The South Bayview Bulldog

Jennifer Smith

Trudeau as Clark Kent

Davisville Pumpkin Parade Wednesday night

Advance Care Planning at LUC

In Jackie DeSouza’s hood

Upper left, Toronto Leaside Girls Hockey Association president Jennifer Smith has been nominated as an Urban Hero for her tireless work on behalf of the sport and those who love it. Read about it in the East York Mirror. Upper right, if only he were really superman but that aside this bit of the-Halloween-that-was is worth a replay. Great Ceasar’s Ghost, Kent. Below that, the Davisville Pumpkin Parade is on Wednesday in Glebe Manor Square. Good fun. Lower right, Jackie De Souza @MsJackieDeSouza was tweeting about Halloween hi-jinks in her Hanna Rd. neighbourhood. Thanks Ms. Jackie. Finally, lower left is a reminder of an interesting and worthwhile noon hour event Sunday (with lunch) at Leaside United Church.

It turns out that the confidential inquiry into possible grocery price-fixing is about white bread and the pressures faced by retailers in selling it. The storyline is that consumers want less fatty or more specialized daily bread. The leak of this information is unattributed in Canadian Press dispatches along with statements from the federal Competition Bureau that it cannot say exactly what is at issue. Stores confirm federal investigation into grocery price-fixing

AMAZON PLANT OPENS

The Prime Minister attended the official opening of the Amazon Canada warehouse and distribution centre in Brampton Wednesday. He said the high-tech facility will create more than 700 full-time jobs. It already 350 people in the operation of robotic technology and traditional worker support to sort and compile orders for consumers in Canada.

OPP/Twitter

CTV/Twitter

Two people are dead in a nightmarish collision of vehicles — mostly large trucks — on Highway 400 near Highway 88 Tuesday night about 11.30 p.m. As many as 14 vehicles have been counted among the charred remains as police continue to search for bodies. It seems clear that driver inattention and speed caused a failure to see a slowdown ahead. OPP spokesman Kerry Schmidt said there had been an accident on the northbound lanes of 400 that slowed traffic. It was this slowdown that drivers simply missed or misjudged. Exploding gasoline tanks can be seen and heard in video below. There is coarse language.

https://twitter.com/MorganHughesP4P/status/925707127452155904

Cones from Sutherland to Millwood

Filming of the second season of the Handmaid’s Tale at Garden Court Apartments has seen parking restrictions which seem suitable to a royal tour motorcade. Orange cones stretched from Sutherland Drive to Millwood Rd on both sides of Bayview Ave. Tuesday.  The distance is possibly 500 metres. The filming notification issued by Gilead II Productions said there will be “Wrap” activities all day Wednesday. Readers have been complaining about the inconvenience. Teresa Porto called it “crazy congestion” and Emerson Baxter copied the mayor on a message that said “could we not have film shoots during rush hour at Bayview and Eglinton.”  Previous

Canada’s two largest food retailers, Loblaw Companies Ltd. and Metro Inc., have told Canadian Press that they are aware of an investigation into the grocery industry intended to determine if there has been price-fixing in certain areas. This as the federal Competition Bureau said it has raided the offices of unnamed companies in a criminal investigation involving “some of the country’s largest grocery chains”. The bureau said the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa granted search warrants based on evidence that there are reasonable grounds to believe that certain individuals and companies have engaged in activities contrary to the Competition Act. A bureau spokesperson there is no conclusion of wrongdoing at this time and no charges have been laid. She said she could not reveal more details as the bureau is required to conduct investigations confidentially.

Natural Gas Leak – Merton St b/w Mount Pleasant Road / Cleveland St, Toronto (4 Trucks)

— Toronto Fire (@tofire) October 31, 2017

Officer Jack O Lantern

Still time to get a glowlight stick

Police have issued 13 Halloween safety tips. Here they are.

1) Put strips of reflective tape on the front and back of costumes to make them more visible to drivers.

2) Your child’s costume shouldn’t drag on the ground. It’s too easy to trip over. Shoes should be well-fitting and sturdy.

3) Don’t allow children to carry sharp objects. Swords, knives, and any other accessories should be made of soft, flexible material.

4) If your child wears a mask, make sure it fits securely and has eyeholes large enough so that he or she can see.

5) Make sure that treat bags are light-coloured for easy visibility. Decorate them with reflective tape.

6) No child should go trick-or-treating alone. Always accompany your younger children; older children can go in groups.

7) Allow children to go trick-or-treating early but avoid the evening rush hour. It’s harder for motorists to see clearly during twilight than at any other time of day.

8) Give children specific neighbourhood boundaries for trick-or-treating. Set a firm curfew for your children.

9) Remind children to walk on sidewalks and be cautious when crossing streets.

10) Tell children to only go to homes and neighbours they know and only to houses with lights on.

11) Tell children to turn down all invitations to enter homes.

12) Tell children to avoid even normally friendly neighbourhood dogs, who can be startled by kids they know but who are dressed in unfamiliar costumes.

13) Drivers must remember that children may be preoccupied with trick-or-treating and, as a result, may not be paying attention to the rules of the road. Keep vehicle speeds at or below the posted limits, and scan the road for children attempting to cross streets mid-block.

Google Doodle

Candy Tracker survey 2017

The spirit of good fun is alive this Halloween at the home of Jeremy Kojima in Leaside. He has posted a Halloween Candy tracker survey form on Leaside Community to help figure out just where, and in what numbers, trick or treaters show up across the area. “Please if you will, take a moment this evening or tomorrow to report how many trick-or-treaters came by your home. I’ll then compile a heat map so we can better plan for next year. Save your wallet and/or waistline from overbuying, or avoid the dreaded stock-out! Fine print: just for fun, no personally identifying info sought, I’m just a nerd Dad from the area.” For sure and engaged members like Thesaz On are quipping: “Data is not rich enough. We need peak times, ratio of chocolate, gummy candy and an infographic of how many IT clowns and Georgies rang your bell.”

Ward 28

Includes Cabbagetown

Being Councillor for Ward 28 must be the best job in the world. Some 36 people are inviting City Council to appoint them to oversee this old piece of Toronto which sits south of Bloor St. and includes Cabbagetown and the transforming communities to the south as well as the Toronto Islands. It was held by Pam McConnell until her death on July 7, 2017. The CBC has a list of the names and a story that seems to bring the contest down to a choice between a woman like Susan Gapka, who wants to be Toronto’s first openly trans Councillor, and what writer John Rieti calls the “experienced bureaucrat choice.”  The decision is to be made this week. The thing about getting appointed by Council is that it gives the lucky winner an enormous leg up at the general election in 2018. Some say they don’t plan to run in the general election but it’s perfectly legal for he or she etc to use the appointment to do just that. Councillor of Ward 28 can become a job in perpetuity, as is often done at City Hall.  CBC

This report from Ginella Massa of City News on the arrest of four boys related to fighting between as many as 40 teens also describes liaison between the landlord and the Toronto and District School Board. The Guildwood Village Shopping Centre is owned by Morguard Investments, owners of the East York Town Centre.

Bayview and Belsize

Leasside Community

Ernie Jardine’s book at Urban Nature

Leaside Burger

Coneheads

LUC youth

It’s a measure maybe of just how witless and desperate thieves can get. Someone robbed the Starbucks at Bayview Ave and Belsize Drive early Monday and got away with very little. To the right, in this local summary, the outdoors author Ernie Jardine has signed  copies his book Bird Song: Identification Made Easy at the Don Mills store of Urban Nature. Bird Song is a field guide to the songs of 125 of the more common birds of eastern North America with a practical “system” which allows for the identification of birds, by their songs, right in the field. Centre right, these Coneheads were brightening up the Yonge subway Saturday and were snapped by our sister blog, Yonge and Roxborough News. Centre left, shop local and eat local at Grilltime where Andy Elder’s sumptuous Leaside Burger is ready in a couple of minutes. Then finally, this happy group of Leaside United kids in the church’s “Escape Room” are a sight. Who is the young lady with the windup key?