The South Bayview Bulldog

Women’s wear retailer BCBG Max Azria has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Canada. It will close all its 51 stores in Canada. Court documents obtained by Canadian Press indicate BCBG is “exploring alternatives” to closing its boutique presence inside Hudson’s Bay stores. The end was seen to be coming earlier this year as BCBG began closing stores — 120 out of its 550 were locked. At the time, it blamed poor sales in recent years to a “general shift away from brick-and-mortar to online retail channels” a trend it says has negatively affected many similar retailers. BCBG was founded in 1989 in Los Angeles and employs 4,800 workers.

About 44,000 Toronto property taxpayers who pay their taxes using pre-authorized payments saw an unexpected dip in their bank accounts Wednesday because of a banking error took out twice their March 1 tax installment. In total, $87 million in un-owed property taxes was withdrawn. But city officials say that by the end of the day the matter should be resolved. “If they checked their bank balance this morning they would have seen their bank account was less than they expected it to be but by the end of today customers will see their accounts reversed with a credit amount, that will bring the accounts back into balance,” said Casey Brendon, Toronto’s Director of Revenue Services. The error occurred between Toronto and its banking service provider, Royal Bank of Canada, said Brendon. “There were two files produced, and both were sent.” — InsideToronto  Toronto News Release

Work in earnest at Leaside Station

Photos by Bob Arsenault

Metro lot holds secondary entrance

Sunnybrook Plaza

There will be a Metrolinx information meeting to discuss the Leaside LRT Station being built at the corner of Eglinton Ave. E. and Bayview Ave on Tuesday, March 7, 2017. It will be held at the William Lea Room in the Leaside Arena Millwood and McRae beginning at 6.30. Photos by Bob Arsenault

Cresford Developments hopes to build a 98 storey tower — Toronto’s and Canada’s tallest building — on the southeast corner of Yonge and Gerrard Sts. Urban Toronto

Convict loses it during escape attempt

Who knew that Toyota Tacoma pickup trucks could fly? As a prison escapee at the wheel of this one learned, they don’t fly too far. It happened in Webster Parish, Louisiana as police chased Kevonte Dekorey Austin. The story is here on the local TV station

TTC operators don’t want to be randomly tested for drugs and alcohol when they come to work. Why? The best answer seems to be that it’s some sort of low-level artificial notion about freedom. Michele Mandel 

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Here are the ladies of the Leaside Skating Club in Calgary for competition at @SkateCanada. They were made honourary Calgarians. The picture alone is worth the trip.

Buses will replace streetcars on Queen Street, the longest tram run in the City from May 7 to Sept 3. The change is necessary to repair and adjust several things along the right of way including repairs to bridge between the Eaton Centre and Nordstom (The Bay) which hangs close to the streetcar wires. The occasion seems to cry out yet again for an answer to why the City continues to maintain both buses and streetcars for the  frequent occasions on which the streetcars don’t run.

ARSON AT ISLAMIC CENTRE

Police say they have confirmed that a fire at an Islamic information centre  on Weston Road and Humber Boulevard North was arson. Damage is said to be light and no one was hurt.

HYDRO RATE CUT?

And the Toronto Star says Premier Wynne will announce a 25 percent “slash” to hydro electric rates sometime this year. Slash is the word if this is the amount of the reduction in bills. The story is by Robert Benzie and Rob Ferguson. They liken the plan to taking a longer mortgage on your house so you pay less per month. The province has a problem not faced by most homeowners however in the enormous debt it carries requiring a sum of $30 billion a year in interest alone.

Alarm Highrise Commercial – St Clair Avenue b/w Ferndale Avenue / Avoca Avenue, Toronto (6 Trucks)

— Toronto Fire (@tofire) March 1, 2017

Alo restaurant, 163 Spadina Ave., has topped the 2017 Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants list. Alo launched in 2015 with fine-dining tasting menus moves up from seventh spot on last year’s list. The annual list of top restaurants is determined by an 82-member panel of judges and printed in the Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants magazine.