The South Bayview Bulldog

The sprawling parking lot of RioCan’s Leaside Centre on the southeast corner of Laird Drive and Eglinton Ave. E. has long been destined to become the site of yet another of the “tower cities” that are re-making Leaside and Midtown Toronto.  The development website Urban Toronto details plans to put as many as seven new buildings on the space with one residential tower soaring to a staggering 34 storeys. It easily rivals the massive development proposed by Diamond Corp. at the Dawsco Plaza on at Brentcliffe Road to the east. That four-tower development has been called by Councillor Burnside the Big Daddy of Eglinton density. It appears RioCan has the same thing in mind. Urban Toronto says the Toronto REIT proposes nearly 1,500 new residences on the corner.

DON AVON SOUTH TO VANDERHOOF

There is a retail “podium” proposed that would house. among other tenants, the Canadian Tire store and Petsmart outlet, both long time occupants of the Leaside Centre. It is officially designated 815 Eglinton East. Plans submitted to the City call for the 8.8-acre site to become its own neighborhood. A layout of streets is proposed including the extension of Don Avon Drive from Eglinton south to Vanderhoof Ave. High rise quake set to blow away Eglinton low-rise zoning

These boxes of fireworks will blow up Monday night

David Bryant has posted an open invitation to his fireworks show Monday night at about 9.15 p.m. at, we hear, the Leaside High football field (Talbot Park). Dave is asking visitors to sit on the hill not the football field in the best interest of safety. He posted the photo of the boxes above containing the fireworks — The Bulldog made some them “hotter” than normal. See you there.

Anthony Fiore

Every person who barbecues should be on the alert after a Toronto-area boy swallowed a wire bristle off of a cleaning brush. The wire became detached from the brush and was waiting on the barbecue when meat was placed on it. From there it went straight into 6-year-old Anthony Fiore’s mouth and pierced his throat. The lad has had a painful and terrifying course of treatment at the Hospital for Sick Children but has recovered. His mother is saying that wire-bristle barbecue brushes should be banned but it may be equally critical to see that grills are carefully wiped after heavy cleaning with a brush.

There was no winning ticket was sold for the $50 million jackpot in Lotto Max draw Friday night. Two MaxMillions prizes of $1 million dollars each were won in Ontario.

The link leads to an un-bylined CBC story quoting a professor and a local ethnic reporter which suggests Ontario’s hydro electric planning — using the term loosely — may have cost the Liberals their former stronghold of Scarborough Rouge-River in Thursday’s byelection. That and other pocketbook issues are seen as more important perhaps that the sex education issue. There is a genuinely nutty, upside-down quality to the economics of electricity generation on Ontario which sees consumers paying more for power even though they economize.  Meanwhile, excess generation is sold off to U.S. states for a fraction of the cost per kilowatt hour paid at home. CBC

Planning staff are advising City Council to get ready for a fight at the Ontario Municipal Board to stop a 15-storey mixed use development which would be built beside the Avenue Road LRT station. The site includes Yitz’s Deli and the nondescript shops to the west. The whole parcel is known as 346, 350, 352 and 356 Eglinton Ave. West  It is yet another example of the development earthquake triggered by the LRT. Most of Eglinton is zoned mid-rise — seven to eight storeys — more than enough sun-blocking concrete for the people of these neighborhoods. But the money to be made by going much higher threatens to bring the bylaws crashing down from the Allen Road to the Don Valley.

Samsung suspended sales of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone on Friday just two weeks after introducing it as word spread that batteries of some of the phones exploded while they were charging. Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung’s mobile business, said customers who already bought Note 7s will be able to swap them for new smartphones, regardless of when they purchased them. Canadian Customers may call 1-800-SAMSUNG for additional information. CNN report below.

The Canadian Farmers’ Almanac has done what it needed to do with a bold September 1 prediction that the winter of 2016-17 will be cold and snowy. That is, get some attention. Yeah. Keeping in mind that it has been known to snow in Canada, this forecast is a bit like the old joke that it will be dark tonight and light tomorrow. The forecast was made to the CBC. In recent years meteorologists have concluded that the ability to predict events so far in advance is zero.

The Toronto Maple Leafs tweeted some history Friday to show the team’s new logo being painted on centre ice at the Air Canada Centre. The design, commissioned to mark the team’s centennial season, was revealed in February. It was the first time in 45 years the Leafs introduced a new logo. The new look is a fresh take on the classic Maple Leaf emblem that was used from the 1940s to the 1960s. It will serve as the team’s primary crest beginning in the 2016-17 season. The logo, with some slight alterations, aligns most closely to a version used from 1963 to 1967. Will the new logo inspire a whole string of Stanley Cups. It is a dreamers paradise.

Maple Leafs' new logo unveiled on centre ice at the ACC – CBC.ca https://t.co/35hJ4dp3um

— TM Leafs Tweet (@TMLeafsTweet) September 2, 2016

Police want to talk to this man about break-ins in the Bayview Village area. The photos below show the perpetrator walking through a home in the neighborhood in the early morning hours of Sept. 1. He gets into homes where doors are not secured. He is between 20 and 30 years old with a medium build and a goatee. This time he was wearing a baseball hat, a grey hoodie with ‘Nike’ on the front, long, grey athletic-type shorts and dark running shoes.

Don Valley West MP Rob Oliphant continues his public meetings into September and October focussed on electoral reform. In a release this week he recalls that the Liberal government in Ottawa promised a new voting system. The prospect of such a thing — in whatever form — has the potential to both terrify and delight partisans. The commonest reforms discussed by those who think about the matter are proportional representation and so-called ranked ballots. Proportional representation is intended to somehow give parties that don’t actually win in the conventional fashion a limited place in the Legislature.

PIZZA PARLIAMENT?

It is seen in Italy where it has given rise to the derisive term “pizza parliament” — a place sliced up into assorted parties. It is also seen in Israel where proportionality seems to be the sole determinant of how seats are distributed. Critics say it tends to make the “big tent” parties less inclusive and encourage single issue splinters. It may well militate against conventional majority governments such as we have at present in Liberal Canada. Ranked ballots are intended to ensure that the winner in a riding indeed has a majority of the popular vote. That system has been most notoriously in the news this year after City Council voted to introduce it for the next election and then stunningly reversed itself saying ranked ballots would be too complicated. 

CHURCHILL

Democracy needs to be taken seriously but proponents of this form of government have said some amusing things about it. The quote below is famous. Less so  but just as provocative is Winston Churchill’s observation that “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Nothing personal anyone. Mr. Oliphant’s meetings are September 18, October 12 and October 13. (416) 467-7275