The South Bayview Bulldog

After a wait, woman’s number is called

Abbas Kolia calls out numbers for free backpacks

Premier says hello

Scooby Doo attraction

Pigeons displaced by festival

Political presence

Young and old

Hundreds of families won free backpacks and other prizes like calculators and lunch boxes on Saturday at the sixth annual Thorncliffe Park Tenants Association and the Thorncliffe Neighbourhood Office event Saturday at the East York Town Centre parking lot. The gifts were handed out by ticket number to residents during the day by tenants association president Abbas Kolias. Corporate donors were important contributors to the success of the gathering. There was a full political presence — Premier Wynne, MP Rob Oliphant and Ward 26 Councillor Jon Burnside were all there. Pigeons which normally reside in the west end of the large EYTC parking lot found themselves relegated to the mall roof. Occasionally they made a swooping protest flyover of the event tents.

Robyn Hochglaube (right) and close friend

Principals Sandra Larosa and Barbara Sandler/Janis Fertuck Twitter

East York Bulldogs

Above is Robyn Hochglaube with a close young friend. Robyn is the owner, operator and serene oversight at Leaside Community Facebook page, a busy franchise she started five years ago (already) when she moved to Leaside. The page has some 5,000 members and is visited frequently by The Bulldog. Upper right, the new principals at Rolph Road and Northlea Schools, Sandra Larosa and Barbara Sandler. They are interviewed by Janis Fertuck here.  And then, Rob Granatstein has tweeted this picture of the East York Bulldogs. He remarks on their fantastic defence in provincial play Friday. Looking good guys. Great name for a baseball team.

The price of regular gasoline at the Esso station on Mt. Pleasant Rd. at Merton St. has broken the highest guesses for the hurricane-crisis spike in the cost of fuel. It sits Saturday at $1.34 a litre, two cents higher than estimated.

Over City Hall at noon hour

Hello Toronto!

Trooping the Colours at Nathan Phillips Square

Like really, who doesn't like airplanes? ✈️ @RCAF_ARC #RCAFProud pic.twitter.com/RZNhimgoyB

— Christine Holmes (@holmester) September 1, 2017

How do you get 24 aircraft together to fly over #Toronto? Watch this to see! The flags during the opening sequence are the #RCAF Colours! pic.twitter.com/JXvSaJRfzo

— RCAF (@RCAF_ARC) September 1, 2017

The sign at the Esso compound at Merton St. and Mt. Pleasant Rd. says regular gasoline is $1.25 a litre for all practical purposes. Don’t ask about triple high-test. And there is worse to come. Analysts estimate regular will hit $1.32 a litre by Saturday morning. Many pumping gas on Mt. Pleasant were bitter. There’s no shortage of fuel in Canada. International marketing is in full possession of pricing. Canadians hurt when the Americans hurt, even if it has nothing to do with Canada. Not to be ungenerous, the states of Texas and Louisiana are going through hell. Apart from much else, Hurricane Harvey has shut down as many as 14 refineries.

A clerical employee at McEwan University in Edmonton took the word of an authoritive-looking email that said all payments to Clark Builders, a firm constructing a new building for the university, should be re-routed to a new bank account. As a result, the university is out nearly $12 million. The school didn’t realize what had happened until Clark called to ask why it hadn’t been paid. Of the $11.8 million diverted by this fraud, police say $11.4 million has been frozen in bank accounts in Hong Kong and Montreal although when and how it might be returned is unclear. It is a statement about carelessness, but also about the authority that we place in email. Accountants say it is unfair to pin the blame on low-level staff. Bank account changes, they are say, are unusual. They should be treated like a request to access your own bank account. Such changes should be sent right to the top of an organization. But it seems no such protocol was in place.

Petroleum analysts are predicting regular gasoline in Ontario will be priced at 132.9 cents/litre by Saturday morning because the shutdown of US oil refineries during impact of Hurricane Harvey. The punishing prices may last there months some experts predict. The storm has knocked out significant oil drilling and refining capacity in Texas and the Gulf of Mexico, and on Wednesday, the largest U.S. oil refinery shut down. The operator of a major pipeline carrying fuel to the East Coast said it was running at a reduced rate.

CANADA-US ONE BIG MARKET

Although Canada has no shortage in gasoline, prices are established by a continental North American market. Petro-Canada will get the market price for gas shipped to the US and Canadians will pay inflated prices the same as Americans.  Listen to Dan McTeague of GasBuddy.com discuss Soaring Gas Prices on Newstalk 1010 http://fw.to/USUcrIb (recorded August 31, 2017).

300 RSVPed

The Guitar Guys

Everybody was there

Smokin’ Cigar at 1540 Bayview cebebrated 20 years in business Thursday night with a large turnout of customers to see what was new in fine cigars, and get some of their favorites. Owner Trae Zammit said he had recieved 300 RSVP to attend from patrons. The Guitar Guys string trio was playing for the entertainment of cusotmers and people passing by.

Share with rubber cones

Eastward on north side of St. Clair

Where am I?

Subway is down here somewhere

Slate Asset Management, owners of 2 St.Clair East (where the subway stops) are busy remaking the intersection. Work at 2 St. Clair and other (but not all) of the eight buildings owned by Slate has made the corner a barrel of fun. Signs suggest that a better day is on the way in 2018. Yonge-Delisle plan swings light onto Slate Asset ambitions

Randa Elyassir, 20

Parking lot

The sister and other relatives of Randa Elyassir, 32, are appealing to the public for help in finding the young woman, last sen as she left a fitness class on the afternoon of August 24 in York Region. From there, it seems as if she vanished from the parking lot of the Vellore Village Community Centre at Villa Royal Ave. and Weston Rd in Vaughan. York Regional police found her purse filled with personal belongings but Randa was nowhere to be seen. She has not contacted her sister, with whom she was close nor attended events she was said to be anticipating. York Regional Police are not saying what they think happened but they must face the prospect that the woman was abducted. She is described as Arab, five-feet, 10-inches tall and 160 pounds. She has tanned skin with a muscular build. Her hair is shoulder length, brown and wavy. She has brown eyes. Randa was last seen wearing a black, long-sleeved shirt, a light-coloured vest, and light-coloured pants. Anyone with information is urged to contact York Regional Police No. 4 District at 1-866-876-5423. Anonymous tips can be provided through Crime Stoppers

Narrow entrance and exit

Wildcats make cookies

Apple Fest coming

Riverdale and Pape

Idas Levato

Lauren Evans was commenting with more than a trace of sarcasm Thursday that it was a “great idea and not a fire hazard at all having everyone at Davisville Station enter and exit through one tiny staircase.” Upper right, this is the finished product of several chaotic posts at #Leaside by the Junior Wildcats related to the making of cookies. A good rescue for cookies is to lace ’em with chocolate. Great work ladies. Below that, a reminder from the Bayview Leaside BIA that Apple Fest is coming. It is scheduled this year for the weekend of September 30 and October 1. Lower left, here’s the totally unhaunted house at the corner of Riverdale and Pape Aves. which was the locale for the remake of Stephen King’s “It.” The scare fest will be in theatres next week. If you like this type of thing, Inside Toronto waxes on about the woo woo clowns and the Hollywood demolition of harmless dress up. Finally, the estimable Idas Levato was asking why it is she was required to go to Davisville Station to get her (16 to 19) daughter a Presto card. The TTC advisory says a kid can get it with the school photo ID but that was apparently refused and mom had to trek over with her daughter’s health card. Good question.