The South Bayview Bulldog

The Annual General Meeting of the Sherwood Park Residents Association was held Wednesday at The Sherwood, 2567 Yonge Street. It was lightly attended but heard from Josh Matlow (Ward 22) Jaye Robinson (Ward 25) and Claire McIntyre, a vice president in charge of media relations for Oxford Properties. Oxford is owned by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System. It will re-develop the TTC-owned Canada Square lands on the southwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton Ave. This development is seen at City Hall and elsewhere as something of a call to greatness on behalf of Toronto. Nothing has been prepared and presented and such work will not begin until the LRT project is finished after the turn of the decade. It was heard Wednesday that Ben Daube, president of the SPRA, has served in that office for ten years.

Kelly Knight Craft is the nominee of US President Donald Trump as the next ambassador to Canada, according to a statement from the White House. The choice was well telegraphed by the Trump administration. Her profile reveals a wealthy Republican fundraiser and campaign supporter of US President Donald Trump who has a long record of support for Republican leaders. She was a member of the US delegation to the United Nations under George W. Bush. She is also known as one of the top Republican fundraisers in Kentucky. Craft has raised money for Bush, Mitt Romney and Trump, and hosted a $5,400-per-couple fundraiser for Trump in June. She later served as a finance vice-chair for his inaugural committee. Kelly Knight Craft is in 50s and is the wife of Joe Craft, the billionaire chief executive of Alliance Resource Partners, a large Kentucky coal producer.

A legal battle lasting more than five years has been won by merchants against credit card companies that forced them to accept all cards just as the issuer instructed. This included cards which purported to offer gifts and rewards for which the merchant had to pay the card company with higher fees per transaction. It began in the middle of the last decade when first Visa then MasterCard decided they wanted to be like American Express and hype the card experience with giveaways. Of course, nothing is free. Merchants complained through the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) and ultimately a class action lawsuit began its sway through the courts. The outcome permits merchants to charge a customer extra for a premium card. Whether the result will prove to be more than a moral victory is yet to be seen.

DENY WRONGDOING

Visa and MasterCard both released statements saying they do not admit to any wrongdoing, but entered into a settlement agreement in the case earlier this week. Both companies agreed to pay $19.5 million each and allow Canadian merchants to add surcharge fees on credit card payments. The revised rules will include a surcharge cap. Visa said in a statement that the new rules will come into effect 1.5 years after provincial courts in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Quebec approve the settlement. The CFIB praised the decision saying it’s important for merchants to have the power to add a surcharge when customers pay with premium credit cards. The CFIB added it does not expect smaller merchants to widely use this new power although they may get tougher about accepting premium cards.

The Independent newspaper says cladding that might have led to the horrifying blaze at Grenfell Tower in London Wednesday was added in 2014 partly to improve the view from the luxury flats around it. In the aftermath of the blaze, it is said that experts “have repeatedly warned that the addition of cladding, which is regularly used to refresh old or unsightly buildings, can help spread fire.” It can work like a chimney, they have warned, bringing up air that allows it to spread across a building quickly. Chartered surveyor and fire expert Arnold Tarling, from Hindwoods, said the process can create a 25-30mm cavity between the cladding and the insulation. “It produces a wind tunnel and also traps any burning material between the rain cladding and the building,” he said. Previous

There are so many road closures for BIA and other community events this weekend it’s news when you find one that is open. Such is the case for the Bayview-Leaside BIA’s Sidewalk Sensation on Saturday. South Bayview is open as usual. Yes. it will be crowded (wonderful) but no, you will not be waved off onto a side street by police. We love it. See you there.  Road closings this weekend in Toronto by  City release 

@cabcanine/Twitter

Fire has consumed the roof of a commercial-industrial building on Rivalda Road at Bradstock Rd. Wednesday afternoon. Two alarms were rung at the height of the blaze.The excellent photo was taken by the Twitter user with the handle Calm & Balanced Canine who says this scene was snapped about ten minutes after the fire became apparent.

Mayor Tory and TTC officials appeared to be doing their best to downplay the concern among staff engineers about the breakdown failure rate of the new Bombardier-built streetcars. They are complex machines, said the mayor, and probably some failures can expected. It remains statistically true however the new vehicles are failing after rolling merely 5,530 kilometres. That’s down from an average of 7,372 kilometres travelled before needing repairs in March and 16,431 kilometres in February.  according to the TTC’s own numbers, that distance is well short of the 35,000 kilometre threshold for defect-free travel that the TTC’s contract with Bombardier says must be reached, beginning with the delivery of the 60th streetcar. There are just  35 cars in service now.

FOLLY

The news raises again however the bewilderment of many citizens about why the City continues to inflict the cost and complicated operation of streetcars on itself and on taxpayers. Today there were wise discussions about whether the TTC had built tracks correctly. It seems like insanity. Why is anyone discussing tracks at all?

This man has lost everything in the London fire. He was on 7th floor & says he's lucky to be alive https://t.co/mcezh9S5b7 #GrenfellTower pic.twitter.com/wM2mZZckru

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 14, 2017

See also post below   Twitter

Twitter has suspended an account called CanadaCreep which apparently was a repository for photos and video of Calgary area women taken in public places but typically with the focus on closeups of breast, buttocks etc. Some of the videos are said to have been of the so-called upskirt kind. The story, released Wednesday by CBC, does not have the name of the owner of the account, if is publicly known. It is possible to set up a Twitter account more or less anonymously. Local police are said to be looking into CanadaCreep. CBC says the CanadaCreep account was active for almost a year and had posted hundreds of photos and videos before Twitter shut it down on Tuesday morning, following complaints. Alexandra Constantinidis, 22, learned on Monday evening she was among the women whose images were posted to the site. She said numerous friends alerted her to a nearly minute-long video that appeared to be of her walking in downtown Calgary, filmed from behind and focused on her backside. When she watched it for herself, she recognized it as being recorded on Friday, as she was going to get lunch. Canada Creep is said to have amassed 17,000 followers.

See later post

Here are three men sought by Durham Regional Police Service from a Sunday stabbing incident after a street fight at Brock and Dunlop Streets in Whitby. There is a $2,000 reward offered for their apprehension. The stabbing happened at approximately 2 a.m. when a man, 29, became involved in some sort of confrontation with the men. The first suspect is described as a white male, who is bald and five-foot-nine with a skinny build and tattoos. He was reportedly wearing no shirt that night. The second suspect is described a male in his mid-20’s with black short facial hair. He was captured wearing a red sweat suit and was reportedly armed with a knife. The third suspect is described as a male in his mid-20’s with a red-hooded sweater and dark pants.

Three men are on a rampage of nighttime attacks against people withdrawing money from ATMs in north Etobicoke. The knife-weilding trio has struck seven times near Rexdale Boulevard to Steeles Avenue West. The suspects are described as male wearing masks to disguise their faces. All three were armed with knives. Police ask the public, particularly residents in the north Etobicoke area, are asked to remain vigilant when attending any bank in the early-morning hours.