Stop sign petition calls for four-way at Rumsey at Millwood

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Reader Kate Young has gone online at the petition website AVAAZ.org to call for a stop sign on Millwood Rd. at Rumsey Road.   She writes: “We need a stop sign at the Rumsey & Millwood intersection. This is the main entrance of Trace Manes park as well as the only corner of the park that doesn’t have a safe direct access. Also a main route that children use to walk the one of the five schools within the immediate area. Hopefully it will also slow the traffic between the lights at McRae & Sutherland.” As of Saturday, 32 people had signed the petition. It was posted Thursday. The petition is here   Ms. Young is the mother of three children, five, three and one. She told The Bulldog that she has seen minor accidents and hundreds of kids crossing here. One concern is the increased activity which will surround the new Avoca Chocolates (and Gelato) shop opening on the corner in June.

British hospitals in shock, chaos following ransom attack

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Hospitals across Britain were paralysed last night after cyber hackers held the National Health Service  to ransom in an unprecedented attack that effected computer in scores of countries.  Shockingly, there was one report, unconfirmed of a hospital paying $60,000 to free its system. The impact on patients is stunning Countless operations were cancelled and patients turned away as 45 NHS organisations and trusts and hundreds of doctors were locked out of their computer systems. The linked CBC story tells of a British-based researcher registered a domain that he noticed the malware was trying to connect to, limiting the worm’s spread. Thus, attacks are said to be on the decline, at least for the moment. But the damage done yesterday continues. The number of countries struck seems to vary but it is counted in the scores. Russia is said to be paralyzed in many sectors. CBC

Second Cup house cleaning ought to focus on the coffee

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It’s about the coffee. That’s a free tip from coffee drinkers as Second Cup once again tries to re-invent itself by cleaning house. Chief executive Alix Box departed Wednesday quickly followed by Barbara Mallon, the chief financial officer.  Garry MacDonald, who joined the Second Cup board of directors earlier this year, was named interim chief executive. Second Cup said Friday its first-quarter corporate revenue was down nearly 20 per cent from last year. There are many things Second Cup might try to become something less than last choice to many Canadians. But the consensus of Bayview Ave. coffee drinkers seems to suggest it should start with the coffee.  The coffee’s not bad, just unremarkable. And anonymous. In the end, Second Cup is the smallest and least well-financed of its competitors. Starbucks, Tim’s and McDonald’s all have more money and more locations. Locally, Second Cup has been stripped out of the community. The shop on the no-name corner at Laird and Eglinton is gone, so is the old bank cafe at Mt. Pleasant and Eglinton. The shop at 1595 Bayview is a jewel of a location but a quiet and unexciting place. It has not had any personality since the departure of dynamic franchisee Hong Ngo and a happy cast of coffee makers he assembled. Finding franchisees who can become the business is very difficult for a firm like Second Cup.

City cleans house after fears contractors fleeced taxpayers

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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.

Ransomware attack using Windows flaw known to US spies

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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

Cabinet drops Bombardier, orders LRT trains from France

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Steven Del Duca at Laird LRT station site Friday

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.