Cara Operations has bought the Pickle Barrel Group of Restaurants, best-known locally for the long-standing location in the Yonge Eglinton Centre at Yonge and Eglinton. Pickle Barrel was founded in 1971 and has 12 corporately-owned restaurants along with a catering business across the Greater Toronto Area. Pickle Barrel generates approximately $50 million a year in sales through its 11 Pickle Barrel restaurants and 1 Glow Fresh Grill & Wine Bar. It also has a significant catering business through Pickle Barrel catering as well as through a 50% interest in Rose Reisman Catering. Rose Reisman Catering is a menu development, catering and individual meal delivery business that is focused on health and wellness – it has been a popular and growing alternative in the GTA. Cara owns a long list of restaurants among them are Harvey’s, Kelsey’s Neighbourhood Bar & Grill, Milestones Restaurants Inc. (74% ownership), Montana’s Cookhouse, Prime pubs and Swiss Chalet.
Police say a school bus tangled with a car on Bayview Ave. beside Satay-on-the-Road at 1572 Bayview with a subsequent crash into the restaurant patio Wednesday afternoon. No one appears to have been hurt.
Gord Downie, Tragically Hip’s frontman, has died at the age of 53 from an aggressive brain cancer called glioblastoma. It was discovered after a seizure in December 2015. A Facebook message was posted from his family.
“Last night Gord quietly passed away with his beloved children and family close by.
“Gord knew this day was coming – his response was to spend this precious time as he always had – making music, making memories and expressing deep gratitude to his family and friends for a life well lived, often sealing it with a kiss… on the lips.
“Gord said he had lived many lives. As a musician, he lived “the life” for over 30 years, lucky to do most of it with his high school buddies. At home, he worked just as tirelessly at being a good father, son, brother, husband and friend. No one worked harder on every part of their life than Gord. No one.
“We would like to thank all the kind folks at KGH and Sunnybrook, Gord’s bandmates, management team, friends and fans. Thank you for all the help and support over the past two years.
“Thank you everyone for all the respect, admiration and love you have given Gord throughout the years – those tender offerings touched his heart and he takes them with him now as he walks among the stars.
“Love you forever Gord.
“The Downie Family”
An image of a burglar has been released by Toronto Police from a break-in in York Mills off Bayview Ave. midafternoon this past Friday. It occurred at Nomad Crescent and Sandfield Road area. A woman returned home to find the home in disarray. Items within the home had been stolen A van described as a silver or grey Chevrolet Uplander had been seen in the area. The man in security video is described as wearing a black hat, with a white symbol on the front, and a blue and white striped sweater.
A large crowd attended the City’s Laird in Focus feedback meeting Tuesday night in the auditorium of Leaside United Church. A previous meeting in June brought forward ideas from residents which were presented, along with some themes that seemed to originate at the planning department. But the magnitude of the consideration was overwhelming for many. Old concerns about height and density were present. The process hopes to create conditions on Eglinton east of Laird Drive and on Laird itself down to Millwood which sound dreamlike. One poster board welcoming residents said the purpose was to create “a high-quality and well-connected public realm, contributing to a walkable, cycle-able and beautifully landscaped neighbourhood.” There was much other high-sounding intention, perhaps ideal when and if manifested. Sectional diagrams of Laird Drive and Eglinton Ave showed streets with traffic, bike lanes, pedestrians and trees. It is proposed that there will be no parking on Laird from McRae to Millwood. What appeared to be an apartment and condominium projection east of Laird was fully written over by residents with concerns about tower architecture and density related to traffic and schools. It seemed an old story.
Auditor General Bonnie Lysek has scored the Ontario government for complicated bookkeeping used to hide the cost of debt and interest incurred by the Fair Hydro Plan. This is a scheme to borrow against the future to lower hydro rates now. Power bills skyrocketed in recent years, pushed through the roof by the provincial adventure into green energy. Lysek calls the scheme “needlessly complex” and remarks tartly that it would not be seen anywhere else in the country. She says the government is “improperly” accounting for the $26 billion in debt the province is taking on to cut hydro bills in the short term. The $26 billion is being borrowed through Ontario Power Generation, so will not appear on the province’s books. Electricity customers will pay off that debt through rate increases spread out over the next 30 years. CBC
Sidewalk Labs, sister company of Google, is the winner of competition to build a new high-tech neighbourhood called Quayside on the east downtown waterfront. Waterfront Toronto, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Premier Kathleen Wynne, Mayor John Tory and Sidewalk Lab officials made the announcement at Corus Quay today. The Star says the board of Waterfront Toronto, the federal-provincial-city agency overseeing the Quayside project, is expected to vote at an October 20 meeting whether to confirm the agency’s staff recommendation following a competition launched in May. The public relations vision of Quayside is envisioned as a “testbed for cutting-edge technology” which tells taxpayers something or other. It also will contain what the Star called a “bustling, functioning neighbourhood, with homes, offices, retail and cultural space” which is near Queens Quay E. and Parliament St. Sidewalk Labs is Alphabet’s urban innovation unit with a stated goal of “reimagining cities from the Internet up.”
The plan to get cars off King St. downtown to improve the speed of streetcar service begins in November. It will require drivers to turn right at every intersection so that access by car will be one block at a time. This may well improve streetcar schedules and the TTC has said it will release monthly updates on commute times, streetcar reliability and ridership once the King Street pilot project launches next month. The one-block wonder specification seems likely to make drivers simply stay off King St. much as many avoid St. Clair Ave West because of the streetcar wall.
The lovely tradition of men serving women dinner continues at St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church Friday night at the Annual Women’s Dinner. The venue is Lamb Hall on St. Cuthbert’s Rd. and it gets started at 6.30 with dinner at 7.15. It is $25. All welcome. To the right is a wonderful picture taken a few days ago by Heather Gershon. It shows the Rolph Road School Trailblazers ready to head into the mist of a nearby ravine. Yee-haw guys. Go safely. Then below from left a reminder of the East York Presbyterian Church Merry Market on November 4 and the Manor Road United Annual Community Fall Fair October 21. Finally, Urban Geographer Daniel Rotsztain tweeted this artistic scribble of the East York flag apparently as a welcome from the East York De-Amalgamation Party.
Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock is teaming up with Babsocks, Movember and the Greater Toronto Hockey League (GTHL) to raise money and awareness for youth mental health issues. The Mt. Pleasant store run by Thomas McCole and Jake Mednick has supplied moustached versions of the celebrated foot garb whimsically named after the Leafs coach. They are on sale at a Movember pop up store at 588 Richmond St West from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday to Friday. They’re $20 a pair with $5 going to the Movember Foundation to support mental health projects. Or buy online
Reports hardly seem believable but the CBC says that Bombardier Inc. has sold a majority stake in its CSeries passenger jet business to European aerospace giant Airbus for “no cost” which is to say nothing. It is an indication of the competitive and regulatory hurdles faced by Bombardier from both Boeing and the US government. The move comes after lacklustre sales and the U.S. Commerce Department imposition of harsh duties on Bombardier. It accuses the Montreal-based company of selling the CSeries planes in the US below cost and receiving government subsidies. The Commerce Department recently announced it would impose an 80 per cent duty on top of duties of nearly 220 per cent. The case has been a win for US-based rival Boeing. Boeing has said it didn’t move early enough against Airbus subsidies in the 1970s. Airbus is now is a global giant.
BOMBARDIER JET WILL BE MADE IN ALABAMA
The Financial Post says that under the agreement, which was signed Monday, Airbus will acquire a 50.01-per-cent stake in the CSeries program and provide the Bombardier division with procurement, sales and marketing and customer support expertise. Bombardier will now own approximately 31 per cent, while Investissement Quebec will own 19 per cent. An Airbus assembly line in Mobile, Alabama will make the CSeries there to qualify it for sale in the US without punishing tariffs. Below is the French language news conference held late Monday.
