The South Bayview Bulldog

SERRA AGM at Greenwood College School

The Annual General Meeting of the South Eglinton Ratepayers and Residents Association (SERRA) has heard Josh Matlow (Ward 22) call the planned apartment towers at 18 Brownlow Ave the work of a greedy developer. The City and SERRA are locked in dispute with the Montreal firm whose appeal of Toronto’s rejection of the plan will be heard at the OMB on Monday, May 29.  It calls for two 24 storey towers which Matlow said will “forever change the character of that area of Soudan and leave no reasonable transition from the neighbourhood area (single family homes) to the south and the apartments of the Yonge-Eglinton area. It was, he said, “really bad planning, a really greedy application.”

1951 YONGE

The Councillor had similar harsh words for the Times Group development at 1951 Yonge centred on the now razed former LCBO building at Yonge and Millwood Rd. This proposal asks for towers 25 and 35 floors each. This was an area that is zoned mid-rise (seven or eight floors). The proposal was “inane.”  Matlow also raised the spectre of “blockbusting” techniques seen in the 1960s highrise development. Times, he said, had two houses on Millwood which they were permitting to decline as a form of incentive to the community to see them razed. This was a ruse he suggested. The homes are within a single famly dwelling zone and their demolition would open the flood gates to a challenge of the entire street.  He also said Times has been working on buying the few low-rise properties on the east side of Yonge down to Davisville. The corner property is the original store of John Davis (now a Starbucks). Matlow said he told Times that if they ever tried to knock it down he would “chain myself to the door.”

CANADA SQUARE

This is TTC property on the southwest corner of Yonge and Eglinton now being used as staging land for construction of the Crosstown LRT. Oxford Property Group will build on it and Matlow repeated his determination to see a very large public space on the corner, not a token green space. He said that he insisted on written assurance — apparently not yet  done — that Oxford would not be permitted to appeal any objection by the City to the as-yet undecided development on this public land to the OMB. The well-attended meeting was held in the newly-built meeting hall of Greenwood College School at Mt. Pleasant Rd. and Davisville Ave.

Gullible residents of Midtown are at risk if they swallow the bait arriving in the mail this week from a writer posing as an exile of the African country of Ivory Coast. In the letter, which seems to arrive at homes which still have a landline telephone with a listed address, the writer offers to share 30 per cent of $77.8 million if the sucker who gets the letter helps “my mother and myself” to get the cash out of some sort of political limbo. The recipient is invited to get in touch with the man who claims he is the son of a former president of Ivory Coast, by email or telephone, in the United Kingdom. The letter is postmarked in Malaysia. .

Dandy, a trauma dog has recently completed her training and certification and is set to provide support and comfort for clients of Victims Services Toronto, a non-profit organization associated with the TPS. VST provides immediate crisis response, intervention and prevention services which are responsive to the needs of individuals, families and communities affected by crime and sudden tragedies. Bobbie McMurrich, VST’s associate executive director, conceived the trauma dog program.

The John Tory Show

Mayor Tory was busy Monday with political programming unlike any seen during his hitch at NewsTalk1010. First he had Andrea Horwath down at City Hall promising to offer Toronto money to fix up social housing (if the NDP is elected). No one from the Liberal cabinet found this prospect threatening enough to dash down to Nathan Phillips Square and gripe about the challenge to Grit hegemony. Then, a tight-rope act to beat them all as his honour said he favours giving Pride its full measure of taxpayer funding this summer, even if it does ban the police from the parade. The mayor issued a statement which said: “This year, our Police Chief Mark Saunders decided in the prevailing circumstances, to withdraw police from marching in this year’s parade – and to focus on working with the LGBTQ and Black communities to ensure that we have a strong foundation of trust and partnership going forward.” Yeah. It’s the chief’s fault. Such a troublemaker.

The @MerchantTennis is celebrating 25 years on #Bayview!

— Bayview Leaside BIA (@LeasideBIA) May 8, 2017

Renovating for Avoca Chocolates

Remember when?

Hammers were flying at Millwood and Rumsey Rds. Monday as preparation begins for the installation of Avoca Chocolates. Right, remember the short-lived boxing gymnasium here? The Kit-Kat sign of the previous and long-time variety store is still hanging in this January 2011 photo by The South Bayview Bulldog. Chocolate shop will open on Millwood beside Trace Manes

A Toronto man is upset because he leased a BMW electric vehicle on the basis of online advertising that  said it had a 200 kilometre-range on a charge. He realized right away, having leased the car, that this was not true. On review, he found that the online claim had been changed to 160 kilometres. The CBC says, yes, Internet archives show that BMW changed the figure without explanation or comment some 11 months after the man leased the car. CBC

Toronto Life article on lot and plans for sale

What she planned

A Toronto woman has listed a lot at 61 Roxborough Street West for $4,999,999. It comes with plans, permits and a completed basement for a smashing residence in Summerhill. As told in Toronto Life and verified by MLS details the 32-by-158-foot lot was until recently the site of an original Roxborough home purchased by Elise Latner-Assaraf, daughter of Albert Latner, real estate developer and business magnate who died in 2015. Toronto Life notes a bitter struggle for control of his estate among his heirs. Ms Latner-Assaraf is married to fashion designer Patrick Assaraf. She bought the property for $2.8 million in 2015. A year later, she applied for permits to demolish the existing structure and replace it with a new three-storey home (pictured above) with a detached garage. But since demolition her plans have been changed by circumstance that are not discussed in the story. Who will wish to bargain from a listed figure of  $5 million for the opportunity to then construct the home? Dollars and sense must apply and as always, time and the marketplace will tell the story. .

Consumerist, the online “complaint bureau” of Consumer Reports, says an Australian man is suing American Airlines for the discomfort and, he says, aggravation of his scoliosis, caused by making him sit next to two obese passengers on the 14-hour flight from Sydney to Los Angeles. Consumerist  Also: Reasons flyers bumped include showing too much cleavage

Today’s Parent reports that Costco Canada has voluntarily pulled Pekkle baby sleepers from its shelves after a complaint in mid-April that a snap fell off and scratched a child. Costco says: “We pulled out the product and notified Health Canada and the supplier, and then we’re expecting directions from Health Canada.” Today’s Parent says that so far Health Canada has not announced an official recall of the sleepers, but is reviewing the case. Advice to those who have these sleepers is to stop using them. Costco has not said if it will be offering refunds for the Pekkle sleepers.

There is a prediction of frost but it seems less likely to get that cold in Midtown gardens. No one will wish to take a chance, of course. While the Weather Network continues to show temperatures close to zero, the special weather statement by Environment Canada speaks of possible frost in frost-prone areas. It also says temperatures Sunday night are expected to plunge to near or a couple of degrees below the zero degree mark in most areas under partly cloudy to mainly clear skies and diminishing winds. Hence widespread frost is likely across most of of the region overnight into Monday morning. Be warned