Farewell Winnipeg...

The last time we were in Winnipeg in the Summer was about four years ago. We've been there every year for Christmas, but it's not the same as going in the Summer when the City is alive. Since our last summer visit, Alice and I have really noticed a change to the City. Primarily, it is a much more dangerous place than we ever remembered it to be. We were hearing all kinds of stories about crime, especially caused by the Native Indian's. We noticed that the population of Native Indian's has really grown in Winnipeg.

My brother in-law Chuck was telling us about what happened to him last Friday. At 1:30 am he took his two dogs out for a walk and an Indian teenager walked across the street and asked him if he knew where to get electronics? Chuck was puzzled with the question and said "What"?, the next thing he knew was that he was being sprayed in the face with Bear Mace. It was so bad, he couldn't see anything and the only way he got home was because he was only half a block away and the dogs guided him back. He went to the hospital and while he was away, someone tried to break into his house, but he had his daughter come over to watch the house before he went to the hospital and she was able to scare them away. The cops told Chuck that they are getting about 19 calls a week of people having the same thing done to them in all areas of the City except for Tuxedo. Apparently they spray you, follow you home, when you leave to go to the hospital, they rob your house.

I was also reading the Winnipeg Sun and Free Press and there was a lot of commentary from out of town people that have had there cars stolen or vandalized. Turns out that Winnipeg is the worst City in Canada for car thefts. Everywhere you look, people have "the club" on their steering wheel to prevent theft. One of my other brother in-laws showed me an invoice for $320 for a immobilizer, a devise that prevents the car from be stolen. His insurance company paid the full amount of the immobilizer because it is cheaper than paying out future claims. They do it for all their clients with certain model cars. That's how bad car theft is, and the worse part is that they are just stealing cars for fun, there is no other purpose, their not even making money by doing it. One newspaper article showed a car that was driven into a house last week and caused $80,000 damage to the house. The car was stolen and the drivers fled and were not caught.

Even at the Norvilla, which was a local bar in a decent neighborhood, has become dangerous. Now the Villa has never been a classy bar, not even close, and has always been filled with bar flies, but was fairly harmless. Now the Villa has a strange energy, with a lot of young kids that dress gangster, and apparently there is fights there every night. They don't even allow tabs, or credit cards anymore, everything is cash. That says it all. We were there for about 25 minutes last night and Rich had some young kid come up to him and ask him to buy him a case of beer and if Rich hadn't handled it properly it could have gotten out of hand. It was a little scary sitting in there. Even when I talked to Davis and Paul, Rich's kids, they tell me it's known as a dangerous bar.

Needless to say it was a real eye opener going back to Winnipeg. The City has really gone downhill. I'm not sure if you live there you notice it as much, but we haven't been back in the Summer for 4 years and Alice and I really noticed the deterioration. At times I've second guessed myself and wondered if moving to Toronto was a good idea. Now without hesitation I'll never second guess myself again. The minute we arrived back home and got off the plane you could feel and see the difference. I'm glad our kids are growing up here. I'll always love Winnipegers, they are great people and I'm proud to be one, I just don't like Winnipeg. Unless, or until, they clean it up.

Travel Recovery Day - No Training.

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