The South Bayview Bulldog

Abbas Kolia

Pat Moore

Premier with moderator James Janeiro

Premier’s staff

CP24 with Mr. Kolia

53 Division just in case

Attentive tenant

Premier Wynne held a “consultation” with tenants of Thorncliffe Park in the auditorium of Thorncliffe Park Public School Tuesday night. It is a meeting she attends in an ongoing but irregular fashion given her schedule. The meeting seemed to appear out of nowhere with many media getting brief notice. But these are after all the Premier’s constituents and she was there. She had anticipated most if not all the complaints in a published agenda. But the heartfelt and colourful expression of concerns was interesting. One by one, tenants spoke of large rent increases justified by landlord upgrades, unreliable elevators, rats and various vermin, overcrowding (several families to an apartment) and inequities such as higher rents, reputedly for immigrants just off the boat or airplane. Abbas Kolia, the crusty president of the Thorncliffe Park Drive Tenant Association was called forward by Ms Wynne. He verbally lambasted the Premier for delays in addressing issues he had brought forward some eight months ago.

ABSENTEE SUPERINTENDENTS?

The Premier’s response to Mr. Kolia as he stomped to the rear of the gym was an appreciative thank you much as if he had just read a prayer (see video). And so it was as tenants complained about landlords such a Morguard and MetCap. These were organizations that had millions if not billions of dollars, said tenants, and they did little to keep locations clean and safe. One woman struck a disturbing note when she complained of absentee superintendents. The concept is challenging. Her point was that in an emergency no one was in charge. Pat Moore, a familiar and wise Thorncliffe hand who is a member of TNO, the Thorncliffe Neighborhood Office, fired up the crowd with her idea for a rent strike. The money would be held in escrow pending the completion of landlord obligations. Notable at the meeting were Jon Burnside (Ward 26) and Justin Van Dette, an energetic community organizer in East York and John Tory supporter.

Home security video has caught the night prowling of a petty thief on Leander Court checking cars to rob. This is off O’Connor Drive in East York east of Massey Creek and south of St. Clair Ave. E.  In the video from the home of Diogo Beltran, the thief is seen at work outside the Beltran home opening the rear hatch and drivers side door of a van. He spends close to two minutes rummaging through things inside the van. It is about 2.34 a.m. on the morning of Sunday January 15. The gait and manner of the thief makes him look like a teen. It is common among some criminally minded youth to finish off a Saturday evening out by rifling a few cars. Perhaps, as in the case of the 2014 Bennington Heights car fires, they’ll do something that imperils life. In this case, residents say they have been hit at least three times in recent months. Mr. Beltran says a thief recently stole his laptop from an unlocked car. Police urge residents to report such activity no matter how small the loss.

Oklahoma

Kansas

Iowa

Freezing rain and winds across the U.S. central and midwest states left serious damage.

This nice video recalls the important work of Dr. Tom Pashby as well as the large donation made by his family’s foundation to safety at the Leaside Memorial Community Arena. Doc Pashby Fund to make $500,000 gift to Leaside Gardens

The new Leaside Hockey Rink has just been named after my late Grandfather. Inspiring story of dedication to sports. https://t.co/vgWqb5e1MJ

— Narrative Financial Services Inc. (@NarrativeFinSer) January 17, 2017

Shocking costs in veterinarian bills — $6,000 it is said — followed the purchase of a dog that needed much health care even though the seller assured this Toronto couple the dog was fit and fully certified by an animal doctor.  CBC

Cilla Black in Liverpool

Luxotica and Essilor

McDonald’s at Vatican

Your alternate world contains the unveiling of a life-sized statue of Cilla Black in Liverpool. The hometown girl and friend of the Beatles rose from cloakroom clerk at the Cavern Club to singer and presenter. Next, the eyeglass market tightened up yesterday as Luxotica owner Leonardo Del Vecchio bought the French lense producer Essilor. In Rome. McDonald’s is beating back criticism of its store in the Vatican by feeding the poor. And in part of the U.S., Goat Yoga is the thing. Robin Meade renders that one below.

The Fraser Report think tank says that shutting down all of Ontario’s coal-fired power plants didn’t change the level of pollution much and certainly didn’t justify the cost of the project to consumers. The conservative philosophy think tank says just using pollution scrubbing technology would have had the same effect. CBC says the report estimates that air pollution levels have decreased slightly as a result of shutting down the plants in Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa, but installing “scrubbers” on the plants would have been cheaper and have accomplished the same thing. The study, authored by Ross McKitrick and Elmira Aliakbari, specifically notes pollution reduction in Toronto and Hamilton was “not statistically significant” with regard to coal plant closures. They cite industrial pollution, emissions from natural gas plants and natural weather conditions as having a greater impact on pollution across the province.

Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area are under a freezing rain warning this morning. It is serious enough for both the public and separate school systems to cancel buses.Schools are open.  Ice patches abound but there is hope this will give way to simple rain as the morning progresses.. CP24

There may be some freezing rain overnight and early Tuesday but rising temperatures should make it short.