A tractor-trailer said to be carrying cinnamon buns caught fire on the Highway 401 near Woodstock Road at around 10 a.m. Sunday. The driver escaped but the truck and cargo are now a sloppy mess. Police say there was a short circuit in the truck wiring.
Truck fire snarls traffic on Highway 401 near Woodstock, Ont. https://t.co/qGejgk0E9b pic.twitter.com/oU53K9lQxH
— CBC Toronto (@CBCToronto) June 19, 2016
Toronto Police say a 25-year-old man was slugged ten times by an angry woman when he complained about having been hit by her backpack. This happened May 18, 2016 on a TTC bus travelling Sheppard Avenue West heading to Downsview station. It apparently began when she sat down next to the man knocking him in the face with her backpack An argument ensued. The woman then stood up and punched the man in the head approximately 10 times She fled the scene prior to police arrival. She is described as 6’3″, 250 lbs., with shoulder-length brown hair. She was wearing glasses, a purple shirt, blue leggings, a Maple Leafs ball cap and was carrying a pink backpack.
Reuters is reporting that Iran has reached a deal to buy 100 jetliners from the Boeing Company of Seattle and the two sides are awaiting approval by the U.S. Treasury Department. Reuters quotes the head of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation speaking Sunday. It is the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that Iran has purchased aircraft from the U.S.
The Toronto Jazz Festival, set to unfold Friday, June 24 at Nathan Phillips Square, is taking heat for a lineup of musicians who may or may not actually play jazz, depending on how you look at it. As reported by Joshua Errett of the CBC this year’s lineup of artists like Sarah McLachlan, Grace Potter, Sharon Jones, KC and the Sunshine Band is causing some people to complain. The Toronto Jazz Festival is different from the Beaches Jazz Festival, which typically see players who represent fairly authentic jazz genres. “Our mandate is to book jazz, jazz-influencing and jazz-influenced music,” says Josh Grossman, artistic director, as quoted by Errett. “Most of the artists fit under that umbrella, but every year one or two artists do slip outside of that.” CBC
Toronto has issued a heat warning for Sunday. It comes as Environment Canada is predicts a high of 33 C today and a humidity reading that will feel closer to 38. “During a Heat Warning, the public is encouraged to call or visit family, friends and neighbours, especially isolated adults and seniors who are at greater risk of suffering from heat-related illness, to make sure they are cool and drinking plenty of fluids,” a statement from David McKeown, the city’s medical officer of health, reads. “Other groups at risk include people with chronic illnesses, individuals with limited mobility or certain mental health illnesses, infants and young children, people on certain medications, and those who are homeless.”
Officially it was the first annual Leaside softball tournament with St. Anselm inviting area teams. Good fun.
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Some odd-looking examples of the Rolls Royce and the BMW mini were on display in London this a week along with the now conventional view of your new car as driverless, bleached clean and of course shared with everybody else. Can’t wait.
About 40 residents of North Leaside met on the lawn at 281 Bessborough Saturday morning to hear messages of both hope and harsh reality around the approaching OMB hearing on the plan for high-rise towers on the Sunnybrook Plaza site. John Burnside (Ward 26) said planning decisions already made have provided the plaza’s owner, RioCan, with a wedge of precedent at OMB. While Sunnybrook was designated mid-rise (8 storeys or so) the deeper property owned by Metro Inc across the street was called suitable for high-rise. It is enough for aggressive developers to argue their case.
15 STOREYS
Mr. Burnside mentioned 15 storeys as possibly the lowest height for the higher of the two towers, now loitering in the 12 and 19 storey range in the proposal. Resident Wayne S. Roberts said the community could forget about eight storeys. He seemed to feel that 15 storeys was the lowest anyone could expect. And as Burnside made clear, the decision to settle before the OMB hearing is in the hands of the City’s planning department. The Councillor said such a settlement would be very difficult to fight. “They (the planning department) are working on behalf of the City, not us,” said Burnside. Ed: a reminder again that the municipality to which we pay taxes is seldom really in the hands of the voters.
GARBAGE?
The Councillor spoke in frank but dispiriting terms about the effectiveness of the City’s planning. He called the Eglinton In Focus paper “largely garbage”. He suggested that planning frequently inspires visions which are not good planning and set off a development frenzy like the one now seen across Eglinton Ave. The discussion raised questions about why the Bloor Danforth transit line has been in place for 40 years but has not seen the high-rise fever witnessed in Leaside. The answer seemed to be that there is land here and, foot for foot, it is probably worth a good deal more money at market.
SCHOOLS AND TRAFFIC
There was concern about crowded schools. One mother said Northlea Public School is bursting. Once again, Mr. Burnside was quite candid. He said TDSB “planning” was based not on forward-looking expectation of population but on how many portables had been thrown up behind the school. This was policy. Bessborough residents and others north and east of Sunnybrook were warned about the traffic associated with the Sunnybrook changes. They will see traffic on Bessborough from the north seeking to avoid the corner of Bayview and Eglinton. Burnside also spoke about attempting to maintain a right hand turn westbound on Eglinton Ave at Bayview. Fund raising appeal to stop Sunnybrook towers
It might work, but it might not. The proponents of the potent but rather sketchy recommendations on how to save money by slimming down the police service say it will be just fine. Don’t worry. Fewer police stations, fewer police in cars, less intrusive anti-crime activity in high crime areas — the cops will get the job done digitally it seems. A slew of divisional stations will be eliminated. The task force report tabled with the police commission today says zero about what if anything might replace them. One of the stations set to vanish is 53 Division at Eglinton Ave and Duplex Avenue. Some at City Hall — like the mayor — are quite dismissive of the divisional concept. Maybe. But there is really no denying these buildings are well-used meeting places. Maybe they’re big but perhaps they’re too big to just vanish. University of Toronto criminologist Scot Wortley told the Star “there is a big difference between the vision that is outlined in this report and practically implementing it.” We would add that the vision is quite fragmentary too. And the optimistic talk downtown is not specific. Co-author of the report Andy Pringle speaks of “more community-centric policing.” Sounds nice but it could mean anything.
Russia will be banned from track and field events at in the Rio Olympics because the country has not ended state-sponsored doping in the sport. The International Association of Athletics Federations delivered message Friday. “I don’t think on the face of evidence, they really had any other choice,” said Paul Melia, CEO of the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which carries out all drug testing in Canada. “It would have been very difficult for them to defend lifting the ban.”
Playoffs in the St Anselm’s house league baseball are underway Friday at Bennington Heights playground (the girls) and Rolph Road School (the boys) The play goes all day and we hope to have a summary of the tourney from St. Anselm head coach Dave Nespolo later. Here’s the final out and sportsmanship handshakes between St. Anselm A’s and the Bennington Bulldogs.
