The South Bayview Bulldog

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Road tolls to use the Toronto expressways might well lead to a series of other charges against drivers such as a congestion tax and a nightmarish concept called “cordon tolls”  These would apply as drivers try to avoid the expressway charges by using local roads. The linked CBC story quotes Matti Siemiatycki, an associate professor with the Department of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto, as saying such movement could be stopped or diminished by cordon tolls charged when drivers cross a boundary. Yikes.

Do forgive me

An appearance of the women associated with the volumes known as The Whole She-Bang seems like it might be fun. You can find out at Sleuth of Baker Street on Millwood Rd this Sunday, November 27 between 2 and 4 p.m.  The latest work contains 22 stories from Cathy Ace, Jayne Barnard, Anne Barton, Miriam Clavir, Susan Daly, Lisa de Nikolits, Alice Fitzpatrick, Valerie Hauch, Elizabeth Hosang, H. MacDonald-Archer, J. A. Menzies, Lynne Murphy, Helen Nelson, Ed Piwowarczyk, Andre Ramshaw, Darlene Ryan, Judy Penz Sheluk and Coleen Steele.

Don’t miss Patrick Rocca as Santa Claus on his seasonal billboard above the shops on the east of Bayview north of Millwood Rd.

The Airbus mini-jumbo contender A350-1000 took its maiden flight at Toulouse in France this week as the European planemaker hustles to try to get back into the lucrative category dominated by Boeing. The 1000 carries 366 passengers and is made with many parts of synthetic materials similar to Boeing models. Time will tell.

They were crowing today about the newly-installed Presto gates (below) at Bessarion station on the Sheppard line. This may not have been the best place to look for transit publicity. Bessarion — named after Bessarion Road west of Bayview Ave — is absolutely the least-used station on a lightly travelled subway line. In 2014, the website Urban Toronto wrote that the “Sheppard Subway (Line 4) is the most modern rapid transit line in the system, and while much of the line’s length has been home to intense urbanization since opening in 2004, the Sheppard Line’s stations are still some of the least-used underground transit stations in the system. Bessarion Station is in fact the least used underground rapid transit station in the city…” In fact, the online magazine calls it a ghost station. Did our City Council do that? Read the many tart comments published by Urban Toronto

Bessarion station is the latest @TTChelps subway station to get PRESTO! Tap your card there today. pic.twitter.com/jH8Y8Emfxk

— PRESTO card (@PRESTOcard) November 25, 2016

On Saturday, December 3, Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, their elves and more will be on hand to celebrate the Mount Pleasant Village Christmas Fair. The day will be filled with fun activities put on by the BIA, as well as in-store promotions. New for this year will be a scavenger hunt! Event details are subject to change, so check back again closer to the event. Mount Pleasant Village BIA

Southbound drivers were in for a nasty surprise Friday morning as traffic backed up to well north of Davenport when a crew narrowed three lanes into one at Bloor Street. A hole was dug in the centremost lane and the next was perfect parking for the huge truck. By the watch, the crawl from Davenport to Bloor was 20 minutes.

Florence Henderson, mother and guiding light of The Brady Bunch, died Thursday in Los Angeles at 82. Henderson was making a film in Norway in 1969 when she was asked to appear in the pilot episode of “The Brady Bunch,” an unapologetically upbeat comedy about a woman with three daughters who meets, marries and makes a sunny suburban California home with a widower who has three sons.

Blythwood Road was now closed from Strathgowan Ave to Bayview Ave for approximately an hour on Friday morning.

Updated: Blythwood Rd is now closed in both direction from Bayview Ave to Strathgowan Ave. Major traffic delay, please avoid area poss. ^adc

— Toronto Police Operations (@TPSOperations) November 25, 2016

Emergency Closure: R47359 CLEARED: BLYTHWOOD RD From BAYVIEW AVE To STRATHGOWAN AVE.

— TO Main Roads (@TO_MainRoads) November 25, 2016

Santa Claus will come to the Beach on Sunday with the Community Centre 55 and the Village of East Toronto Beaches’ Santa Claus Parade. Road closures will be in place from 1 to 2 p.m westbound on Kingston Road (eastbound will operate in a limited capacity) from Victoria Park Avenue to Walter Street and 1:30. to 2 p.m. Walter Street, from Kingston Road to Swanwick Avenue  TTC will experience minor delays during this event. Motorists are advised to consider the road closure when planning their travels.