Environment Canada has issued a statement warning of 15 to 25 mm of rain tonight into early Thursday. An area of rain is approaching from the central states. Fog patches are also expected overnight giving local reduced visibilities. Some rain is forecast at times during the day on Thursday, however further amounts should be light. Caution is advised near creeks. Ponding of water may occur on some roads.
A Canadian girl, Courtney Gelina, is reunited with bear, lost during the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting. It was a gift from her late grandfather as a child and she and the bear were inseparable before she lost it. Her mom, Kim Lariviere talked to CNN.
Video: Canadian girl reunited with teddy bear, lost during Fort Lauderdale airport shooting pic.twitter.com/TacGg9bgXr
— CityNews Toronto (@CityNewsTO) January 11, 2017
Now that agreement has been reached between the City and RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) on how to rebuild Sunnybrook Plaza, tenants ranging from the Source to the UPS store are looking at their options. For some, the choice may be to look south to the South Bayview business district where there are lots of empty locations. But as in all things, timing will be critical.
TOWERS 11 AND 16 FLOORS
Yes, the parties have agreed that the towers of Sunnybrook Plaza will go just so high and no further. The deal struck late last year at the Ontario Municipal Board set the height at 11 and 16 floors. But wait, the tenants of Sunnybrook Plaza have leases. And some, including heavy-hitters like Rexall Pharma Plus and Home Hardware, are thought to extend nearly to or beyond 2020. If they are kicked out now, RioCan will pay a pricey penalty.
FINAL APPROVALS MAY WAIT
The lease factor, plus a concern on the part of the Ontario government (Metrolinx) that construction on private developments should not interfere with LRT progress, may delay final approvals for Sunnybrook. In the end, the closure of the 1951 plaza may be a boost for the South Bayview business district to the south as tenants seek locations near Bayview Ave. and Millwood Rd. Sunnybrook Plaza deal calls for towers 11 and 16 storeys
President-elect, Donald Trump on Wednesday has denied any relations with Russia after U.S. intelligence agencies leaked whispers that the Russians possess compromising information on him. The indignant Trump said: “Are we living in Nazi Germany?” Euronews
MUSLIM GIRLS MUST SWIM WITH BOYS
Another hot topic Wednesday, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has ruled that Swiss Muslim girls must swim with boys. It rejected the appeal of two Swiss citizens, originally from Turkey, who cited their Muslim faith in seeking to keep their two prepubescent daughters out of a mixed, mandatory swimming class. Euronews
They’re tweeting a big Woo-Hoo from Davisville Public School office Wednesday to herald the forthcoming Junior Kindergarten Open House. It’s 6.30 to 7.30 February 7, 2017.
Electoral reform ad – Canada.ca
Ads asking “What do you think of Canada’s democracy” are appearing today on websites like The South Bayview Bulldog. It is part of the Liberal government’s sly back-down from thoroughgoing reform of the venerable first-past-the-post rule (or ranked ballots) promised by Mr. Trudeau during the election campaign. It also permits a quiet bypass of proportional voting, a means by which one-issue parties could get more representation in the House of Commons. Traditionalists tend to reject proportionality somewhat more strongly than they do the idea of ranked ballots. Write to us if you have an informed opinion.
Star writer Betsy Powell says Wednesday that Mayor John Tory will announce that he is recommending private garbage pick up in Scarborough, the City’s collection district 4. The report recommends that collection between Yonge St. and Victoria Park Ave. remain in the hands of City employees, members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Powell says Tory will be backed by a staff report that’s expected to recommend the City focus privatization efforts on District 4 while leaving District 3 (Toronto and East York) including the downtown as it is. Tory will make the announcement in Councillor Stephen Holyday’s Ward 3 in Etobicoke, where a mix of service providers has been collecting garbage since 1995. The City of Toronto is divided into four districts for daytime residential curbside collection. Districts 1 and 2 use private-sector workers, districts 3 and 4 use unionized City workers. In 2015, it cost $19.7 million to haul garbage in District 3 and $14 million in District 4, according to a staff report.
A home on Park Lane Circle in Toronto was badly damaged overnight by a 4-alarm fire. The family escape unhurt after calling in the fire. The scene is near Lawrence and Bayview Aves. The Office of the Fire Marshal has been notified due to the damage, which is estimated to be at least $500,000. Firefighters told CBC Toronto that they were, at one point, pumping over 10,000 litres of water every minute through the roof of the home from two trucks and many smaller hoses working at ground level.
3rd Alarm – Park Lane Circle #Toronto. Fire in a large mansion @TPFFA all crews working. Flames through roof. pic.twitter.com/uzfL6Mrber
— Tony Smyth (@LateNightCam) January 11, 2017
It’s good to have your CAA membership in order if you decide to show off by driving out onto the ice of Lake Ontario. Tuesday a Jeep driver “trying to impress” a passenger sunk his vehicle into the water and it was hung up on ice as well. It took more than two hours to pull the stranded vehicle from two-feet of water at Cherry Beach. This video was shot by Corrine Sutej. It’s not clear what her role was in this adventure.
@TPS51Div. I happened to take a video:) pic.twitter.com/E2nw1uBaXe
— Corinne Sutej (@CakePopLane) January 10, 2017
Snapchat is planning to open a European base in London in a move hailed as a huge “vote of confidence” in Brexit Britain. The American firm that owns the photo-sharing app Snap Inc has vowed to pay U.K. corporation tax on its international profits in a move that is highly unusual in the tax-averse tech world. In New York, the Canadian apparel-maker Gildan has paid $88 million U.S. at auction for the name and design rights of the bankrupt teen retailer American Apparel. Gildan is based in Montreal. And Clare Hollingworth has died at 105 some 78 after she hustled herself to the German border in 1939 and got the scoop of a lifetime. Hollingworth was able to report first to the world that the Nazis had invaded Poland. She was only 27 at the time and went on to have a long career with the Daily Telegraph.
Mayor Tory and other City officials rolled out a multi-pronged program to try to eliminate pedestrian traffic deaths in Toronto Tuesday. The program is called the Vision Zero Safety Road Plan. It is a multinational concept which ratchets up physical changes to the streets and combines them with intense instructional advocacy. It also promises more moving-violation fines for drivers who try to skip through red lights. Vision Zero Safety comes with a video too (below). It cites six “emphasis areas”. These are pedestrians, school children, older adults, cyclists, motorcyclists and aggressive driving and distraction. There’s no mention of joggers or ordinary safe drivers as players in this road safety program.
SENIOR SAFETY ZONES
Among the more practical ideas are so-called Senior Safety Zones. The City has chosen 12 intersections (below) at which among other things the times allowed for crossing on a green light will be lengthened to permit the elderly a better chance for crossing. In total, times will be lengthened at 50 intersections. It is an eminently sensible idea and many will wonder why all crossing times cannot be lengthened. Seniors are everywhere and at places like Bayview Ave. and Manor Rd they get all of 15 seconds to cross on a Walk signal. The Vision Zero program also calls for more red light cameras and lowering speed limits. These are more or less okay as safety measures but they cannot improve upon physical conditions which protect older people as they cross. This isn’t an easy job to be sure but it isn’t a coincident that many of the seniors zone are on high-speed four and six lane thoroughfares where it is perilous to cross, especially at night. The locations of the seniors safety zones are as follows:
Rosedale Valley Blvd temporarily closed. Pickup collision with lamp post. #57408 ^vk
— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) January 10, 2017
