wynne shuffles cabinet to replace veterans before election

Property owner Mitch Abrahams speaks to meeting at Best Western on Mt. Pleasant

About 150 people were present at a City information meeting Wednesday night at the Best Western Hotel on Mt. Pleasant Rd. to hear details of a revised plan for tower developments known as 18 Brownlow. The new proposal is for a single 24-storey rental apartment building on half of the original property at the corner of Soudan Ave and Redpath Ave. It was a full court press in many ways for both SERRA, the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association and for the property owner, Mitch Abrahams. In fact, there is a critical round to come before the Ontario Municipal Board later this year.  Mr. Abrahams made his case in response to questions. He said he was passionate about rental accommodation and that in the context of the already highly developed neighborhood, his newly-proposed tower was appropriate. The mood of the meeting was correct but deeply hostile both to the size of the proposal and the killing precedent process that has led to the transformation of single family streets into canyons.

PALPABLE HELPLESSNESS

Josh Matlow (Ward 22) seemed to express the dissatisfaction of ratepayers with the process that brought Soudan Ave and others to their present state. “I will say to the developer, and any other developer who believes that pointing to wrongs of the past is the precedent that we should do wrong today, that no longer should the narrative be set by the development industry.” Matlow said residents had been let down by both the City and province. His condemnation seemed tangible as City Planner Andrew Taivara explained to bewildered residents that while 14 storeys was a recommended maximum height in the neighborhood, it wasn’t the law. The City would have to consider 24 storeys and ultimately live with what the OMB decided. Such palpable helplessness infuriated many at the meeting, as it has before.

The Bank of Canada has raised its rate a quarter percent to 1.25 percent. It said the unexpectedly good economy justified this but it warned of the great unknown called NAFTA negotiations. This being addressed, Canadian pundits continue to think there is a hefty political downside for Donald Trump if he cancels the treaty. The firestorm that would flow from northern states which sell billions to Canada cannot be dismissed. In a nutshell.

Impromptu delay

Readers report a nightmarish surprise on Eglinton Ave E eastbound towards Don Mills Rd. at mid-morning Wednesday as police first stopped all traffic and then began diverting it left and right as crews did impromptu roadwork (apparently) related to the LRT. Cars were stalled at least 20 minutes. Traffic heading east to the Don Valley Parkway to go north was forced to go south on Don Mills instead.

Fred (Freddy) Webb

Long-time Leaside resident Frederick Webb died at Sunnybrook Hospital Thursday January 11. Mr. Webb was born in Parkdale but he and his wife Marilyn lived in Leaside for 55 years. Fred Webb was fondly known to family and friends as Freddy. He was a gentle, kind man who touched many in the Leaside community. Freddy coached boys MTHL hockey with the Leaside Kings and at North Toronto, he coached Pitt’s Midget Baseball at Talbot Park and umpired in the Toronto Men’s League. He was also instrumental in the introduction of Girl’s Softball in Leaside and a strong supporter of Leaside Girl’s hockey in the early years. He was actively involved In St. Augustine’s Anglican Church for nearly four decades. Toronto Star

Rate chart shows how cost is shared between the rider and the municipality

Unlike with transit, taxpayers are charged only when there is an actual ride

The website Urban Toronto has published an update on the unique transit experiment in Innisfil Township in Simcoe County. It uses Uber service instead of a municipal-owned bus line. According to the UT article, the early results of the shared-cost system are encouraging. Between May 15 and July 15, the first two months the pilot was in operation, Uber undertook 4,868 subsidized trips, or an average of 79 trips per day. A report presented to Council detailing the initial results of the pilot concluded that “[t]he total costs after two months have been $26,462.41 for the town’s ridesharing transit service, while there would have been a $270,000 start-up net cost for one bus and $610,000 for two buses running along routes servicing only a small portion of the town.

BUS SYSTEM WOULD HAVE COST MORE

This strongly indicates that the cost of a fixed-route bus system to service all of Innisfil would have been far greater and a less convenient option than through the current ridesharing transit service.” The Town has yet to publicly provide another update on the pilot’s ridership numbers. Another advantage of this program is the data collection and analysis component. Unlike the vast majority of transit systems, which obtain ridership data through a combination of Automatic Passenger Counters (APCs), manual counts, and smart payment cards (Presto Card in the GTHA), Innisfil will have access to complete origin-destination data through Uber — Urban Toronto

Carbon monoxide alarms alerted dozens of residents of the Deauville Place seniors residence early Wednesday and sparked a speedy evcaution. High levels of CO were found on floors 4, 5, and 6 of the Flemingdon Park home near St. Dennis and Grenoble Drives. The source was traced to a recently repaired air conditioner.