Eglinton LRT station will sit to the west of Canada Square

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South side of Eglinton west of Canada Square
Aerial view of main station loking west
Second entrance northwest corner

A meeting to show pictures of the work being done at Yonge and Eglinton on the Crosstown LRT was held at North Toronto Collegiate, 17 Broadway Avenue, Wednesday night. It revealed to the many people present that the main station will sit on the south side of Eglinton Ave west of the present Canada Square building. There will be an entrance (or entrances) on the northwest corner inside or outside the Rio.Can building. The exact in and out points on both sides was a little unclear to staff present and perhaps for good reason.

LRT IS UNDER THE SUBWAY

The LRT tunnels have been bored under the Yonge subway (line 1) and must now be excavated to make a concourse and platform complex which will also sit underneath the subway. There are already entrances and although the very accommodating Metrolinx staff present at the show and tell tried to be helpful no one was quite sure how the old and new entrances will be reconciled. But it seems certain they will be.

CIBC ENTRANCE

That work will include the access off the east side of Yonge in the CIBC on the southeast corner. Once inside, passengers will no doubt be able to find their way to the LRT concourse. That corner is numbered 1 Eglnton East and developer Davpart Inc sees a 65 storey tower there. so a new plan for entry into the subway-LRT may prevail. The Eglinton LRT concourse and platform is a daunting job and one can imagine what it will be like working below the subway station as the trains roll through overhead.

Jan Van Nes founded Bayview landmark Van Nes Flowers

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Jan Van Nes
1622 Bayview Ave

Jan Van Nes, the founder of Van Nes Flowers, has died. The Van Nes business and storefront graced 1622 Bayview Ave. for many years. The obituary is published by the Morley Bedford Funeral Home.

Peacefully on Tuesday March 21, 2017 at North York General Hospital in his 89th year. A true entrepreneur, founder of Van Nes Flowers Limited, master floral designer, and the debonair “Mayor of Bayview” Beloved husband of Cathy for 64 wonderful years. Brother of Gerda and Henk (Holland). Dear father and father-in-law to Janette and Rob, Karen and Hugh, Richard and Sheila. Dearly loved Opa to Alyssa, Anthony, Patrick, Trevor, Matthew, Stephanie and Hannah. Great Opa to Olivia. A service of remembrance will take place on Sunday March 26, 2017 at 2pm, at Morley Bedford Funeral Home 159 Eglinton Avenue West Toronto,with reception to follow.“In Lieu of flowers” was never in his vocabulary. Donations to The Hospital for Sick Children or a Charity of choice. Jan, Dad, and Opa loved his family, his antiques and most of all his Flower Shop.

Ainslie fights for 7-stop LRT with 54% Scarborough support

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Paul Ainslie is the Councillor for Ward 43, an oddly-shaped electoral district that looks not unlike the boot of Italy. He has held the ward since 2006, winning three solid mandates. Today he stands alone against every other member from east of Victoria Park Ave. in his opposition to the one-stop wonder known as the Scarborough subway. To many, Ainslie is about as close as Toronto politics will ever get to a genuine Profile in Courage. When John Tory’s Executive Committee voted in December, Ainslie was the only voice in opposition to the multi-billion dollar rail line widely considered to be a boondoggle of the highest order. He has some friends at City Hall of course — Midtown pragmatists like Josh Matlow and others who think spending possibly four billion dollars on a subway that barely stops is close to a dereliction of elected duty. Next Monday, March 27, Ainslie will hold a meeting at 3600 Kingston Road at which he will try to rally public support against the subway and in favour of an LRT with seven stops. Ainslie will show powerful numbers which he says prove that fully 54 per cent of Scarborough residents oppose the one-stop wonder. Forty per cent are said to support it. In the rest of the City, only 28 percent support the subway with 60 percent opposed. Petition

Count on Bentley and Wheeler to tell you What She Said!

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Chris and Kate

Chris Bentley and Kate Wheeler together are a treat for their legions of fans. They are a duo on radio now (plus media of the social kind) with their entertaining news and gab called What She Said! Chris and Kate can be heard weekends at 6 p.m. on the Jewel Radio Network 88.5 in Toronto. There are some nice movie ticket giveaways to be had courtesy of Elevation Pictures. Here’s some of the recent fun with film reviewer Ann Brodie @WhatSheSaidTalk

UK joins US in banning large electronics from certain flights

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CNN reports that the United Kingdom has followed the United States in preventing passengers on flights from some countries in the Middle East and Africa from carrying devices such as laptops and tablets in the cabin. Their restriction will affect 14 airlines, six of which are based in the U.K. The affected airlines are: British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2.com, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thomson, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airways, Atlas-Global Airlines, Middle East Airlines, Egyptair, Royal Jordanian, Tunis Air and Saudia. The U.S. and U.K. regulations will affect different points of departure. The new restrictions on direct flights to the U.K. include flights from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia. It is said Canada is deciding what to do in this regard.

Excellent remake of Brunswick House into a Rexall

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418 Bloor West
Unknown millions drank here
Much-loved sign

The 141-year-old Brunswick House, 481 Bloor West at Brunswick Ave., has opened as a Rexall Pharma Plus drugstore. The superb result of the renovation is recorded by Retail Insider online. The tavern’s much-loved Ye Olde Brunswick House sign now hangs over the fridges in the pharmacy’s food section. Unknown millions of university students and who knows what number of beverage room idlers will surely want to make a sentimental visit to this storied beer hall haunt. It is a considerable credit to Rexall and rivals similar public-spirited work by large firms such as Loblaw (MLG) and Shoppers Drug Mart (Bayview Playhouse).

Computer ban on travel to US on N. Africa, mideast airlines

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The Trump administration has declared that passengers on nine airlines flying direct flights to the U.S. from airports in eight countries will be prevented from taking most electronic devices larger than a cellphone (such as tablets, portable DVD players, laptops and cameras) into the main cabin. Instead, they must be in checked baggage. The airlines are Royal Jordanian Airlines, Egypt Air, Turkish Airlines, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways. The airports are in Cairo; Istanbul; Kuwait City; Doha, Qatar; Casablanca, Morocco; Amman, Jordan; Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates. The ban is said to be indefinite and is inspired by concerns of explosives hidden in computer devices. Euronews

Anger over dog walker hoisting his charge onto hind legs

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A brief and shaky video of a dog walker with one animal forced up on its hind legs while two others run unleashed is causing upset and anger among some people Tuesday.  The dog walker, Austin St-Jacques, is accosted by the video taker who is identified as Aleksander Kupisz. It is a rather scary exchange as Mr. Kupisz is quite upset. St-Jacques contends the dog in the harness was not being hurt. The CBC story has a lot of information but nothing really definitive about what this might be doing to the dog, although it seems unusual. CBC

Brief scene of dog on hind legs