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Building Collapse Toronto
CBC News

Posted on 12/08/2003 8:28:35 AM PST by I_love_weather

Building has collapsed...

Uptown Theater


TOPICS: Canada; Extended News
KEYWORDS: buildingcollapse; toronto
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To: I_love_weather
Chretien did it..or something like that...
21 posted on 12/08/2003 8:48:09 AM PST by MD_Willington_1976
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To: IGOTMINE
President Bush is to blame for this tragedy.

Well, no, but he is responsible for the tragedy being inflicted on long-suffering taxpayers today. I refer, of course, to his "free" pill vote-buying scam.

22 posted on 12/08/2003 8:49:03 AM PST by Hank Rearden (Dick Gephardt. Before he dicks you.)
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To: I_love_weather
5 students trapped per report on KTVU2 San Fran
23 posted on 12/08/2003 8:49:21 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: Frank_Discussion
WTF was a school NEXT DOOR open during the demo!

I understand they were trying to open a nursery school right next to the demolition site in time for the demolition, but they were having trouble with paperwork. Something about having a hard time estimating casualties.

24 posted on 12/08/2003 8:50:03 AM PST by Lazamataz (PROUDLY POSTING WITHOUT READING THE ARTICLE SINCE 1999!)
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duhh on me :-\
25 posted on 12/08/2003 8:50:16 AM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi)
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To: FR_addict
Not a normal school house. School is an English as Second Language institute mainly for adult education. It's in a small office building, IIRC. This area is one of Toronto's busiest areas and buildings are close packed (businesses/offices/condos). There's a bank adjacent to the theater complex as well (theater was built in 1920's and has been renovated many times since - an L-shaped building that stretches down the street from Bloor to Charles St (North/South) one block west of Yonge St.).

Worker at the bank (very shaken up) said on air he just got up to walk to the photocopier and right behind him a chunk of ceiling came down and crushed his desk.

26 posted on 12/08/2003 8:50:38 AM PST by mitchbert (Facts are Stubborn Things)
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To: mitchbert; All
More info here:

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/08/collapse_theatre031208
27 posted on 12/08/2003 8:51:39 AM PST by CnTXBobcat
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To: Frank_Discussion
When they say "next door", they men "NEXT DOOR" if that school is on the left or the right of the theatre.




RICK MADONIK/TORONTO STAR
The Uptown Theatre, shown in August of this year, was once one of Toronto's great cinemas.
It had been slated for demolition following this past Toronto International Film Festival.

28 posted on 12/08/2003 8:52:35 AM PST by michigander
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To: Lazamataz
Same thing.
29 posted on 12/08/2003 8:52:37 AM PST by the gillman@blacklagoon.com
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To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
Fire Chief on scene...people still trapped
30 posted on 12/08/2003 8:53:57 AM PST by I_love_weather
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To: mitchbert; All
Five people injured (at this point), a couple seriously with one needing oxygen, according to Toronto Police/Fire.

Initial feeling is all students and teachers out of school.

Police Statement shortly...

Chief Fantino and Fire Chief Stewart:

-Falling debris from theater damaged school roof.

-possibly three people still in rubble of theater, no condition for injured but no life-threatening at this point (emergency response very fast)

-working to ensure no further collapses

-School update - appears three students unaccounted for, trying to confirm.

31 posted on 12/08/2003 8:58:37 AM PST by mitchbert (Facts are Stubborn Things)
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To: Frank_Discussion
My thoughts to. Were they trying to demo it today or did it collapse before hand?


Patriot Paradox

Anxiety Closet

Please vote for my blog and for King of Fools (Chewed Gum on FR) at the 2003 Weblog Awards. I am in Large Mammal category, and he is in Best New Weblog

32 posted on 12/08/2003 9:02:08 AM PST by sonsofliberty2000 (Al Jazeera? Al Sharpton? Al Gore? Al the same!)
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To: michigander
That picture for everyone's info is on Yonge St. The building extends in an L-shape back to the next block. The portion of the building behind this fascade is what came down. You're looking west and the building goes back and extended south.

An aside, the reason the building was being demolished was a court ruling brought about by a suit from a handicapped rights group forcing all theaters in Toronto to be handicapped accessible. This building, built in the 1920's along with a few other other magnificent historical theatres, could not be economically upgraded, so it was to be torn down and rebuilt. We're losing some beautiful theatres here.

The crime is, Famous Players Cinemas had long agreed not to run movies in this and the other old theaters that were not available at other newer theaters that are accessible. Wasn't good enough for the activists, though. They insisted they ALL had to converted and to heck with the history.

33 posted on 12/08/2003 9:04:19 AM PST by mitchbert (Facts are Stubborn Things)
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To: I_love_weather
From The Toronto Star:

The rear portion of the old Uptown Theatre on Balmuto St., near Yonge and Bloor, collapsed at 10:30 a.m. this morning. Several people are still trapped in the rubble, according to emergency services.

“A piece of the wall from the theatre they were demolishing fell through the length of the building," said John Harrington, a teacher at the adjacent Yorkville English Academy.

The affected building is directly south of the Uptown Theatre on Balmuto St.

Employees and residents in nearby buildings have been told to evacuate because of fears of a gas leak. The smell of gas is distinct in the area around the collapse and Enbridge Gas is on scene investigating.

According to Harrington, many of the students and teachers at the school were on break at the time of the collapse.

But some students remained behind to work at the school's computers.

"Some people were sitting in front of the computers … they got the brunt of it," Harrington said.

There were at least three children attending classes at the time, ages 8, 10 and 11, according to Harrington. An unknown number of adults were also attending ESL classes at the school.

"I thought the building was blowing up," Isa Ho, manager of the ScotiaBank branch just north of the theatre on the corner of Balmuto and Bloor St. W., said of the collapse.

One of the employees at the bank was hurt when a portion of the second-floor ceiling collapsed, according to Ho.

Many surrounding streets, including Bloor St. between Bay and Yonge, have been closed.

The Uptown Theatre first opened in 1920 and quickly became a city landmark.

In May, Famous Players sold the building for $10 million to Piagga Ltd., a developer that plans to put up a 50-storey condo tower on the site. The Uptown was one of three old theatres closed in recent months in a battle over wheelchair access.

The Ontario Human Rights Commission ordered Famous Players to make the Uptown, the Eglinton and the Plaza fully accessible but the company decided to close the theatres instead.

The Star's Martin Knelman reported that the Uptown was one of the few theatres actually owned by Famous Players, which mostly leases the facilities.

Famous Players has announced that it will replace the Uptown with a 10-screen movie centre across the street, which will be part of a condo-plus-retail complex at 1 Bloor St. E. planned by the development company Nastapoka.
34 posted on 12/08/2003 9:05:33 AM PST by mhking
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To: mitchbert
What the disabled need to realize is that they get so much assistence because people feel sorry for them. If you are obnoxious enough, people stop feeling sorry for you and stop giving you help.
35 posted on 12/08/2003 9:09:12 AM PST by Question_Assumptions
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To: mitchbert
That picture for everyone's info...

Thanks for clarifying.

36 posted on 12/08/2003 9:11:23 AM PST by michigander
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To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com
Union labor?

I'm sure there was union labor there, just like in all the other buildings that are torn down with no incidents whatsoever. What the hell is the matter with you?

37 posted on 12/08/2003 9:11:37 AM PST by RonF
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To: Frank_Discussion
Sounds a great deal like the collapse of the Connor Hotel in Joplin, MO is 1978. That building was being prepped for demolition, but it wasn't to be demolished the day it collapsed prematurely. The problem as I remember it (I was all of 13 at the time) was a worker drilling holes in basement support beams for the placement of explosive charges drilled in the wrong order, and the whole hotel came down on top of him and two others. Two died, one was rescued a couple days later. But because it wasn't supposed to come down at that point, the street was not closed off, etc. There was pedestrian traffic outside the building when it came down. It's truly amazing that only two were killed.

Prayers go out to all involved!

38 posted on 12/08/2003 9:12:50 AM PST by Jokelahoma (Animal testing is a bad idea. They get all nervous and give wrong answers.)
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To: Question_Assumptions
If you are obnoxious enough, people stop feeling sorry for you and stop giving you help.

The court's decision was NOT popular. We lost The Eglinton in this ruling (very close to where I live), one of the best remaining examples of an Art Deco theatres in existance.

39 posted on 12/08/2003 9:13:11 AM PST by mitchbert (Facts are Stubborn Things)
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To: mitchbert
No the building was well under demolition...

Last night when we walked by it...there was a HUGE overhang...they had torn a large part of the building out from under the roof.

It left this large overhang...which is what fell this morning.

There was obviously something wrong with the way they tore this building down. We commented on it...last night. It looked like it was about to fall...or should fall.

40 posted on 12/08/2003 9:16:06 AM PST by I_love_weather
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