TTC employee fired over open-door subway car ride

The broken subway car door which stayed open even after it had been reported to the train guard has cost a TTC employee his job, the transit union says. Bob Kinnear acknowledged that incident was very serious but he said management should release audio of the guard speaking with transit control to make sure no undue pressure was placed on the employee. Failure to lock the door shut led to an exciting and dangerous ride across the Don Valley with the door wide open. It happened as the eastbound subway train left Castle Frank Station. The ride was captured on video by rider Kamel Javed and is seen as the link below. Brad Ross of the TTC said there are mechanisms and protocols that must be followed to deal with doors. “Close, lock, isolate them and then barricade them,: said Ross.  See the thrilling Open Door ride

Dangerous UK cheese chase rooted in pagan fertility rite

The hugely popular and very dangerous Cooper’s Hill Cheese Chase in Gloucestershire, England has been held, an annual event possibly rooted in pagan fertility beliefs. It is so dangerous it is banned — after a fashion. The chief constable always issues a warning that the foolhardy cheese chasers who tumble down the steep 3 in 1 hill do so at their own risk. There are always some injuries but nothing recently like the 1993 toll of 15 people to hospital. Since the early 1800s the game is to run or fall down the 200-feet course to capture a 9 pound round of Double Gloucester Cheese. The cheese roll is a  dangerous object at 110 km or so. The hill chase is said to have originated in pre-Christian chasing of firewood down the hill which was somehow related to  fertility. Who knows.

Premier apologizes for “brutalities” of residential schools

Premier Wynne has made the formal apology which was expected Monday on behalf of the Ontario government to First Nations, Metis and Inuit communities for what she called the “brutalities” suffered at residential schools. “I apologize for the polices and practices supported by past Ontario governments and for the harm they caused,” she told the legislature as Indigenous leaders and residential school survivors looked on. “I apologize for the province’s silence in the face of abuses and deaths at residential schools. And I apologize for the fact that the residential schools are only one example of systemic, intergenerational injustices inflicted upon Indigenous communities throughout Canada.”

Plan to turn three Moore Park lots into one goes to City

A plan to merge three ravine lots on Hudson Drive in Moore Park as the site of a new 6,000 square foot home will be heard before the Toronto and East York Committee of Adjustment (COA) June 15, 2016. The addresses are 157, 153 and 151 Hudson and are now held by a numbered company.  The new frontage will be more than 100 feet and according to drawings filed with the COA will feature a landscaped terrace or garden to the north side of the new property.

MPRA ADVISORS

Mail sent on Monday among residents in the north end of the neighborhood says that “development advisors” on the board of the Moore Park Residents Association are concerned that the development as proposed is not suitable for the neighborhood. It asks people to send their views to the MPRA in preparation for the June 17 meeting at Committee.  City link.

rogers home front

rogers home ground

Zoo shoots, kills gorilla to save boy who fell into pen

Officials at the Cincinnati Zoo did the only thing they could think of to make sure that a toddler who had fallen into the gorilla pen would survive. The lad, 4, had somehow crawled through a fence which extended some ten feet above the pen of a 400-pound gorilla named Harambe. The big animal seized the boy like a kind of curiosity, holding him by the leg and standing him up but always hanging on. The child was terrified. The zoo explained that a tranquilizer was not a safe option. It does not work quickly and always causes a gorilla to have an angry reaction when struck by the dart. So they reluctantly shot the big animal.

Bessborough Mayfair held Sunday at school playground

The Bessborough Drive Elementary and Middle School Mayfair was held Sunday. Parents, teachers and children crowded the grounds for many entertaining events. Challenges were available. The video shows something that looks like a rolling treadmill. Some teachers volunteered for the dunk tank. Kids with a good aim could plunge their instructors into the fairly cold water. Familiar attractions were the Leaside fire hall trucks and Councilor John Burnside’s cotton candy machine. Rob Oliphant, MP for Don Valley West was seen.