Ont. VW diesel owners to get $5,100 to $8000 settlement

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Courts in Ontario and Quebec Friday approved a class action settlement with Volkswagen Group Canada which is expected to see lump sum payments to diesel owners of from $5,100 to $8000. The action arose from the 2015 scandal over exhaust testing. Ontario owners of the 2-litre VW desiel models effected may begin submitting claims for compensation on April 28. CBC

Bluebells create magic Spring in Belgium’s Hallerbos Forest

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In Belgium’s Hallerbos Forest, about 25 km from Brussels, an annual Spring marvel is occurring again in that ancient woodland. It is a breathtaking moment and makes anyone wish to walk there and smell the Bluebells too. The report is from Agence France Presse

Lots of cleaning to be done so where will you help out?

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Prncipal Shona Farrelly and friend
These kids cleaned — will you?
How about it?

This is Clean Toronto Together Weekend. Shona Farrelly (left above) principal of Davisville Public School and her friends and pupils were busy with School Cleanup Day today. How about you? You can help clean up South Bayview with other friends Saturday beginning at 9 a.m (see link below). And there is a recycling station courtesy of Toronto-Leaside Rotary at East York Town Centre both Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers are also needed for the cleanup of the Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve at 67 Pottery Road at 10 a.m. Sunday. Call Paula at (416) 423-1504. All events

Countdown to opening underway at Whole Foods Bayview

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Staff is working full-time inside the second-floor Whole Foods at 1860 Bayview to meet the 8.45 a.m. deadline Wednesday April 26, 2017. Sign in picture at the right says Grown Responsibly.

New build by Ivy Glen Homes at Bessborough, Parkhurst

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Bessborough and Parkhurst
Ivy Glen Homes builds new home on corner

A new structure is rising at Bessborough Drive and Parkhurst Blvd near the renovated heritage Elgie home. The knock down was on Parkhurst but the new one could face either street.

At 91, Her Majesty The Queen carries on with a smile

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Good times at the Radford’s Leaf Shack on Hanna Road

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The party goes on at 75 Hanna Road (at Millwood Rd) as Doug Radford and his family host neighbours for the Leafs playoff games. Flashback to the 2013 series

Horror story of $10,000 trip missed over AC seat bump

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The CBC reports that a Toronto woman,Vicki Russell, was bumped from an Air Canada flight taking her to a $10,000 Galapagos cruise after she had checked in and been given a boarding pass for her fully-paid fare. It makes compelling reading. But is it simply evidence again that the airline industry is so perilous that the business model can never be fixed? Airlines go broke, merge, create bargain-basement carriers and abuse their customers because the economics of flying are irrational. Overbooking isn’t a mean-spirited decision to hurt people, it’s a desperate act of survival. CBC

Does the Uni Frap delight, disgust or merely foster fear?

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Unicorn Frap
Bradon Burson is overwrought
Jackie Dunham of CTV

How should the First World think about Unicorn Food, and particularly what about the Unicorn Frappuccino? This is a Starbucks product introduced Monday for five days ending Sunday. CTV writer Jackie Dunham finds that the Uni Frap has been measured by the universal social media monitor to be both delightful and disgusting. It seems to meet the “too pretty to eat” definition of all Unicorn Food. The Unicorn Frap has a “sweet dusting of pink powder, blended into a crème Frappuccino with mango syrup and layered with a pleasantly sour blue drizzle.” It is said to change colours. A young barista, Braden Burson of Monument, Colorado, has told his many (he says) followers on Twitter that he has never been so stressed out by the difficult recipe and the wearying demand.

“Valley City” of Dundas hit by flooding from 75 mm of rain

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Park Street in Dundas

The “Valley City” of Dundas has been flooded by the onslaught of rain estimated at between 60 and 75 mm which has spilled down the Niagara Escarpment overflowing the Sydenham and Spencer Creeks. Much of the downtown is under several inches of water, with the depth varying. The CBC says the rain clogged storm drains and triggered a mudslide and flooding on at least eight streets in the community. Calls about the flooding began coming in around 7:40 p.m. For a while the main road into Dundas from Hamilton, Hwy 102, was inundated and all traffic stopped. CBC

Rent control is joker-in-the-pack on Wynne’s housing fix

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Premier Wynne added some shading Thursday to the news that Ontario will apply a 15 percent surcharge on home purchases made by foreign speculators. She said the tax would not apply to immigrants, nor it seems, to foreigners actually living in the homes.

LEGISLATOR’S REMORSE?

Still, the decision to extend rent controls to all apartment buildings is a gamble which may be trickier to manage than the real estate tax. The tax is removable without a voter backlash — rent control is not. If builders and landlords decide the apartment building business isn’t worth it, overall housing stock will absolutely shrink. The government may experience legislator’s remorse about universal rent control.

Leaside Village: ATG to close, make way for Brewhouse

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Against the Grain on Laird Dr
Large two floor space

Against the Grain Urban Tavern in the Leaside Village will close April 28, The South Bayview Bulldog has learned. Sources also confirm that Amsterdam Brewery will renovate the Laird Drive location and open an Amsterdam BrewHouse later this year. This will compliment Amsterdam’s “Tap Room, Brewery & Store”, which opened in 2012 around the corner at 45 Esandar Drive, in the Leaside Business Park.