The South Bayview Bulldog

Hector Moreno, left, Trevor Tenn, right. Both are no longer working with the City/CBC

The City has cleaned house in the Transportation Department with the removal of four high-ranking employees. Transportation is where the roads get fixed and the move comes just days after the City’s Auditor General raised concerns that Toronto was getting fleeced by paving contractors using inflated bids. Barbara Gray, the City’s new general manager of transportation, sent a letter to her department late this week to announce the shakeup. According to the letter, the four are:

• Jacqueline White, the director of transportation services for the North York district.
• Hector Moreno, a manager in the Scarborough district who has been listed as a contact on several paving tenders.
• Trevor Tenn, a manager in road operations who frequently spoke with the media to get drivers prepared for rough weather.
• Bruce Shaw, a maintenance contract inspection supervisor.

The letter thanked all four for their “significant contribution” to the City and said that the change was the result of “realigning management.” City spokesperson Wynna Brown declined to say why the managers are no longer working at the city. “We do not discuss personnel matters,” she told the CBC. “I can, however, confirm that there have been some recent management changes in Transportation Services.”  The CBC asked seven Councillors about the situation, but none commented on the change. Coun. Public Works Chair Jaye Robinson’s office said she doesn’t have any information about the change, either.

A huge ransomware attack hitting dozens of countries has brought Britain’s National Health Service to a near standstill and paralyzed businesses from Madrid to Moscow, reports indicate. The perpetrators are unknown but it is emerging that the attack was possible because of a flaw in Windows software that has been used by the  US Department of Defense National Security Agency (NSA). The flaw was leaked to hackers permitting the massive attack. The CBC says Microsoft, makers of Windows, patched the hole in its software in March. The attack is holding to ransom access to infected computers in exchange for payment for $300 in Bitcoin per victim. It has wreaked chaos on patient care in at least 16 organizations in the U.K.’s National Health Service and is believed to have spread to computers in more than 74 countries, according to security company Kaspersky.  Dozens of countries affected by ransomware cyberattack  Also: Mysterious hacking collective called ‘The Shadow Brokers’ stole NSA superweapon

The popularity of the venerable Leaside United Church Awesome Sale was evident again Friday as crowds wound from the Field Ave. door along McRae Dr. and up to Millwood Rd. Here they are filing in at 3 p.m. The sale re-opens Saturday at 9 a.m.

Jon Burnside (Councillor, Ward 26) will hold his compost day event Sunday May 14th in the parking lot of the Leaside Memorial Gardens Arena between 9 a.m. and noon. A reminder to bring your own container and shovel.

Compost Day 2015

Steven Del Duca at Laird LRT station site Friday

MINISTER AT LAIRD AND EGLINTON

The cabinet has decided to kiss off Bombardier, the no-can-do Quebec manufacturer and buy new LRT trains from the French firm, Alstom. The deal requires Alstom to build a manufacturing plant in the GTA. At a news conference Friday morning at Laird Drive and Eglinton Ave. the transportation minister announced the purchase of 61 vehicles. The deal is worth about $528 million and was issued on a sole sourced basis. Metrolinx, the provincial transit agency for the GTA, is permitted to issue sole source contracts under certain emergency conditions, Steven Del Duca said. They will be used to service LRT systems being built outside Toronto but if necessary, they will run on the Eglinton Crosstown route.

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

With confidence in the capacity of Bombardier to build trains on time (or at all) down to zero, the move is not surprising. Bombardier is under contract to produce cars for the $5.3-billion LRT project but the order has been delayed. Del Duca said the ongoing dispute resolution process with Bombardier could take up to a year, which would risk delaying the Crosstown opening. He said that if the dispute process finds Bombardier breached its contract, the purchase will be cancelled. If the dispute finds no breach, the cars will be delivered, although it seems foolish to predict when. On a different contract, the Quebec firm has said it will deliver much-delayed streetcars to the TTC by a new deadline of 2019 but chair Josh Colle has said he will believe it when he sees it.

Canadian home prices rose in April, data showed on Friday, lifted once again by hefty price gains in the hot Toronto market, which some fear is becoming overheated. The Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index, which measures changes for repeat sales of single-family homes, showed prices rose 1.2 per cent last month, making for the fifteenth consecutive month national prices have increased. BNN

Come visit the Toronto-Davisville branch & Play the Match & Win game until May 14th + free flowers for mom! https://t.co/4TQE0KL7XB pic.twitter.com/VWZUoF0KLW

— Meridian CU (@MeridianCU) May 11, 2017

Today! 3-7pm Awesome Sale Leaside!! 9-noon tomorrow. (Pls respect our neighbours if bringing a car don't block walkways & pathways 🙏🏼) pic.twitter.com/yDBRM97qMU

— Leaside United Church (@LeasideUnited) May 12, 2017

Afridi welcomed by Mayor/CBC

City of Toronto

Cricket star Shahid Afridi was welcomed to Toronto by Mayor John Tory and Councillor Neethan Shan Thursday prior to his appearance next Tuesday at the Go Green Cricket and Sports Field on Overlea Blvd. “This is my fourth trip to Toronto. Such a beautiful country, such a beautiful city,” Alfrid said. Afridi is known as Boom Boom for his aggressive batting style. He became at 16 the youngest player to score 100 runs or more in a one-day international match. Go Green Cricket to have visit from Boom Boom Afridi

Reader Monica Franklin writes with a reminder about the annual Banff Rd Street Sale. There are as many as 15 homes participating this year and it goes Saturday May 13 from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. Rain date is Sunday.

Meat Loaf then and now

Andrew Polec and Christina Bennington star as teen lovers Strat and Raven

As tickets go on sale for the Toronto performances of Bat Out of Hell The Musical, it has been announced that Meat Loaf will stage a free concert on Yonge Street on Monday, May 15 to promote the Toronto premiere in October. Tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 24. The work is based on the album of the same name released on October, 1977. Yonge will be closed to traffic between Dundas and Shuter streets for the concert which will run from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Mayor Tory will be begin the show with a parade of Harley Davidson motorcycles along Yonge. Cast members Christina Bennington and Andrew Polec will perform four songs from the musical at Monday’s street event and Meat Loaf will talk about the making of the album and the show.

A Winnipeg firefighter has been convicted of stealing from a dead senior while he was on duty. Darren Fedyck, who faced a trial earlier this year, was found guilty Wednesday of stealing nearly $1,000 and two necklaces from a woman who had died in her north-end apartment.