The South Bayview Bulldog

The Weather Network says an abrupt pattern change will result in plunging temperatures and a couple of threats for impactful snowfall across southern Ontario through the weekend and into early next week. A pair of weak low pressure areas brought the first bouts of snow Saturday throughout the day, with the most substantial snowfall expected Sunday afternoon through the overnight before the system dissipates Monday morning.  So, after a relatively warm March the start of April is marked by a return to winter-like weather.

Starbucks has announced that three Toronto locations will start serving wine, beer and sharable small plates beginning at 2 p.m. next Tuesday, April 12, 2016. Starbucks has teased the idea for what seems like years and it does this elsewhere. Now they will commence it at 3079 Bloor St. W., 446 Spadina Rd. and 1740 Avenue Rd. These well off areas although 446 Spadina in  Chinatown is new for Starbucks. The Bloor Street West location is in the affluent Royal York Rd. shopping district at Montgomery Rd and the Avenue Rd. location is at St. German Ave. north of Pusateri’s (when it re-opens).

A 10 year-old girl has been found safe and returned home, police say. She was the subject of an intensive  “level three” search after leaving Rockford Public School in northwest Toronto. Police say the girl was spotted by a TTC controller. They have no reason to suspect any foul play. An intensive search has been underway since the girl left Rockford Public School at about 3 p.m.but did not arrive home. The girl was taken to hospital for a routine check

City Council has voted unanimously to ask the Ontario government to review whether the Special Investigations Unit is acting fairly toward black citizens and in particular “radicalized communities.”  The words of the motion ask “the Premier, the Minister Responsible for Anti-Racism and the new Anti-Racism Directorate, the Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, and the Ontario Civilian Police Commission to review the following with an anti-black racism and anti-racism lens”:

There’s something wrong in the paradise of public transit it seems. According to Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins, Go Transit will run a campaign to combat loud conversations, littering, feet and bags on seats and smelly food or smelly perfume. Really, it seems people are just disgusting.  “There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t get tweeted pictures of people with feet on seats,” said Aikins in an interview with CP24.  “A good stink eye sometimes does help but sometimes it doesn’t. The vast majority of our customers are really polite but we need everyone to be polite.”  There will be posters depicting poor GO Transit etiquette displayed at stations and on vehicles. There will also be a social media component to the campaign that revolves around the hashtag #etiquettefail.

Dollarama has told investors and the public that it will soon up prices to 4$ on some items and that it is netting more than 49% of its business with the Interac card. Dollarama is also conducting a trial run of credit cards at some stores in British Columbia. The low price retailer has been a long-standing hold-out to the use of Visa and MasterCard (much less American Express) in its stores. The rationale has always been that it would only cannibalize cash business. The most interesting insight might be how much business formerly done with cash is now done with Interac and other debit cards. That is, has Interac grown business much. Annual same store sales grew by 7.3 annually. It is a tough guess but the answer to that question might be “quite a bit.”  More interesting stuff about Dollarama in Toronto Star story.

Reports Friday say  that Tesla has persuaded 115,000 would-be owners of the company’s Model 3 car to plunk down $1,000 for the opportunity to do that. That would seem to translate into a tidy $115 million. As to the car itself, it was unveiled last night in California to much romantic lighting and not a lot of information. Although, the CEO, Elon Musk, says the car will get 215 miles per charge and that he is “fairly confident” it will be available by 2017  Consumerist 

The Danforth will be closed for all or most of Sunday, April 3, 2016 between approximately Euston Ave (near Jones Ave) over to Broadview Ave. The 2016 Greek Independence Day Parade will form up at Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute, 16 Phin Avenue, at 11 a.m.  It will proceed northbound at about 1 p.m. on Euston Avenue, and then westbound on Danforth to Broadview. Police add that motorists can expect delays in the area and should consider alternate methods of transportation. The TTC may experience delays. The parade will take place regardless of weather conditions which are predicted as chilly (minus 1) with the possibly of light snow..

CNN’s Jeanne Moose on especially thoughtless ponytail dumped in fellow passenger’s lap. Photo was snapped, posted and had gone viral before the flight landed.

It is an April 1st morning in which an electrical bummed out the Bloor-Danforth subway line (Line 2) but the service was restored by 9 a.m. TTC reports. .The 6.30 a.m. incident is in hand but there is no power and buses are running between Broadview and Victoria Park stations.