The South Bayview Bulldog

Efforts by East York loyalists to have the City place the former borough’s flag on its street signs will go to City Council after the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee was unable to come to a decision Tuesday. Toronto’s policy towards such reminders of “the six” municipalities that formed  Metropolitan Toronto is to get rid of them.  In 2000, Toronto Council decided to excise the names of the old municipalities from street signs in order to reflect the identity of the newly-amalgamated Toronto. But a 3-3 tie at the committee sent the matter to Council. The committee heard from East York guardians Justin Van Dette, Miroslav Glavic, Carol Burtin-Fripp of the Leaside Property Owners Association, Councillor Mary Fragedakis (Ward 29) and Councillor Janet Davis (Ward 31).  In the end, these speakers persuaded three members — Christin Carmichael Greb, Chin Lee, Anthony Perruzza. Three others — Stephen Holyday, Giorgio Mammoliti, Jaye Robinson (Chair) — were unmoved.

Release — On Wednesday, September 20, 2017, at 10:30 a.m., in the media gallery at headquarters, Inspector Peter Callaghan of Toronto Police Service Financial Crimes will be joined by Inspector Ann Koenig of the RCMP’s Integrated Marketing Enforcement Team to brief the media on Project Briscola, a multi-jurisdictional, million-dollar financial crimes investigation.

Julie De Sousa, who lives on a side street off Woodbine Avenue, is concerned for the safety of her daughter, 4, and other kids in the neighbourhood, walking to school while cars speed through the neighbourhood to avoid bike lane construction and traffic congestion. (Provided)

Residents in the area of Woodbine Ave. have launched a petition on Change.org calling for the removal of new bicycle lanes. They say the congestion caused by the lanes has driven vehicles down side streets, imperiling children, that local traffic is slower and few cyclists use the lanes. They say that a new concept of parking which places cars between bike lanes and traffic causing occupants of to cross between bike traffic is inherently unsafe. By Wednesday morning 1766 people had signed the petition.  Change.org

STATISTICS NOW EIGHT YEARS OLD

A survey done by Ipsos Reid in 2009 states that 16 per cent said they used their bicycles to commute to work or school, up from 11 per cent in 1999. And many of those who commute by bike are riding more days a week than in the past. The synopsis of this poll published by the City makes no reference to the frequency of use in bad weather or how many people maintain a vehicle as an alternative.  At the same time, it seems clear that the population is growing older and necessarily less likely to be riding a bicycle.

Opens Saturday at SmartCentre

Seed and kernel

New Wayfinders

In Don Valley

East York flag

KFC coming

This South Bayview photo mix begins with those lively socks, a reminder that middle-aged people may want support in more ways than one. The Shoppers Drug Mart innovation called Wellwise opens at 9.30 Saturday in the SmartCentre on Wicksteed Ave. To the right, a pretty poster promoting the Seed and Kernel Festival in the same parking lot that held the Park and Bark event. Seed and Kernel goes Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and is sponsored by The Times Group, a developer. Then down below from the left we see new Wayfinder signs being placed along trails in the Don Vally. In the centre is the East York flag from Centennial year (1967) which many in the former borough fear is being phased out at City Hall. Former mayors Alan Redway and Michael Prue along with others were at a committee Tuesday to make the point. Finally, Greenwood Cigar will give way to a KFC at the corner of Queen and Greenwood and it is making some people sick. Their upset could not be worse than that of the Leaside ladies who reviled a similar arrival at SmartCentre last December. Dismay, disgust from Leaside ladies to KFC on Laird

Dom and Sal Badali with their late mom Lena

The laneway beside the Bayview car wash will soon bear the name of the well-known Badali family, resident merchants on Bayview Ave. since 1938.  The lane was in need of a name for the orientation of both the public and emergency services. At the last East York and Toronto Community Council meeting, members adopted the name Badali Family Lane. Councillor Josh Matlow’s office says it is understood that transportation services will do the installation of signs in the Spring, at which time there will be a laneway unveiling ceremony.

The laneway that will soon be called Badali Family Lane.

4 people (minor injuries) taken to Southlake Hospital via @YorkParamedics bus from Ravenshoe Rd crash. 2 others pronounced dead, 1 critical. pic.twitter.com/w7HHjQhqFI

— Jeremy Cohn (@JeremyCohnTV) September 19, 2017

Two people have died and five others have been injured in a crash involving six vehicles near Keswick. Police were called to the scene in the Ravenshoe Road and Woodbine Avenue area around 2:15 p.m. Tuesday for reports of a head-on collision. Details are still sketchy.

A truck driver is in hospital with serious injuries after a transport truck rolled over on Highway 407 in Brampton. Firefighters used hydraulic jaws equipment to free him from the wreckage, Peel Paramedic Services said.

President Donald Trump threatened North Korea and its leader on Tuesday during his first United Nation address. Trump called North Korean leader Kim Jong-un “Rocket Man,” a reference to the country’s recent missile and nuclear tests and said he was on “a suicide mission.” “We will have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea,” Trump said, before adding that “hopefully this will not be necessary.” Trump’s comments come after Kim said the nation would continue working on its various weapons programs despite international condemnation. North Korea has also threatened U.S. territory Guam and has fired missiles over U.S. ally Japan  — Time

Toronto Fire Service extinguished a single alarm residential fire at Erskine Ave. and Elvina Gardens Tuesday morning. Twelve units responded.

Black Lives Matter demonstrators blocked the intersection of Yonge and Bloor Sts. Tuesday during rush hour to protest a possible deportation of a Jamiacan woman who recently gave birth here. Beverly Braham came to Canada and married a Canadian.

Protest still blocking Yonge and Bloor. Many frustrated drivers saying this is not the way to do it. pic.twitter.com/CAkbGOZGhP

— NEWSTALK1010 (@NEWSTALK1010) September 19, 2017

Andy Elder and Dina Rock

Mighty Fine Brine

Dropbike seen on Yonge

Harvest Festival this Saturday

Rally for Hope at Amsterdam Brewery

That Balliol St. pickling wife and mom Dina Rock has just put down another season of Mighty Fine Brine dills. Here she is seen with Andy Elder as the shelf at Grilltime on Laird Drive is re-stocked. Try the horseradish dills. The red two-wheeler is a Dropbike seen on Yonge St. by Yonge and Roxborough News where it appears they are showing up more frequently. Dropbike is in tough we are thinking against the City of Toronto’s well-funded Bike Share plan in the cycling world’s dream of reinventing transport. No really. Take a ride. Below in poster-form, some genuine examples of God’s work as the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office and Leaside United Church hold commendable events. Thank you both from our benighted conscience.

Former sign at Four Seasons Auto

Sign posted in recent days

New signs on the former Four Seasons Auto Collision building at 199 Laird Drive reveal the property is now in the hands of the Crombie REIT, a real estate investment trust which is said to be located in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. It was established in 2006 and says it is one of the country’s leading national retail property landlords with a strategy of “owning, operating and developing a portfolio of high quality grocery and drug store anchored shopping centres, freestanding stores and mixed use developments primarily in Canada’s top urban and suburban markets.”  Four Seasons Auto at 199 Laird sold for $10.5 million