The South Bayview Bulldog

Natural Gas Leak – Bayview Avenue @ Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto (4 Trucks)

— Toronto Fire (@tofire) March 14, 2017

Measurements vary across South Bayview but it appears that the worst of the bizzard of March 14 has blown by Toronto or stayed a bit to the south. There is snow but when you can see the cracks in the sidewalk through it, that’s a win.

How’s business?

Not quite as flashy but solid

The Hard Rock Cafe premises at 279 Yonge Street have been leased to Shoppers Drug Mart, according to sources and as reported by 12.36. It’s the first time since 1978 that the retail space has been available for lease. There was apparently no renewal reached or offered at expiry in May and Hard Rock International is looking around for another location  The 22,000 square foot multi-level retail space is close to Yonge-Dundas Square, which some say is a smaller take on Times Square. Shoppers Drug Mart will relocate its pharmacy at 10 Dundas Street East to Yonge Street. The new location should open before the end of 2017. According to CBRE marketing materials, the site offers exposure to over 60 million potential customers annually. — Retail Insider

Toronto Hydro Project Bessborough–Broadway (E18200/E18201) is set to begin any day as part of the upgrade of the aging underground electrical system in North Leaside and Bayview Ave to Blythwood Road. The upgrade includes the installation of electrical cables within the City of Toronto’s public property allowance in front of or adjacent to residential lots. According to Hydro, the “civil and electrical portions of this project” are expected to begin this month with an approximate completion date of late December 2017.

EAST TO SUTHERLAND

The project area is along Bayview Avenue between Blythwood Road and Broadway Avenue, then east along Broadway between Bayview and Sutherland Drive and including a portion of Sutherland. Toronto Hydro is saying that crews and contractors will take “extra care and precautions” around property. The portion of the driveway, sidewalk and other areas affected by work will be restored upon completion of the project as season, weather and schedules permit.

“My work is done here” might be the caption as Metrolinx hauls out the two boring machines that made the tunnels (east and westbound) along Eglinton Ave from Laird Drive to Yonge St. Work was scheduled for most of the day Monday at Eglinton and Holly St.

The cutting head is out! The rest of the TBM will be extracted over the next few days. #TBMDon #MXBuild pic.twitter.com/HZUyblJ6zv

— Crosstown (@CrosstownTO) March 13, 2017

Eight building cluster at Yonge and St. Clair

The proposal for a dramatically styled rental apartment tower at Yonge Street and Delisle Avenue has swung the spotlight back onto the ambitions of Slate Asset Management, a Toronto investment firm, which already owns a cluster of eight buildings along St. Clair Ave. including all four corners of the intersection which used to be known as the heart of Uptown Toronto. Now we lump it in with Midtown, an indistinct area which seems to stretch as far east as Leaside. The new Slate building would be designed by Chicago-based Studio Gang. Urban Toronto ponders this proposal of what it calls “another step in the developer’s comprehensive re-conceptualization of the Yonge and St. Clair neighbourhood

CTV shows a stunning red sunrise this morning ahead of a March snowstorm. Red sky in the morning, sailor’s warning is the centuries old adage of English fishermen. Weather Network

Oakville Hornet Midget Girls edged out the North Halton Twisters

Friends from the Wilndsor Wildcats

Bantam AA Stouffville Stars took gold

Jubilant Orangeville Tigers sneaked by a Leaside Wildcats Bantam BB team 2 to 1

The largest hockey tournament in the world for girls and young women has wrapped up again in Toronto with the conclusion of the 38th Annual Leaside Wildcats March Madness (Open) Hockey Tournament. With 171 teams in more than 40 age and skill categories playing their hearts out across 20 local Toronto arenas you may be sure there were championship teams everywhere. Check the outcome of your team at the Sportacular Events page here. It was a weekend for hundreds of young women to let their skates do the talking about competition. Champs, all of them.

Carleton University has removed the weight scales from the school gym after certain students (how many is not known) complained that — well — they didn’t like the scales. Instead, they wanted their fitness holistically delivered by the elaborate measuring of their bodies in many places. One student tweeted that scales could trigger persons prone to eating disorders to go off their food. Yikes. As it turns out, the removal of the scales has caused a vigorous backlash from many kids who are demanding an end to the ministrations of these Workout Nazis (our term). They accuse the school of kowtowing to a small group of gym users who are easily offended. “Next it will be the mirrors. #bringbackthescale,” wrote one Carleton student on Facebook. Yes, or the weights. Proof again that the young often confuse their inheritance of the future with ownership of the truth.

Rev Ian LaFleur inducted Sunday

Service at St. Cuthbert’s

Order of Service

The Reverend Ian LaFleur has been inducted as the incumbent minister of St. Cuthbert’s Anglican Church, the seventh such appointment in the church’s more than 100 years of service to residents of Leaside, Davisville and beyond. The Celebration of Ministry took place Sunday at the church, 1399 Bayview Ave. at St. Cuthbert’s Road. Among the many present for the service was Bishop Kevin Robertson, MP Rob Oliphant, an ordained minister of the United Church of Canada and other members of the local clergy.  A reception followed in Lamb Hall. Congratulations to Reverend LaFleur ran from the prayerful to the jocular. Sunletha Carter hoped for God’s limitless grace and favour on Rev Ian while John Ross wrote “You da man! Congrats my friend.”

The Canada Revenue Agency is reporting that all of its online services are back in service after being down since Friday afternoon due to an “internet vulnerability” that was discovered during website maintenance.   In an update posted on the CRA website, the agency said that as of 5 p.m. Sunday, individuals and businesses have been able to file electronically, make payments and access all other digital services.    CRA had explained earlier that digital services were taken offline as a precaution, not as the result of a successful hack or breach.

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