The South Bayview Bulldog

Dollarama readies to open on Mt. Pleasant

The Dollarama store is lit up and shelves are being put in place at 732 Mt. Pleasant just north of Briton House. This is the former Rexall Pharma Plus location. Many people are pleased to see it. As this picture was being taken a man and woman stopped to ask: “Are you excited about Dollarama coming here too.” For sure. But some of us are far too sophisticated for Dollarama. A reader has commented rather severely: “Excitement with arrival of a dollar store begs the question why is Toronto compared with world-class cities such as Paris and London?” Oh poo. We believe there may be euro stores in the City of Light.

The Weather Network is predicting less than a cm for Sunday evening and for Wednesday, a cm for Thursday and maybe two to four cm for Friday.  Forecast

The annual review of public elementary and high schools by the Fraser Institute has been published and once again it reveals high standards established at many South Bayview area schools. Elementary schools ranked between 10 and 7.6 in Toronto are here and elementary schools ranked between 7.5 and 6 are shown here. Some area schools are Cottingham at 9.8 (out of 10) Rosedale at 9.6, Blythwood and Deer Park each with 9.1, Maurice Cody 8.6, Northlea 8.6, Bessborough 8.3, Davisville 8.0, Rolph Road 7.7 Eglinton 7.4

HIGH SCHOOLS

Toronto high schools are listed here.  Of note is a ranking of 8.8 (out of ten) for North Toronto Collegiate. Lawrence Park 8.4 and Forest Hill 8.4, Leaside High School 7.8 and Northern Secondary 7.3

HIGH RANKING MATH TEACHERS

It turns out that nine of the top schools in mathematic in Ontario are in Toronto. Not too surprising. To read list click on image. The scores are out of a total of four. Catholic schools not reviewed by Fraser because of strike. 

List of high ranking schools in mathematics in Ontario

Oakland fire and rescue officials say 24 bodies have been found in the burned out warehouse where a fire ignited during a party. They say about 80 percent of the building has been searched. It seems certain that the number of dead will rise.

Oakland warehouse fire update:

– 24 confirmed dead
-80% of building still needs to be searched pic.twitter.com/ufCk79ELfp

— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) December 4, 2016

Here are Chris and Leslie of the Apple Tree Group known for their farmers market concept having fun at Saturday’s Mt. Pleasant BIA Christmas Fair. It was a nice day for hustling along Mt. Pleasant with friends. Here is a Twitter collection of posts. Now on to the Bayview-Leaside Christmas shopping weekends. Good shopping for goodness sake on South Bayview. Also: A sunny Saturday for Mt. Pleasant BIA Christmas Fair

Hundreds of Palestinians and pilgrims gathered outside Bethlehem’s Church of Nativity yesterday to attend the traditional lighting of a giant Christmas tree. The crowd applauded and cheered as the tree was illuminated with colourful lights. Last Saturday pilgrims welcomed the Custodian of the Holy Land on his arrival in

Leaside Junior Wildcats earned a 2-1 victory over the Southwestern Wildcats Saturday at home. The cellar-dwelling ladies from down Windsor way put in a plucky performance. They made it 1-0 by the end of the first on an unassisted goal by Shannon Fehr. Leaside scored in both the second and third periods. Samantha Jones (assisted by Myah Bowal and Olivia Reid) scored on a power play at 5.34 of the second. Then in the third, Payton Bray skated past Southwestern defenders to pot a very pretty marker unassisted at 5.23.  There were a few anxious moments when Leaside was hit with overlapping penalties in the second period. But they fought off Southwestern through both including 58 seconds of three against five. Kristen Swiatoschik faced 28 shots in the Southwestern net and Shanna Dolighan for Leaside, 18. The Junior Wildcats face Southwestern again on December 17 at Forest Glade Arena in Windsor in Game 24 of their Provincial Women’s Hockey League season.

In Rhode Island 20-year-old Onasi Olio-Rojas went a little crazy Wednesday behind the wheel right up until he drove into the back of a garbage truck  Apparently he will survive. Authorities have released the video in the hope that it will act as a caution to others. But this brings us to the field of psychiatry and the conclusions of Charles Darwin. There is a body of thought that young men will do anything that they are able to do no matter how stupid. Darwin chimes in with the dreadful news that while parents may care whether kids kill themselves (and others) Mother Nature not so much.

The properties at 3-5 Southvale have been demolished in preparation for a new condominium. In the meantime, a new perspective is seen from the doors of the Leaside Arena looking west to the intersection of Southvale and Millwood.

Geoff Kettel is reminding residents of East York and Leaside about nominations for the Agnes Macphail Award which closed at midnight on Thursday January 26, 2017.  The award will be presented on Agnes Macphail’s birthday which Friday March 24, 2017.  The Awards Ceremony and celebration will be held at the East York Civic Centre starting at 7 p.m. Agnes Macphail was the first woman MP in Canada in 1921, and represented this area as MPP in the 1940s.  This award honours her name and accomplishments — as well as honouring present day citizens for their extraordinary volunteer efforts.

Is snow bubble for kids or parents?

Ready on Track Millwood Ave.

An invitation to the fair

The fun is on from 10 until 6. Also see Mt. Pleasant Christmas Fair features scavenger hunt