BMO bites it

Weston has lost another bank.

The BMO at Weston and John closed on Friday; the nearest Bank of Montreal branch is now at Jane and Wilson.

Two TDs, the BMO, the Scotiabank, and one Royal Bank have closed in recent years. (I could be forgetting some, and yet others have closed in Mount Dennis.) We now have only one major bank branch left: the Royal Bank at Weston and Lawrence.

While the major banks have left town, we do have at least 11 cheque-cashing  and money-lending businesses, demonstrating that residents do need financial services—but not ones the major banks will provide.

 

Upcoming events

The Weston Historical Society will be hosting a presentation on “Memories of Weston [C.I.] and C.R. Marchant School” with Peter Caskey.

The meeting will be Wednesday, April 3 at the Village of Humber Heights Retirement Home”.

In other news, there will be a mini-reunion on Saturday, May 4 between 1 and 5 pm at the Westmount Army Navy. Everyone who went to school in the 50s, 60s, or 70s is invited.

 

 

 

Royal bakery

It took me six months too long, but I finally made it to the new Royal Bakery, at Ray and Weston Road.

The owners took over a space that had been empty for a some time. Around five years ago, the rather run-down Coffee Time (where I sat with my agent and bought my house, for what it’s worth) shut down, and the building became rather unattractive.

No more! Now the space is bright, warm, and welcoming.

Royal Bakery and BBQ Chicken serves pastries and deli sandwiches, and sells the largest loaves of bread you’ve ever seen. The donuts are enormous, fresh and cakey, and the coffee and hot chocolate we had were both great.

Despite the name, they don’t yet sell barbecue chicken; that’s coming in the summer. I’m looking forward to it.

In other news…

In other news (literally), Toronto.com has a new Weston correspondent. Veronica Appia has been covering our area, and others, for the past month or so.

Some of the news she’s broken:

Some small movement on fire at Plank Road building

Frances Nunziata has asked city staff to “meet with the property owner, the Weston Historical Society and the Ward Councillor to ensure repairs” to the Plank Road building, which burned earlier this month,  “are done as soon as possible.”

 

John and Weston Signals to get Fixed

For some time, I have thought that the signals at John and Weston were broken. It cycles through continuously, with a green signal on Weston Rd for only a few seconds before it starts to change again. It makes traffic in rush hour a nightmare.
I reported it several years ago, and was told it was fine. I reported it again a few weeks ago when I noticed it cycling in the middle of the night.
I was again told it was working fine.
I asked the 311 operator if someone could call me back. I got an email from Henry Chu, who advised me to email him the nature of the issue. I did yesterday.
Today I got a call from one of the staff of transportation, who advised that indeed the car detection loop under John Street was broken and was calling for a change all the time. It will take a few weeks to fix, he said.