Given the dangerous state of our streets which are riddled with potholes this spring, there is no question that we must do a better job, not just on pothole repairs but on a host of issues affecting our city.
While it is easy to deflect blame on the weather, wet spring and lack of roads budget, much of the problem stems from a workplace culture of resignation (giving up) on addressing the most basic of issues.
Over successive terms, we, the City Council, the administration, and to some extent the public have become willing to accept low standards, poor quality, and snail pace slowness as the norm. But it is time for a reset, to raise the bar, to return to being a healthy and vibrant city.
It’s not acceptable for residents to be living in bus shelters or for transit riders to feel unsafe taking the bus (with over 1,700 safety incidents reported to the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service in the past year).
Mowed down shrubs and broken branches in a private yard show the lack of care and attitude of complacency that has overtaken city workers.
It’s not acceptable to have a lack of ambulances (28 hours with no available ambulances in January) and increasing response times – year after year.
It’s not acceptable to have the highest violent crime rate in Canada, the highest assault rates, the highest homicide rates – year after year.
It is not acceptable that we have not only allowed these situations to become “normal”, but we have adopted them as part of an unspoken culture: “It’s too bad… but it’s Winnipeg and these things happen.”
Winnipeg is better than this. We are better than this.
Between March 8 and April 12, one month, three children between 12 and 16 years were sexually assaulted (and in one case kidnapped) while waiting at bus stops in broad daylight. THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!