Rudy's Downtown Closes

The Manitoba Hydro building has faced security issues over the past year. People have not been secure in the building and outside the building. Rudy's with a patio basically needs a police officer right there on the street. Anyone walking up, on the patio or in the restaurant itself could be subject to problems. Food deliveries, employees arriving early or late now worry about random assaults. This isn't just rhetoric but actual facts on the ground.

Sympathetic as people are, we have have a drug and homeless problem that is accelerating and as evening get cold, the fires start. More arson, more trees cut down and more possibilities of people getting hurt and dying. Where are the councillors and MLAs? No where. Even the more progressive Reddit Winnipeg is becoming alarmed but the rapid increase. Not too many solutions being offered except more progressive councillors getting elected. 

That is an October thing. The problem worsens by the day. And when school starts along with school daycares, it will be harder to ignore school intrusions and unsafe disposal of needles and other things. If it sounds apocalyptic, it is because it is.

If a restaurant like Rudy's can survive in the largest government corporation HQ close to the entertainment district. Does it get so bad that Hydro tells workers to work from home or just outright say they are moving? I don't think that will happen but with transit schedules awful and buses unsafe, who wants to be stabbed, bitten or abandoned at a stop? One again, look at reaction on Facebook and Reddit and commentary on media. People are worried about security and not just downtown.

Rudy's could have closed because of changing habits but the fact that they expressed concern in January that security was not good should bring a chill to local and provincial government. Many councillors are seeking the exit. Lots of their assistants are running. It is still too early to tell what their policies are. As for ones currently running, by September we might be in full failure downtown.

For every good story and there are many in the city, we are seeing a literal collapse of addiction, homelessness and violence. Businesses and communities are begging for it to be stopped. Even with treatment centers, safe injection sites, soup kitchens and overnight beds, there are people who won't accept those. Moreover, some of the treatment centers can't treat the complex needs of some. It often ends with police for violent incidents.

The police are apparently being more visible but the people who are being managed just move to other areas. The West End is being for a permanent police presence. What will it take? Will it take encampments at City Hall or the Legislature grounds to do a full court press? Certainly the loss of businesses doesn't seem to have an affect. Clearly telling voters sense the elected officials are too afraid to address what everyone is seeing out there.

Perhaps another restaurant opens where Rudy's is. But will Hydro just begin to lock itself up and give up on commercial space due to danger? This is not a good situation at all.