Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Losing The Ambulance

The North End is losing ambulance service next year. As of January, 2012, we will no longer have ambulances dispatched from the Redwood Firestation.
We lost our Police Station on Main Street already. Our closest Police Station is now on Hartford Avenue.
I wonder how long it will be before the fire station leaves the neighbourhood as well.
We have lost all of our banks.
We have lost most of our gas stations. The closest gas station on Main Street is the Shell down by Leila. Other than that, you would have to go onto Salter Street and gas up at the Shell on Mountain or the Petro Can or Esso at Selkirk.
We have pawn shops, money marts, dollar stores and social service agencies.
In the great new plan for the future of Winnipeg, is this how City Hall sees it? Is everything proceeding according to plan?
I understand the fire trucks being dispatched from Redwood Street are staffed with first responders. They are generally at a call before the ambulance arrives anyway. And not all calls require transport to a hospital. But who decided the North End shouldn't have an ambulance in house. Does the North End not make use of ambulances enough to justify having them on hand? Or are we rethinking who needs the ambulances quicker. Maybe North Enders don't need to get to the hospital as fast as residents of other neighbourhoods. Maybe those closer to Church Ave and Sheppard St pay more taxes and warrant the ambulance dispatching from their neck of the woods.
Are all the emergency services relocating to the suburbs? How about the non-emergency services? Will we lose other city services as time goes on?
I don't get it. Why pull the ambulance dispatch from the North End? Answer me that Mayor Katz.