VOL. 38 NO. 3 March 2020 Your FREE Neighbourhood News from the Beach to the Rouge The Strength of a Community By John Smee started asking him a series of norant xenophobic rant neighbour Andy Sue. tween 700 and 800 burgers GTA insisted on coming out What started out as an questions about whether or about how she perceived Brown, the owner of that we gave away.” to the East end to visit my average January day in not he or anyone else in his “Asians”. Fearless Meat Restaurant , “Andy said he had his store and Dave’s” Sue said. Andy Sue’s Flower Centre, family had been to China’s Later that day he no- just down the street from busiest weekend since they And recently a Grand- at 1012 Kingston Rd, soon Wuhan province recently. ticed a facebook post about Andy Sue’s Flower Centre, opened the store in 1972” mother brought her grand- became a disturbing day and “She was average height, av- decided he “had to do some- But the story doesn’t son into the store to tell then an extraordinary week.. erage looking... not so aver- thing about it”. end there. For Andy Sue the Andy about the presentation Sue was working in the age words” he says later. “She was average “I came up with the idea outpouring of support from he had done for his class flower shop, that has been Mr. Sue assumed she height, average look- that if anyone goes into his his friends and neighbours about the racism Andy had owned by his family since was asking because Chinese ing... not so average (Andy’s) store on Friday, has been overwhelming to faced. Suitably impressed, 1972, when a women en- New Year was about to words”. Saturday or Sunday they say the least. And a month Andy asked the youngster tered his shop and started begin. could bring the receipt into later people are still coming why he had felt so com- looking around. He answered “no” to all her Asian businesses suffering my restaurant on Sunday into his shop to offer their pelled to stand up in front of He greeted her and questions but something did- because of the fear of the and exchange it for a 6oz encouragement. his class and tell Mr. Sue’s asked if she needed any n’t feel quite right to him. It Coronavirus (COVID-19). certified angus beef burger.” “Yesterday (Feb. 22nd), story. help. The woman turned was at this point that the He posted what had hap- So Brown also took to a woman from Alberta who The boy responded and approached Andy and women launched into an ig- pened to him. One of his social media to spread the was visiting family in the “because we all bleed red”. customers, who works at word. Global news saw the post “I didn’t tell Andy I just and asked Andy if he’d be put this up (on Facebook) willing to share his story. around 8 o’clock. Almost After appearing on right away it started to take Global news, January 29th, off on the residents associa- word quickly spread on so- tion FB page.” cial media about the disturb- Around noon on Friday ing incident. it had about 50,000 views On Thursday January and Brown thought he better 30th David Brown was go over and tell Andy about reading the Kingston Road it so he could order more Village Resident's Associa- flowers.” tion Facebook page. He read “While I was over there a post about the racism the people were already coming Chinese community was in buying flowers and asking facing as a result of the for the receipt”, said Brown Coronavirus. He watched “Sunday was kind of the accompanying clip from unbelieveable. It was just Andy Sue bluffs monitor photo; John Smee the Global story and saw non-stop people. I figure we bluffs monitor photo; John Smee David Brown what had happened to his probably went through be- Membership surges At RCL Branch 13 By Hedy Korbee 20 per cent in the last year thanks their families. ate memberships to boost the over- They also donate money to Membership in the Birch Cliff to a community campaign designed The community boost is a wel- all number to 229. homeless veterans through the branch of the Royal Canadian Le- to help the Legion remain a viable come development for Royal “It helps to keep the place “Leave The Streets Behind” cam- gion (RCL) has surged more than organization serving veterans and Canadian Legion Branch 13, which going,” said Burri, a veteran of the paign and help pay for service dogs first opened its doors at 1577 Swiss military. “We can do better for Wounded Warriors. Kingston Road in 1922. work with the veterans because we In addition, the Legion do- Membership in the Le- have money coming in. We had a nated $1,000 this year to support gion nationally has declined successful poppy campaign this the Variety Village swim team. significantly over the years year and that means we can allo- Community Outreach as many of those who served cate money to the vets because we Campaign during WW II and Korea are here to support the veterans in In order to support its work have passed away and the need and their families.” during a time of declining member- Legion has had difficulty at- Last year, Burri said the ship, the Legion is actively encour- tracting younger veterans. Branch 13 Poppy Campaign raised aging Birch Cliff residents to There are currently 18 $30,000 to support veterans. become affiliate members. “ordinary members” of The branch provides financial They’re reaching out by hold- Branch 13 who served in the support to the Sunnybrook Hospi- ing events such as pool tourna- military and President Dan tal Veterans Program through the ments, dances, quiz nights, darts Burri said he’s “very happy” Comfort Fund and hosts a dinner tournaments, euchre nights, chill RCL Colour Guard; During Veterans’ Day ceremonies at Pine Hills that so many more people for Sunnybrook veterans every Oc- cook-offs and bake sales. have taken out yearly affili- tober. ...continued on page 6 Y EARS 510 REALTY 510 BROKERAGE 416 • 510 • 2200 Save up to 75% Let 510 REALTY Sell your Home Tico # 50019887 Page 2 - March 2020 www.bluffsmonitor.com The Art Guild of Scarborough’s A City Without a Soul SPRING ART SHOW & SALE By Bret Snider represent extremes in urban Like Toronto, Chicago is on A few weeks ago, I and life. the water (Lake Michigan) Saturday & Sunday several others were invited One thing that stood and has a boardwalk. But April 4th & 5th • 10am to 5pm to the Tara Inn on Kingston out for me in Seoul was the unlike Toronto there is Awards & Official Opening • April 4th • 10:15am Road to view the airing of a difference in the amount of Grant park, a 319-acre site Canadian reality TV show green spaces compared to located in Chicago’s down- Centennial Recreation Centre - Scarborough called Political Blind Date. Toronto. Yes, they have town business district. It Each episode features parks but good luck finding features fountains, massive 1967 Ellesmere Road Admission & Parking Complimentary Refreshments politicians with differing one. In cramped Seoul, works of art, three muse- www.theartguildofscarborough.com FREE views addressing an impor- most people live in high- ums, walking and skating tant issue of the day. The rise towers in very small trails, a dog park, a music reason we were there was living spaces. At night the shell that hosts the Chicago that a small segment of the streets come alive. Jazz Festival, Chicago show had been filmed at the Makeshift restaurants pop- Blues Festival, Taste of Tara. up under plastic tarps and Chicago, and Lollapalooza. The topic in this customers sit on plastic Presently our subway episode was municipal chairs to have dinner and system consists of 75 sta- taxes. The two politicians enjoy fellowship and fam- tions and four lines but were City Budget Chief ily. leaves areas of the City ac- Gary Crawford and Coun- At one point, my business cessible only by bus. We cut cillor Shelly Carol. When associates there took me to off our waterfront first with they came in for the taping, lunch at what they sug- the Gardner expressway in they were both wearing big gested was a very “special” the 1950’s and then by al- yellow buttons. Carol’s read restaurant. It wasn’t because lowing condos to be built “High Taxes”, Crawford’s of the cuisine - it was stan- there. We now have 2, 500 WILD CAUGHT, Fresh, Sustainably Sourced “Low Taxes”. dard Korean fare. It wasn’t condo buildings with more Ontario Pickeral & Yellow Perch In the final aired ver- the ambiance - it was basic on the way. sion of the episode it had to say the least. It was be- Former Mayor David Lobster, Crab, Scallops, Oysters, Cod, them travelling to New cause the restaurant had a Miller’s administration Halibut, Haddock and more... York to discuss tax options patch of grass in front of it (2003 – 2010) lobbied the and strategies to meet the and this was what made it Provincial government for Follow us on Instagram @SeaportMerchants needs of citizens and the special. additional funding mecha- HOURS performance expectations The first time I visited nisms and Queen’s Park re- 1101 Victoria Park Avenue Mon-Thurs 9-6 of government programs. In Seoul in the mid nineties, I sponded with the “Toronto Fri 9-7, Sat 9-6 New York they not only tried using their comprehen- Act” giving the City the au- (416)755-9960 have property taxes, but sive subway system, mas- thority to initiate new taxes also; income taxes that go to sive compared to Toronto’s much like those in New the City (including the peo- weighing in at 291 stops York.